Sports
'Feel like myself.’ How embattled Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler is salvaging his season
Three weeks ago, Mark Prior decided it was time to rip the Band-Aid off.
After watching Walker Buehler tinker, toil and tumble through 10 troubling starts in his return from a second career Tommy John surgery this season, the Dodgers pitching coach had a simple message for the right-hander ahead of a bullpen session in St. Louis last month.
Buehler had toyed around with his mechanics long enough.
If he was going to salvage his 2024 campaign, it was time to get back to the most fundamental of basics.
Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler throws pitch against the Orioles at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 28.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
“It was a little bit like, ‘Hey man, we need to lock something down,’ ” Prior recalled this week. “It was very direct: ‘We need to get better at your delivery. You need to be able to get better at throwing strike one and getting ahead.’ So that was the main focus. That’s the only thing we cared about.”
During an up and (mostly) down start to 2024, Buehler lacked any such consistency.
His fastballs were fired like a shotgun, possessing plenty of velocity but little repeatable command. His breaking pitches would be pulled off the plate, or spiked in the dirt, or left hanging over the middle — without Buehler usually knowing until the ball was already out of his hand.
To call it frustrating for the 30-year-old, former two-time All-Star would be an understatement.
To say it confounded Buehler would undersell the toll it took on his usually unflappable psyche.
“There’d be times that I would [command the ball] three or four in a row and be fine or whatever,” Buehler said. “And then games — whole games — where I couldn’t do it at all.”
Indeed, it wasn’t just that Buehler lacked his best stuff after almost two years away from the mound, while recovering from his second career Tommy John surgery in August 2022.
Instead, he rarely had any reliable stuff to count on at all; grinding through most early-season starts simply hoping batters would get themselves out before they punished mistakes he left over the plate.
“It’s like in golf, when you create a two-way miss, if you hook and a ball and then slice a ball, hook a ball and then slice a ball,” the Dodgers pitcher said this week. “If your baseline swing is not the same, it makes it really, really hard. Same thing with throwing a baseball.”
As his struggles deepened, culminating in a four-run, 3 ⅓-inning start against the Milwaukee Brewers on Aug. 14 that raised his season ERA over 6.00, Buehler started to wonder if he’d ever find a fix.
Dodgers’ Walker Buehler sits in the dugout after the first inning of a game against the Seattle Mariners on Aug. 20 at Dodger Stadium.
(Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Associated Press)
The list of successful two-time Tommy John pitchers, after all, is short.
And even though his stuff wasn’t totally diminished — his fastball still averaged 95 mph and the characteristics of his secondary weapons still encouraged Dodgers coaches — his performance had drastically waned.
“It’s always tough, man,” Buehler said. “There’s not that many people to look at and be like, ‘Hey, [after] the second Tommy John, it should be fine.’ You just don’t know. You don’t know if it’ll ever be the same or feel the same.”
But that’s the thing about pitching.
Sometimes, it can feel like every movement is wrong, like no variation of the delivery is right.
And then, in the span of even just one bullpen session, something will click.
Three weeks ago, that’s what happened for Buehler in St. Louis.
“It’s just crazy,” Buehler said, “how little things can click and make such a big difference.”
If Buehler has looked like a different pitcher since then, giving up four earned runs while striking out 10 batters in his last two starts, it’s because he’s felt like it on the mound.
For the first time in years, he said, he has been able to pick up his left foot, fling his right arm toward the plate and throw the ball more or less where he wants to.
It began during an Aug. 28 outing against the Baltimore Orioles, when he pumped three first-pitch strikes in what was only his second 1-2-3 first inning of the season; the start of an encouraging 4 2/3 inning, two-earned-run outing. It continued against the Angels on Tuesday, when he had more strikeouts (six) than hits allowed (five) for the first time since May and only the third time all year.
Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler greets teammates before a game against the Angels in Anaheim on Wednesday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
After both starts, Buehler claimed to “feel like myself” again — capable of working counts, attacking hitters and genuinely giving the Dodgers a chance to win.
Given the club’s uncertain pitching plans ahead of October, it has also turned the former Game 1 starter back into a possible postseason option, making him a candidate for a potential playoff rotation if he can continue his return to form over the season’s final three weeks.
“I think right now, Walker’s in compete mode,” manager Dave Roberts said after Buehler’s performance in Anaheim. “At some point, you’ve got to put mechanics aside and you’ve got to go out there and compete and make pitches. His last start, and tonight, I thought he did that.”
When asked about Buehler’s recent improvements this week, both the pitcher and his Dodgers pitching coaches pointed to his between-starts bullpen session in St. Louis last month.
Up to that point, Buehler had admittedly been “tinkering” too much with his mechanics, reverting to his old perfectionist habits at a time he needed to simplify his approach.
