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Michigan's choose-your-own-adventure season always had a championship ending

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Michigan's choose-your-own-adventure season always had a championship ending

HOUSTON — There are two stories to tell about this Michigan team, and they’re really the same.

One is the story of a program that bent the rules, a coach who got suspended, a university that went to war with its conference, and a championship many will view with disdain.

The other is about a team that stuck together, a star running back who gave away turkeys at Thanksgiving and toys at Christmas, a coach who raises chickens and speaks in non-sequiturs and the genuine affection that held them together.

Both are true.

Michigan’s run to the national championship, punctuated by a 34-13 victory against Washington on Monday night at NRG Stadium, was a choose-your-own-adventure season. Call it an inspirational triumph if you want, a counterfeit championship if you must. The Wolverines earned the right to end this season on their own terms, trophy in hand.

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“The ultimate goal was to win a national championship,” said running back Donovan Edwards, who ran for two touchdowns in the first quarter. “Everything played out perfectly, how it’s supposed to be. There’s no (better) feeling than to go through what we have and still come out on top. Perfect story. A lot of adversity. Coach Harbaugh’s not there for six games. Perfect story.”

It was a perfect ending, at least. Jim Harbaugh’s nine-year run at Michigan was building toward Monday night, a championship won with a punishing running game and a tenacious defense that rattled Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr., the Heisman Trophy runner-up. Michigan wore down the Huskies in the fourth quarter and finished the game with two late touchdown runs from Blake Corum, the 5-foot-8 running back who carried the team on his shoulders.

After Michigan rallied to beat Alabama in overtime at the Rose Bowl, the on-field celebration was a mix of relief, exhilaration and jubilation; after all, the Wolverines had finally won a College Football Playoff game after back-to-back losses in the semifinals. Monday’s celebration was more like the fulfillment of destiny, a team that knew it was the best and proved it beyond a doubt.

“You know how mad these haters are?” defensive tackle Kris Jenkins shouted as confetti swirled and the stadium speakers blared “Mr. Brightside,” Michigan’s unofficial anthem. “They’re sick.”

Inside Michigan’s locker room, the air was thick with cigar smoke as Michigan’s offensive linemen presented a game ball to Sherrone Moore, the offensive coordinator who guided the Wolverines to four victories while Harbaugh was suspended. One of the last players to leave the field was Edwards, who climbed on the shoulders of left guard Trevor Keegan and shouted, “To the promised land!”

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Michigan is an awkward champion for those who prefer their heroes unblemished and their villains irredeemable. There’s a lot to like about this Michigan team and its stars, from Corum to defensive back Mike Sainristil to quarterback J.J. McCarthy. But it’s impossible to tell the story of this season without referencing the scandals, the investigations and the multiple suspensions for Harbaugh, who was sidelined three games amid an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations and three more for the scouting and sign-stealing scandal that became a midseason bombshell.

Harbaugh sometimes referred to Michigan’s journey as a happy mission. After being suspended by the Big Ten in November, he told his team to play angry. The only way to understand this team is to recognize the duality: the joy that radiated from Harbaugh and his players every time they were together, and the anger that fueled “Michigan vs. Everybody.”

The anger came from allegations that a former staffer, Connor Stalions, coordinated a scheme to collect video footage of other teams’ signals. The team and its fans believed the scandal was overblown, designed to derail Michigan’s dream season. Others believed the allegations were serious enough to warrant an asterisk next to Michigan’s accomplishments.

“We’re innocent, and we stood strong and tall because we knew we were innocent,” Harbaugh said. “And I’d like to point that out. These guys are innocent. (To) overcome that, it wasn’t that hard because we knew we were innocent.”

This much is undeniable: The rest of the sport had plenty of chances to make sure Michigan didn’t hoist the College Football Playoff championship trophy: Penn State. Ohio State. Alabama. Washington. None of them did.

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“This today, given everything we had to deal with, dealing with all the people who were out there hating and spewing and wishing this would take us down, this is the pinnacle right here,” athletic director Warde Manuel said. “I promise you that.”


