Dodgers' Will Klein Says He Had to 'Dig Deep' to Throw 72 Pitches in World Series G3

On a team loaded with marquee names and superstar talent, the Los Angeles Dodgers' hero in Game 3 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays was a reliever with 23.2 MLB innings pitched between the regular season and playoffs.

Will Klein, whose only previous postseason appearance was mop-up duty in Toronto's 11-4 victory in Game 1, threw 72 pitches in four shutout innings in the Dodgers' 6-5 win in 18 innings on Monday night.

Following his heroic effort out of the bullpen, Klein noted he had to "dig deep" to make it through because the Dodgers didn't have a lot of options left at that point.

Klein, a fifth-round draft pick by the Kansas City Royals in 2020, has played with four different teams since the start of the 2024 season. He began the year with the Royals before getting traded to the Athletics in June 2024.

The A's traded Klein in January for international bonus pool money to the Seattle Mariners, who dealt him to the Dodgers in June. He posted a 2.35 ERA in 15.1 innings with Los Angeles during the regular season.

Despite the bullpen being their biggest weakness coming into the playoffs, the Dodgers didn't have Klein on their 26-man roster for each of the first three rounds.

The Dodgers had two bullpen openings for the World Series because they left Ben Casparius off the roster and Anthony Vesia is away from the team due to a personal family matter.

As Game 3 continued to go on with no ending seemingly in sight, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called on Klein to eat up some innings while hoping the offense could finally push a run across to end things.

Klein responded to the task with the outing that will likely be the defining moment of his MLB career. The 25-year-old struck out five and allowed just one hit in four innings. His final pitch in the top of the 18th was an 86-mph curveball on a 3-2 count that Tyler Heineman swung and missed to get out of a jam with runners on first and second.

Freddie Freeman ended the game in the bottom of the 18th with a solo homer, giving Klein his second win of the season. His first one came on July 2 when Freeman hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth against the Chicago Cubs.

The Dodgers used a total of 10 pitchers in the game, including all nine of their designated relievers. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who threw 105 pitches in a complete game on Sunday, was warming up in the bullpen to potentially come in if it went to the 19th inning.

Instead, they were able to get by thanks to an instantly-iconic performance from the Eastern Illinois University alum. Klein's 12 outs recorded were just two fewer than starter Tyler Glasnow had in the game.