“It’s just crazy how little things can click and make such a big difference.”
— Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler
“He’s just a tinkerer,” Prior said. “Whether it’s pitches, grips, how he’s gonna approach a start and attack hitters. He’s always been that guy.”
During Buehler’s prime years, when he went 39-13 with a 2.82 ERA from 2018 to 2021 as the ace of the Dodgers starting staff, tinkering was one of his biggest strengths, making him an ever-evolving, unpredictable presence for opposing lineups.
“You never want to take away a guy’s creativity,” Prior said, “because usually that’s how guys get to where they are.”
But this year, Buehler’s constant adjustments became too much.
Early in the season, he was searching for old “feels” in his delivery, unsuccessfully attempting to mimic his pre-Tommy John mechanics.
“There was still some stuff that he was seeing and feeling that wasn’t necessarily there,” assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness said.
“It did probably hamper him getting back to some sort of concrete foundation,” Prior added.
When Buehler went on the injured list in June with a hip injury, he spent nearly a month at the Cressey Sports Performance training center near Palm Beach, Fla., going to the private pitching lab in search of a midseason solution.
“I probably didn’t help myself [with] the way that I think about pitching in terms of all the tinkering and stuff,” Buehler said after his start against the Orioles. “It probably made this process longer.”
That’s why, after Buehler issued a season-high four walks against the Brewers a month ago, he and Dodgers coaches set a simple goal for his bullpen session in St. Louis the following week.
“We didn’t care about other things like velocity, movements or anything [else],” Prior said. “It was like, just command the baseball, and master your delivery to get there.”
Suddenly, Buehler made a breakthrough.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and a medical staff member check on pitcher Walker Buehler during a game in June at Dodgers Stadium.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
For much of this year, Buehler now realizes he was getting “stuck back” in his delivery. Instead of transferring his weight toward the plate and driving down the mound with conviction, he subconsciously held back on throws to protect his surgically repaired elbow.
“When you rehab, you’re very conscious of how your elbow feels and how this feels and how that feels,” he said. “I was really stuck back, because you don’t want to leave your elbow to hang out to dry, basically.”
But with a new mindset came renewed execution.
During his St. Louis bullpen, Buehler turned his brain off, and thought only about lifting his leg and finishing each pitch.
Suddenly, he was not only commanding his fastball, but throwing it with more consistent crispness and life, McGuiness said. Same thing with his curveball, which featured “that second ‘umph,’ that second bite to it,” as McGuiness put it, a tell-tale sign of Buehler’s mechanics getting synced up.
While his next start on Aug. 20 against the Seattle Mariners didn’t show it — he gave up three runs and got just one strikeout in four innings — Buehler had finally turned a corner.
“This one feels a little more in line with what he’s talking about,” McGuiness said, “kind of taking that next step forward.”
Buehler deadpanned that where he used to bemoan dozens of throws in his early-season starts, he is now only “upset about three or four.”
“I’m throwing a lot truer of a throw,” Buehler said. “I feel like I generally have a better idea of what the ball is going to do.”
Don’t confuse this with Buehler (who remains 1-4 with a bloated 5.67 ERA overall this year) being back at his peak.
He still hasn’t completed six innings in a start since May. He still made a couple of mistakes against a last-place Angels team Tuesday, twice taken deep on pitches he left up in the zone.
However, he finally has a “baseline” delivery. It has led to more consistent first-pitch strikes, putting him ahead in counts. It has enabled him to attack with secondary stuff, especially a curveball he is using at a career-high rate. Most of all, it has allowed him to feel “like I could go and compete” once again, he said, re-stoking the competitive fire that once made Buehler one of baseball’s best big-game pitchers.
“It’s been better,” Prior said. “You’re starting to see some awkward swings. Guys are getting caught in-between speeds. He’s able to get in better counts and with more leverage.”
That might be enough for a Dodgers team looking for whatever production it can get from a banged-up starting staff. Right now, Jack Flaherty and Gavin Stone look like the only locks for the team’s postseason rotation. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw could be options, but have to successfully return from injuries first.
That means, in all likelihood, the Dodgers will need at least one more arm to count on come the playoffs.
For much of this year, it didn’t look like Buehler would be in the equation.
But now, he has gotten back to basics, showing long-awaited flashes of the pitcher he used to be.
“When he has his confidence and he’s doing his thing, he’s one of the best in the game,” McGuiness said. “So we’re pumped for him moving forward.”
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Earlier this month, Michigan defeated UConn in the NCAA men’s basketball national championship game.
Shortly after the Wolverines captured the program’s first title since 1989, Michigan forward Morez Johnson Jr. announced he would enter the NBA Draft.
