Will Klein was not supposed to be the pitcher who saved Game 3. He was not used in the first three rounds of the postseason, then was added to the active roster for the World Series and ended up throwing the final four innings of an 18-inning epic against the Blue Jays.
Klein, 25, struck out five, walked two and allowed one hit while giving up no runs, then watched the Dodgers win on a walk-off in the bottom of the 18th. For a reliever who posted a 7.17 ERA and a 1.969 WHIP in 22 appearances for Triple-A Tacoma last season, it was the kind of night that can change how a team thinks about a pitcher, and maybe how the pitcher thinks about himself.
The Dodgers got Klein after trading Joe Jacques, and the move has already turned into one of their cleaner bets. In 14 relief appearances for Los Angeles, he produced a 2.35 ERA, a sharp turnaround from his numbers in Tacoma and enough to keep him close even as the postseason opened without him. By the time the World Series arrived, the bullpen needed length, and Klein was the arm left standing when the game kept going.
That mattered because the Dodgers were not just searching for one good outing. They were searching for someone who could absorb innings without breaking the game open, and Klein delivered exactly that. He held firm through the late innings, let the matchup stretch on, and stayed in control long enough for the offense to finish it. In a playoff game that turned into a test of depth, he was the difference between surviving and burning through the rest of the staff.
The backdrop makes the performance look even more striking. The Mariners bullpen ranked second in the majors with a 3.08 ERA despite missing Matt Brash, Gabe Speier and Carlos Vargas, but it was also 18th in WHIP and tied-25th in batting average, a reminder that surface numbers do not tell the full story. Klein never actually pitched for the Mariners in the majors, which makes his rise with the Dodgers feel less like a simple breakout than a full reset.
That is why the night landed with such force. A pitcher who was struggling in Tacoma last season and left out of the first three postseason rounds suddenly became the arm that carried a World Series game into the record books. The Dodgers now have a reason to believe the version of Klein they saw in Game 3 is the one that will matter in 2026, when he is already being talked about as their secret weapon.
