Buehler faces – Walker Buehler returns to the Dodgers-Padres rivalry on Friday night, now pitching for San Diego. Once a dominant Los Angeles starter—especially against the Padres—his Dodgers career ended in 2022-24 struggles and a difficult 2025 season with the Red Sox. Afte
On Friday night, Walker Buehler will finally get a look back at the Dodgers-Padres rivalry—just not from where he started it.
Buehler is set to take the mound for the Padres in the series, switching roles from the team that launched his career to the one that used to dread seeing him. It’s a strange kind of homecoming for a pitcher whose Los Angeles run moved fast from debut to stardom.
He briefly debuted in 2017. and in less than a year he forced his way into the front end of Los Angeles’ stacked rotation. From 2018 through 2021—his age 23 through 26 seasons—Buehler posted a 2.82 ERA in 95 appearances (94 starts). His WHIP was 0.99, and he struck out 620 batters in 564 innings. Over that span, his 14.4 fWAR ranked seventh in MLB.
The Padres felt that peak up close. In 12 regular-season starts against them, most of them coming before San Diego had truly re-emerged as a challenger in the National League West, Buehler posted a 1.80 ERA.
Then, almost without warning, the rivalry went quieter. From 2022 through 2024, Buehler barely factored into those Dodgers-Padres matchups, tugged between injuries and ineffectiveness, and his Los Angeles career ended disappointingly.
Before the rivalry can be rewired, Buehler already has a recent reference point—one that isn’t exactly flattering. His official “remember me?” appearance against the Dodgers came for the Red Sox on July 27. That outing turned forgettable: 4 2/3 innings, 4 hits, 3 earned runs, 5 walks, and 4 strikeouts.
The rest of his 2025 season offered more trouble than answers. He posted a 5.45 ERA in 112 1/3 innings, allowed 120 hits, walked 55 batters, and surrendered 22 home runs. In the middle of a heated American League Wild Card race, the Red Sox released him on Aug. 29.
San Diego took a flier this past offseason. The start of the 2025-to-2026 story didn’t immediately turn better: this year began with the kind of uninspiring execution that makes a gamble feel risky. But Buehler has looked different of late.
Now 31, the right-hander has allowed one run in each of his four starts in June. That stretch produced a 1.71 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 21 innings.
You wouldn’t call it a full return to vintage Buehler. In his last start on Saturday against the Rangers, he matched his season-high strikeout total with seven. The pitch mix has shifted, too: he has leaned more heavily on his cutter than on his four-seamer. Once one of the most valuable pitches in baseball, that four-seamer had been among the worst from 2022 through 2025. Whiffs—never a huge part of his game—have stayed scarce, and hard contact still shows up.
For the Padres, though, the value right now isn’t nostalgia. It’s stability.
San Diego has been navigating a rotation without the reliable rhythm that usually keeps a contender afloat. Buehler’s recent success has arrived in the middle of uncertainty. with the Padres down Nick Pivetta and Germán Márquez. and now Lucas Giolito. They’ve also never been entirely sure what they’ll get from Michael King, Randy Vásquez, or Griffin Canning. In that kind of scramble. a veteran finding a workable shape to his game doesn’t just help—he changes what the week looks like.
The timing feels particularly sharp because this Padres team has been swinging from struggle to statement. A team that couldn’t buy a win a few weeks back is coming off handing the Braves their first three-game sweep of the season.
Against the Dodgers on Friday, the Padres won’t get to choose the size of the challenge. If they’re going to keep momentum, it likely starts with Buehler.
He hasn’t faced a better offense all year—there isn’t a better offense in the Majors—and even the strongest version of his June run comes with a hard test waiting. His recent success hasn’t come against the best MLB has to offer.
The Padres probably won’t see a repeat of his best moments. But they don’t have to wish for perfect. They just need something that holds under pressure—especially in the rivalry he once dominated from the other dugout.
You never know what happens when a pitcher who used to torment a team finally has to carry that history into their house.
Walker Buehler Padres Dodgers MLB Nick Pivetta Germán Márquez Lucas Giolito Michael King Randy Vásquez Griffin Canning Nick Pivetta injury baseball rivalry
So he’s starting for Padres now? Wild.
I don’t get it, he was with the Dodgers forever and now he’s back like it’s his home team? Seems like the Dodgers messed him up honestly.
Wait, didn’t he start with Padres already? Like I swear I saw him there a while back. Also that Red Sox outing sounds rough but maybe it was just one bad start, right? Either way Padres fans are probably gonna be mad if he walks a bunch again.
I feel like they’re overhyping this “rivalry” thing. Padres vs Dodgers is always dramatic, but Walker Buehler’s literally been through like 3 teams already. The article says he had a 1.80 ERA vs them before, but that was years ago so who cares? I just want to know if he can last 5 innings or if he’s gonna implode in the 3rd again.