Despite declaring for the NBA Draft, Johnson has maintained his NCAA eligibility throughout the process. However, he has until May 27 to withdraw if he plans to return for his junior season.
Johnson played for Illinois during the 2024-25 season before transferring to Michigan last offseason.
Michigan’s Morez Johnson Jr. walks on the court against UConn at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis April 6, 2026. (Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated)
After joining Michigan, Johnson quickly emerged as a key contributor, averaging the second-most points on the team. He also led the Wolverines in rebounding, averaging 7.3 per game.
Michigan head coach Dusty May eventually dubbed Johnson “The Enforcer” and “Junkyard Dog,” a nod to his tenacity on the defensive end. Johnson was named to the Big Ten’s All-Defensive Team.
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But Johnson’s offensive prowess didn’t take a back seat to his defensive strengths. His shooting from beyond the 3-point line showed improvement as the season progressed.
Morez Johnson Jr. of the Michigan Wolverines cuts down the net after defeating the UConn Huskies 69-63 in the 2026 NCAA national championship game in Indianapolis April 6, 2026. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Many early NBA projections gave Johnson a first-round grade. It’s unclear how much name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation he would command if he returns to Michigan or transfers elsewhere.
Johnson has been active on social media, interacting with teammates as they consider returning to Michigan for another championship push.
Morez Johnson Jr. of the Michigan Wolverines celebrates after scoring in the second half against the UConn Huskies during the 2026 NCAA national championship at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis April 6, 2026. (Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
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Michigan added a key piece this week, with Jalen Reed transferring from LSU, On3 reported. Reed was limited during the 2025-26 season by an Achilles injury.
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Quarterback Ty Simpson arrived in Los Angeles on Friday — and the Rams’ first-round draft pick sounded as if he couldn’t wait to start learning from coach Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford.
“The best head coach in the league, the best quarterback in the league, the best … franchise in the league — it’s a perfect situation,” Simpson said during a news conference at the Rams’ draft headquarters in Inglewood.
How the situation plays out — short and long term — remains to be seen.
Stafford, 38, will enter his 18th NFL season as the reigning NFL most valuable player.
With free agent Jimmy Garoppolo mulling retirement, McVay said Thursday night that Simpson would compete with Stetson Bennett to be Stafford’s backup.
The Rams used the 13th pick to select Simpson, 23, who started 15 games for Alabama.
McVay said that he had informed Stafford that the Rams would select Simpson.
“He was great,” McVay said of Stafford’s reaction. “He’s a stud. He’s always first class in every sense of the word.”
But McVay and general manager Les Snead were not their typically ebullient selves when discussing Simpson during their Thursday night news conference. Some observers perceived that as a break in what is regarded as one of the NFL’s best coach-general manager partnerships.
On Friday, Snead said in an interview with ESPN radio that he and McVay work “in lockstep.”
So their muted reactions Thursday might have been out of sensitivity, warranted or not, to not upset Stafford after drafting his heir apparent in the first round. McVay took pains to remind that the Rams are Stafford’s team, seemingly to not offend the Rams’ most important player.
After last year’s draft-day trade with the Atlanta Falcons, the Rams went into the offseason with two first-round picks — their own at No. 29 and the one acquired from the Falcons at 13.
Ty Simpson poses for a photo with his family during a news conference in Inglewood on Friday.
(Caroline Brehman / Associated Press)
In March, the Rams used the 29th pick in a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs for All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie, so perhaps the 13th pick was regarded as a luxury.
They spent it on a player who was at Alabama for four seasons, but started only one.
Snead acknowledged that as Simpson pondered whether to remain at Alabama or make himself available for the draft, Snead spoke with Simpson’s father, Jason, who like Snead played college football in the Southeastern Conference and is now the coach at Tennessee Martin. Snead said it was in the role similar to the NFL’s College Advisory Committee, which evaluates prospects and lets them know in what round, if any, that they might be selected. Snead reportedly told Jason Simpson his son was first-round caliber.
“You try to get across it’s not about where you get drafted,” Snead said Thursday night. “It’s more about where you go and what situation you go and what you do with that opportunity after.”
A few months later, the Rams drafted Simpson, who was upbeat as he met with reporters, while his parents and his brother and sister sat nearby.
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The Rams drafted Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson with the 13th overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft in Pittsburgh.
Simpson, who passed for 28 touchdowns, with five interceptions last season, was in Southern California last January when Alabama lost to Indiana in the Rose Bowl. The Crimson Tide did a walkthrough at SoFi Stadium.
Now he will begin his NFL career there.
“I’m, I guess, like a redneck in Southern California,” he joked. “So we’ll see how that goes. But I’m super excited to be here. This is a great place, with great people and I can’t wait to get started.”
Simpson said that Rams safety Quentin Lake had texted him. He also received a social media message from Stafford’s wife, Kelly, inviting him and his family to reach out if they need anything.
“Can’t wait to talk to Matthew,” said Simpson, who characterized the veteran as “an assassin” on the field. “I’m super excited because I just want to pick his brain about everything.”
Simpson met with McVay on Friday.
“He’s got the juice, man,” Simpson said, “like that dude … he’s a fireball.”
Simpson said he benefited from the years he spent at Alabama before he got his opportunity to play last season.
“The years that I sat were … probably more important,” he said, “because I had to learn how to practice. I had to learn how to study when I wasn’t playing because I didn’t know when that time was going to come.
“And so whenever that time did come — it was this year — I made the most of it.”
Now he is ready for the next phase of his career.
He said his faith was his foundation, and that he aspires to be “not only be the best football player I can be,” but also a better teammate and person.
“I want people to come into the locker room and smile, knowing that ‘Hey, Ty’s here,’” he said. “I want to lead, influence people and I think at the quarterback position that’s what you need to do.”
His immediate goal is modest.
“My plan is just to get better each and every day,” he said, “so, eventually, I have a long career like Matthew.”
Sports
Olympic legend Kaillie Humphries signs with activist sportswear brand XX-XY Athletics amid political rise
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The most accomplished Olympic women’s bobsledder in history is now an official brand ambassador in the movement to “save women’s sports”.
Olympic bobsled legend Kaillie Humphries has signed with the activist sportswear company XX-XY Athletics, becoming the latest medal-winning Olympian to represent the brand.
“Being able to partner with a brand that believes in the same things I do, that’s willing to stand up and actively work on protecting the women’s space and women’s sports is huge,” Humphries told Fox News Digital.
Humphries first spoke out about her support for protecting women’s sports from biological male trans athletes in a Fox News Interview that went viral after the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February.
Humphries had just returned after winning bronze in women’s bobsled, marking her sixth career Olympic medal. She later revealed that she received backlash for coming out as a Republican with other conservative stances in that interview, but didn’t back down.
Humphries went on to be honored at a White House Women’s History Month event by President Donald Trump in March, and gave her Order of Ikkos medal to Trump, citing his actions to protect women’s sports.
“Being able to come back to the USA after the Olympics and then be able to make connections and meet some people, I was able to, when I went to the White House, I was able to meet people that were connected obviously in working with XX-XY and that’s how the conversation started,” Humphries said.
Humphries, who is originally from Canada and competed in her first three Olympics for Canada, moved to the U.S. in 2016 and then competed for Team USA at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
FEMALE ATHLETES ANXIOUSLY AWAIT SUPREME COURT DECISION TO TAKE UP TRANSGENDER PARTICIPATION IN WOMEN’S SPORTS
Kaillie Humphries, U.S. Olympic bronze medalist bobsled athlete, presents the Order of Ikkos to President Donald Trump during a Women’s History Month event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 12, 2026. (Al Drago/Bloomberg)
Just months after that, America was rocked by the news that male transgender swimmer Lia Thomas was winning championships for UPenn’s women’s swim team.
Humphries, who was following the story in the news, found it startling.
Now, as a California resident and the mother of a newborn son, she is energized to help combat the wave of trans athletes in girls’ sports in the state, as California has become the nation’s biggest hotbed for the issue.
XX-XY Athletics co-founder and former U.S. gymnast Jennifer previously told Fox News Digital one of her biggest goals for the brand was to land high-profile superstar women’s athletes as brand ambassadors, especially Olympic medalists.
Now, with Humphries, the brand has a three-time Olympic gold medalist and six-time Olympic podium finisher across her stints for Canada and the U.S.
Humphries joins Olympic silver medalist gymnast MyKayla Skinner and gold medal swimmer Nancy Hogshead on XX-XY Athletics’ growing roster of Olympians.
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USA’s Kaillie Humphries holds a USA flag after winning bronze in the bobsleigh women’s monobob heat 4 at Cortina Sliding Centre during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Feb. 16, 2026. (Marco Bertorello/AFP)
“Kaillie is the GOAT of her sport. She is the only Olympian to win gold for two different countries. She is an elite athlete and a courageous, fierce woman who has fought for female athletes to have equal opportunities in sport.” Sey told Fox News Digital.
“The women’s monobob event exists because of Kaillie’s leadership, and she has gold-medal proof that women have the skill, strength, and speed to compete at the highest level. She has driven meaningful change and expanded opportunities for women at the Olympic level — more female athletes represent Team USA because of Kaillie. And that’s exactly why we’re leading with her as we grow in how we support female athletes.”
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