“This is the pinnacle right here,” said athletic director Warde Manuel. (Photo: Thomas Shea / USA Today)

Emerging from the 2020 season, Harbaugh and the Wolverines were stuck in purgatory. Harbaugh was 49-22 in his first six seasons with no division titles and no victories against Ohio State. The rapturous anticipation that accompanied his arrival had turned to disillusionment and despair.

The 2020 season was the nadir of Harbaugh’s coaching career. He had a reputation as a program-builder who brought out the best in every team he coached, from the University of San Diego to Stanford to the San Francisco 49ers. Bringing a team together is his greatest strength. In the midst of a 2-4 season and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wolverines were isolated, distant, disconnected and selfish.

“After one game we had lost, I got so fed up because everyone was just so content with playing in the game and were just super happy,” said Kwity Paye, who was drafted in the first round by the Colts after the 2020 season. “They were posting on Instagram and social media. The captions were like, ‘I’m a dawg!’. I just got so fed up, (like), ‘Man, we need to stop doing all of this bullshit and actually buy in.’”

Harbaugh was entering the final season of his contract, and many fans believed Manuel should cut him loose. Harbaugh and Manuel had frank conversations about the direction of the program and hammered out a contract that allowed Harbaugh to return with a reduced salary. In announcing that extension, Harbaugh said, simply, “We have a plan.”

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Asked to recall the specifics of that conversation, Manuel chuckled and said, “If I ever write a book, I’ll save it for the book. Whatever he said, I believed, and it showed up.”

After that season, Harbaugh emailed his players. The exact words are fuzzy, but the general message was clear: Everybody needed to look in the mirror and think about what they could do better, Harbaugh included. Keegan got the email while he was watching football on the couch with his dad. The message resonated with him and many others.

“I was in kind of the same state as the program,” Keegan said. “I wasn’t playing to my abilities. I wasn’t starting. Our program wasn’t in the place it needed to be. It really brought fuel to the fire for me.”

The changes were immediate. Harbaugh reconfigured his staff and took a chance on Mike Macdonald, a first-time defensive coordinator from the Baltimore Ravens. He added music to practice and introduced a “Beat Ohio” drill that resembled something out of the Roman Coliseum. A dozen players transferred, and those who stayed — several of whom started in Monday’s championship game — pledged total commitment to the turnaround.

“We all knew if we want to actually do something with our careers, we gotta win,” right tackle Trente Jones said. “That is the most important thing in the world, to win, win, win. We ended up changing the whole culture around.”

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“If you’re not winning in college football, it ain’t fun,” Keegan said. “The guys really took the initiative and looked themselves in the mirror and really changed this thing. It’s special to see the journey that we’ve been on.”

Of course, in its relentless pursuit of success, Michigan ran afoul of the NCAA and became the target of two investigations, one for recruiting violations that occurred during the COVID-19 dead period and one for the scouting and sign-stealing scandal that erupted in October.

The scandal had a farcical quality: a low-level staffer with grandiose plans and cheesy disguises, a mysterious private investigation, a trail of ticket purchases leading back to Michigan. The NCAA and the Big Ten didn’t find it amusing. After Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti announced Harbaugh’s three-game suspension, Michigan responded with a legal challenge and a blistering statement from Manuel.

Michigan dropped its petition for a temporary restraining order a day before the sides were to meet in court.

“I regret nothing,” Manuel said, while emphasizing he respects Pettiti. “I promise you that.”

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Just a few weeks ago, Harbaugh was banned from his own stadium and watched his team from the couch. Monday, he stood on the postgame stage sporting Michigan’s Turnover Buffs, a set of Cartier sunglasses given to players who force turnovers. No coach in modern college football has experienced what Harbaugh experienced this year: banished in exile one week, installed on the throne by season’s end.

“When you’re around him every day, you feel it emotionally, the ups and the downs,” said Harbaugh’s father, Jack. “The savior through it all has been the team, the coaches, the way they rallied. I really think they’ve grown through that experience.”



