When baseball fans woke up Tuesday, Oct. 28, there was going to be a new October folk hero: The Dodgers’ Will Klein or the Blue Jays’ Eric Lauer. Ultimately, Freddie Freeman saw to it that Klein was the victor of Game 3 of the World Series, an 18-inning, 6 hour, 39 minute affair that saw the Dodgers go up 2-1 in the series as they look to defend their title.
Klein ended up being the saving grace of a Dodgers bullpen that has an ERA of 4.50 in the postseason and is shorthanded for the World Series without Alex Vesia. After Clayton Kershaw got Nathan Lukes to ground out with the bases loaded in the 12th inning, Klein went four innings, pitching the 15th-18th innings as the last arm in the pen, and he earned the win in just his second appearance this postseason after being activated for the World Series.
In Game 3 Part B, Klein found himself engaged in a pitching duel with the Blue Jays’ Lauer, who for his part went 4 ⅔ innings scoreless and threw 68 pitches to Klein’s 72.
As Klein was still going, