LOS ANGELES — Four months ago, Will Klein was just another minor-leaguer bumped off a 40-man roster when the major-league club (in this case, the Seattle Mariners) decided they needed his spot for someone else.
Six weeks ago, he was just another reliever for Triple-A Oklahoma City, making the occasional trip to Los Angeles, just another arm to soak up innings in a long season.
Four weeks ago, he was a charter member of ‘Stay hot’ camp – the group of players working out in isolation at the Dodgers’ training complex in Arizona on the off chance that they might be needed during the postseason.
A week ago, he was a late add to the Dodgers’ World Series roster when left-hander Alex Vesia became unavailable due to a family matter.
And late Tuesday, he was standing at his locker accepting congratulations from a living legend, Sandy Koufax, after ascending to his own legendary status with four scoreless innings as the winning pitcher in one of the longest games in World Series history.
“I woke up this morning still not feeling like last night had happened,” Klein said before Game 4 on Wednesday. “So it was – yeah, it was an out-of-body experience.
“I mean, a week ago I was in Arizona throwing live ABs, so just being on the roster and being in the World Series was a surprise. So then getting to throw (in) Game 1 was cool and then, yeah, yesterday was just even cooler, I guess.”
Klein said he returned to his locker to find his phone filled with messages. He said he had 500 notifications this morning – and 500 more before he could go through the first 500.
“I’ve heard from every coach I’ve ever had – high school, travel, college, probably T-ball,” he said with a laugh. “(The middle school he attended in Indiana) put a picture up from yesterday in their hallway, so that was cool.”
Having the 89-year-old Koufax (who stayed through all 18 innings and was back at the park for Game 4 on Tuesday) greet him at his locker, tell him he did a good job and shake his hand was “surreal,” Klein said.
“He’s obviously a legend, a Dodger legend, baseball legend, and just getting to meet him and shake his hand was – just kind of like put it all into perspective,” Klein said. “And then when I was talking to – I think it was MLB after the game they showed me, like, CC’s tweet. … Seeing that was kind of crazy because you grow up watching these guys and now like they’re watching you and acknowledging it.”
Hall of Famer CC Sabathia posted on social media after Game 3, “Unbelievable performance from Will Klein!! 72 pitches in the World Series extras after never throwing more than 30 ever…4 scoreless innings in a postseason winning debut…October hero salute.”
Klein’s teammates acknowledged his contribution by surrounding him on the field after Freddie Freeman’s walk-off home run finally ended Game 3. Freeman himself called Klein the MVP of the game.
“I loved it,” pitcher Blake Snell said. “You could tell … especially that last inning that he threw, he was on fumes. That was just will power and I – I didn’t mean to say that, but yeah, it goes together.”
SHOW OF SUPPORT
Dodgers relievers have written Alex Vesia’s uniform number (51) on their hats as a show of support for Vesia, who is away from the team due to “a deeply personal family matter.”
“It’s just something that we talked about,” Clayton Kershaw said of the decision after Game 3. “I’m new to the bullpen, but Ves, he means a lot to all of us. And he was a huge part of this team, huge part of that bullpen. So, we just wanted to do something to honor him.”
EMERGENCY CALL
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed Tuesday that he was considering sending a position player – infielder Miguel Rojas – in to pitch if Game 3 had gone to a 19th inning. Game 2 starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto volunteered to pitch – on one day of rest after pitching a complete game – and was warming up in the bullpen during the 18th inning.
“If Yamamoto couldn’t have taken the ball in the 19th, it was probably going to be Miguel Rojas. So that’s kind of where we were at,” Roberts said. “Blake Snell just threw a bullpen earlier yesterday, and then Shohei (Ohtani) was dealing with cramps last night, wasn’t going to pitch.
“So … it was either Yamamoto or Miguel Rojas in a World Series game.”
If you had told Roberts a month ago he would be considering sending a position player in to pitch in a tied World Series game, he joked he “absolutely … would have thought I was under the influence of something, for sure.”
Rojas acknowledged that he was thinking about the possibility of pitching as the game kept going.
“We don’t want to throw a position player out there,” he said. “But if I have to do it, obviously I was going to give it my best effort and not just lob the ball up there. I was trying to get outs.
“I pitched when I was younger. I was thinking about actual pitching and trying to throw at least one fastball and one breaking ball to try to get outs, to be honest with you.”
GHOST RUNNER
The Game 3 marathon would have played out much differently – and likely much shorter – if the regular-season extra-innings rule had been in place. A runner is placed at second base to start each inning during the regular season but not in postseason games.
Even with the challenges of an 18-inning game, Roberts said he does not want the free runner rule in the postseason.
“No. No,” Roberts said. “I think that it’s baseball in its truest form and part of winning a seven-game series is if there are games like that, then to have to go through the battle of attrition with pitching. It’s hard once you get into the extra innings to not play for one swing, which you saw both teams certainly doing. That’s a strategy in itself.
“So I do like the way it is, and also for the regular season the way it’s structured.”
Blue Jays manager John Schneider was less certain.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Ghost runner? I don’t know. I’m kind of a traditionalist when it comes to baseball. It’s kind of unique because that’s how you play for 162, and then that goes away. But with that, I think you got to structure your roster accordingly to try to handle some of those situations. Yeah, I don’t know.”
UP NEXT
Game 5 – Blue Jays (RHP Trey Yesavage, 2-1, 4.26 ERA this postseason) at Dodgers (LHP Blake Snell, 3-1, 2.42 ERA this postseason), Wednesday, 5 p.m., FOX (Ch. 11), 570 AM