“The savior of it all has been the team, the coaches, the way they rallied,” said Jack Harbaugh, Jim’s father, of the ups and downs of Michigan’s title-winning season. Photo: Thomas Shea / USA Today

In February 2022, Harbaugh boarded a plane for the Twin Cities to interview for the Minnesota Vikings head coaching job. Many at Michigan believed he wasn’t coming back.

NFL rumors swirl around Harbaugh every offseason, but something shifted after he finally beat Ohio State and won the Big Ten in 2021. He’d put Michigan back on stable ground, and the timing seemed right to chase his dream of winning a Super Bowl. When the Vikings interview didn’t result in a job offer, Harbaugh called Manuel and delivered the news: He was shutting down the NFL talk and coming back to chase a national championship at Michigan.

The Wolverines were as close as they’d been in years, but they still had a long way to go. The gap was apparent when Michigan faced Georgia in the 2021 Orange Bowl and lost 34-11. The Wolverines would spend the next two years trying to find the edge they needed to get to the top.

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It started with McCarthy, a five-star prospect and the highest-rated quarterback to sign with Michigan during Harbaugh’s tenure. The Wolverines didn’t have a lot going for them when McCarthy arrived in the winter of 2021. He embraced the pressure of being the quarterback who would lead Michigan out of the doldrums and back to prominence.

“He carried himself like, ‘I’m going to beat Ohio State. I’m going to be one of the best quarterbacks to walk through here,’” said Hunter Reynolds, a former Michigan safety. “I’m not saying other guys didn’t, but you just kind of felt it from him.”

After playing behind Cade McNamara as a freshman, McCarthy won a quarterback competition and led Michigan to a 13-0 start last season. The Wolverines went into CFP believing a national championship was theirs for the taking. Instead, they had an upset loss to TCU in the Fiesta Bowl in which McCarthy threw a pair of interceptions.

Michigan’s seniors banded together and made a pact to return for one more shot at a national championship. Now that they’ve done it, the timing again looks right for Harbaugh to consider the NFL.

Harbaugh hasn’t denied his interest, saying only that his sole focus was on Michigan’s championship run. Michigan’s leaders have made it clear that they want him to return, a stance reiterated by university president Santa Ono during Michigan’s postgame celebration.

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“I’m doing my very best, and I hope that he will stay,” Ono said.

People within the program understand: Harbaugh has no more unfinished business at Michigan. The Super Bowl is the only mountain left to climb. But he’s also happy at Michigan, never more than he was Monday night.

“Any way he does it, I’m going to be happy for him,” Edwards said. “He’s earned it. He’s earned the opportunity to search for new opportunities. He deserves to stay and get a high contract. He deserves all of it. Whatever he does, I’m happy for him.”

There are, of course, other factors that could nudge Harbaugh back to the NFL: He faces the possibility of an additional suspension in 2024 stemming from his alleged failure to cooperate with the investigation into recruiting violations from the COVID-19 dead period. And he could be charged as a repeat violator in connection with the Stalions investigation.

Whatever the fallout may be, the Wolverines insist it won’t cheapen their championship. They were 0-2 in the CFP before the sign-stealing scandal came to light and 2-0 after. All of the hardest games on this year’s schedule were won after Stalions resigned. In their own telling, the actions of a low-level staffer are inconsequential compared with Corum’s sustained excellence, a ball-hawking secondary led by Sainristil and Will Johnson, a relentless pass rush and a bruising offensive line.

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“Everything that came out, all the allegations, we proved to everybody in the world that wasn’t what’s going on,” Keegan said. “We didn’t need to prove it to ourselves. I’m a national champion. I really don’t care (if) people got opinions right now.”

More than once, Michigan made itself the main character of this college football season. It was only fitting that the Wolverines were the last team standing at the end. For years to come, players will gather for each other’s weddings, celebrate the births of each other’s children and reminisce about this season at team reunions.

Telling half of the story doesn’t do it justice. There’s no separating the good and the bad, the anger and the joy, the off-field controversy and the on-field dominance. You have to take it all.

And that’s what they did.

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(Top photo: Steve Limentani / ISI Photos / Getty Images)

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‘Nearly flawless’ Michael Penix Jr. helps re-energize Falcons’ playoff push

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‘Nearly flawless’ Michael Penix Jr. helps re-energize Falcons’ playoff push

ATLANTA — Michael Penix Jr. looked like an NFL veteran in his first professional start but not as much as he sounded like one when he took the podium after the game.

The Atlanta Falcons quarterback was at a local Costco shopping Tuesday night when head coach Raheem Morris informed him he would be making his first NFL start. After leading the Falcons to a 34-7 win over the New York Giants in that start, Penix was asked if he’d be celebrating the win at Costco on Sunday night.

“No, hopefully, something fancier,” Penix said. “Costco is great, though. Costco, hit me up.”

If the Falcons (8-7) keep playing like they did Sunday, Penix may get a sponsorship offer from the company, which would mean he replaced Kirk Cousins to become Atlanta’s Kirkland quarterback and pitch Costco’s signature line of products.

“Could not be more pleased with how the team responded, really rallied behind a young man,” Morris said. “He went out and played nearly flawless football and helped us get a win.”

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Tampa Bay’s loss to Dallas on Sunday night put the Falcons back in the driver’s seat in the NFC South. If they win their final two games, at Washington and home against Carolina, they will host a playoff game.

The Falcons’ 27-point margin of victory was their second largest since the 2016 Super Bowl season, and they have now topped seven wins in a season for the first time since the 10-win 2017 season. The Giants (2-13) lost their 10th straight, the longest losing streak in franchise history.

“You do feel (nerves), but once I hit the field it goes away,” Penix said. “It’s the game I’ve been playing since I was 5 years old. It’s at a higher level, but it’s the same game.”

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The Falcons drafted Penix eighth in April intending to let him understudy behind Cousins for a year or longer, but Cousins’ most recent five games convinced them to accelerate that timeline.

“The plan came a little bit sooner, but the kid was ready,” Morris said. “We had a lot of time to develop him, and the kid did a great job himself of getting ready where the moment wasn’t too big.”

Cousins swallowed the sting of being benched less than a year after signing a four-year, $180 million contract to mentor Penix throughout the week, Penix said. In the tunnel before the pair jogged out for warmups, Cousins said his weekly prayer and patted Penix on the back, gently pushing him to jog out in front of him.

“Kirk has been great all week, just being there for me and anything I need help with. He’s a great leader, great teammate,” Penix said. “Coming off the sidelines, he was asking me what I saw, and he continued to encourage me throughout the whole game.”

Penix finished 18-for-27 for 202 yards and one interception on a ball that bounced out of the hands of tight end Kyle Pitts near the goal line. The quarterback was victimized by three drops, including on his first throw of the game. Drops of his passes weren’t rare during his early practices because of his strong arm, but Penix has made big strides in throwing a more catchable ball, said wide receiver Darnell Mooney, who led the Falcons with five catches for 82 yards and then told reporters they might not want to stand too close to him in the locker room because he was feeling under the weather.

“When he first got here, he was (too excited) to throw the ball and everybody was dropping the ball everywhere,” Mooney said. “Now he’s just chilling, and he’s got some touch to him.”

Sunday’s drops didn’t rattle Penix, running back Bijan Robinson said.

“After the Kyle play, he was like, ‘We’re good,’” Robinson said. “A lot of guys would have put their heads down, but he was like, ‘We’re good, we’ll get it right back the next drive,’ and that’s what he did.”

Robinson carried the ball 22 times for 94 yards and is fourth in the league in rushing (1,196 yards). He ran for two touchdowns but was upset he didn’t get a receiving score because he was tripped up short of the goal line on a swing pass. Robinson returned to the huddle and apologized to Penix for not getting him his first NFL passing touchdown.

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“I told him, ‘It’s all good, man. We won the football game,’” Penix said. “That just shows the person he is, not just him but everybody on this team, the character. He talked about getting me my first touchdown, but it’ll come. The biggest thing we want to do each and every week is win. We did that.”

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Atlanta’s defense had nothing to apologize for after returning two interceptions for touchdowns in the same game for the first time since 1983. Jessie Bates III jumped in front of a Drew Lock pass and returned it 55 yards in the second quarter, and then celebrated with Deion Sanders’ “Prime Time” dance. He said his inspiration was the throwback red helmets Atlanta wore Sunday.

“Something about these red helmets,” Bates said.

In the third quarter, defensive lineman Matthew Judon recorded the first interception and first touchdown of his nine-year career when he found himself holding a pass batted by Zach Harrison and rumbled 27 yards into the end zone.

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“I just looked up and it fell right there. All glory to God,” said Judon, who became the first Falcon since Kroy Biermann in 2011 to have a pick six and a sack in the same game. “I am really grateful. I kept thanking Zach the whole time in (the locker room) until he left.”

The Falcons also recorded three sacks, one of which resulted in a fumble recovered by Arnold Ebiketie.

Penix, though, was the story of the day. Simply by providing a stabilizing element at the position, he gave the Falcons hope for their playoff push. His coaches and teammates said they never really doubted that the 24-year-old would.

The Falcons reorganized the “Mamba” periods they have used in practice this year where the starters from each side face off in competitive situations to give Penix some looks he hadn’t seen enough of, but other than that didn’t change their routine at all, Morris said.

“I think the guy is just a grown adult that came in with a high level of football experience,” the coach said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the young man. It was fun to watch.”

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(Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)

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Trump vows keep trans athletes out of women's sports, end 'transgender lunacy'

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Trump vows keep trans athletes out of women's sports, end 'transgender lunacy'

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President-elect Donald Trump vowed Sunday to end the “transgender lunacy” in the country and keep transgender athletes out of women’s sports for good.

Trump spoke at AmericaFest in Arizona at the Phoenix Convention Center with inauguration day for his second term in office only a few weeks away.

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President-elect Donald Trump points at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

“With a stroke of my pen on Day 1, we’re going to stop the transgender lunacy,” Trump proclaimed to cheers. “And I will sign executive orders to end child mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools.

“And we will keep men out of women’s sports. And that will, likewise, be done on Day 1. Should I do Day 1, Day 2 or Day 3? How about Day 1? Under the Trump administration, it will be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders — male and female. It doesn’t sound too complicated. Does it?”

Transgender flag

Trump vowed to end the ‘transgender lunacy.’ (Alexander Pohl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL STAR HAS MESSAGE FOR NCAA AFTER TEXAS AG SUES ORG OVER TRANS INCLUSION IN WOMEN’S SPORTS

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Transgender inclusion in women’s sports became an underlying campaign issue for Trump as he was the only one of the two candidates to draw a hard line against it.

As he accepted the Republican nomination for president in July, he made his stance clear.

“We will not have men playing in women’s sports, that will end immediately,” he said at the time.

Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix.  (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

He also appeared on on Barstool Sports’ “Bussin’ with the Boys” with former NFL players Taylor Lewan and Will Compton and called the notion of trans inclusion in women’s sports “ridiculous.”

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Why Walker Buehler was always likely to leave Dodgers, even after his October heroics

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Why Walker Buehler was always likely to leave Dodgers, even after his October heroics

The moment was already destined for Dodgers lore.

Walker Buehler, arms extended, strutting off the Yankee Stadium mound, a World Series title having just been secured by his trademark knuckle-curveball.

Now, the scene will be a parting image for Buehler’s distinguished tenure with the club, too.

On Monday, Buehler agreed to a one-year, $21.05-million contract with the Boston Red Sox, as Yahoo Sports first reported, officially ending a seven-year run with the Dodgers that included tantalizing highs (two All-Star selections, two World Series titles and, from 2018-2021, the fourth-best ERA in the majors), injury-plagued lows (including two Tommy John surgeries that derailed his ascent as the Dodgers’ next great ace) and a fitting final act, with Buehler’s iconic save in Game 5 of the World Series proving to be his last game in a Dodgers uniform.

It’s a departure that, for most of this year, had been expected, as Buehler struggled mightily in the regular season returning from his second Tommy John procedure.

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However, despite his 1-6 record and career-worst 5.38 ERA, Buehler sneaked into the Dodgers’ postseason rotation amid a rash of other pitching injuries and delivered in ways even he wasn’t fully expecting. Four shutout innings in a Game 3 win in the National League Championship Series. Five spotless frames in Game 3 of the Fall Classic. And then, on just one day of rest, a 16-pitch relief appearance to close out a championship.

For the first time in three years, flashes of Buehler’s once-dominant form returned.

And for a moment, a pathway for the impending free agent to re-sign in Los Angeles appeared to emerge.

“What Walker did, what he has done for us, what he did for us this year, his teammates, that does not go lost on us,” general manager Brandon Gomes said last month.

Alas, the chances of such a reunion were effectively dashed in the first week of the offseason, when the Dodgers decided not to extend a one-year, $21.05-million qualifying offer to the 30-year-old right-hander.

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That move allowed Buehler to hit the open market without the burden of a draft-pick penalty. And, as the Dodgers looked elsewhere to shore up their rotation — they signed two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell to a $182-million contract and remain engaged in the sweepstakes for star 23-year-old Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki — it became clear Buehler was unlikely to fit in their 2025 plans.

“I think there’s no better way to go out if I do,” Buehler said on the eve of the Fall Classic, when asked about 2024 potentially being his final season with the Dodgers, “than after hopefully a successful World Series.”

The Dodgers’ decision to not offer Buehler a QO — which was for virtually the same amount he will reportedly receive from the Red Sox — was met with some surprise around the industry.

In a vacuum, Buehler’s regular-season performance might not have warranted such a payday. The bleak history of two-time Tommy John pitchers added risk as well.

Nonetheless, Buehler was perhaps the best homegrown success story of this era of Dodgers baseball, going from a first-round draft pick out of Vanderbilt in 2017 to an integral member of the club’s 2020 and 2024 championship teams.

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This year’s October heroics had rekindled the fan base’s love of the ever-confident veteran pitcher, evidenced by the raucous reception he got at the team’s championship parade last month while donning the vintage jersey that Orel Hersisher — a longtime mentor of his within the organization — had worn in the 1988 World Series.

Walker Buehler, wearing an Orel Hershiser jersey, speaks at the championship celebration at Dodger Stadium last month.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

At various points leading up to this offseason, Buehler had expressed a desire to remain in Los Angeles, saying before the World Series that “I’m very happy to be a Los Angeles Dodger, and I would love to stay here for as long as they’ll have me.”

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Even then, though, Buehler hinted that the team’s QO decision would likely dictate his chances of a return.

“The first step in all that stuff is on the team,” he said of his upcoming free agency. “And that will happen really quickly one way or the other.”

While the Dodgers remained open to bringing back Buehler even after declining to offer him a QO, market dynamics always appeared likely to instead result in a split. Because Beuhler didn’t receive a QO, other teams weren’t forced to surrender a draft pick to sign him. And as a talented arm with a sterling postseason track record, he became an intriguing option for fellow contenders looking to round out their rotations.

Where he might have been a superfluous signing for a Dodgers team that is already well past the highest luxury tax threshold, and will be getting Shohei Ohtani, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin back from injuries next season, Buehler might now be a missing piece for the playoff-hungry Red Sox, who finished last season five games out of the American League wild-card picture.

“The past couple months,” Buehler said amid his postseason resurgence, “I’ve kind of built my confidence up a little bit to the point that there’ll be some teams that would want me on their team. I feel like a major league starting pitcher, whether it’s here or elsewhere.”

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On Monday, the latter officially became reality.

Walker Buehler is no longer a Dodger. His championship-clinching curveball will be the lasting memory of his tenure with the team.

“I played my whole career here, I love playing here,” Buehler said during the World Series. “I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

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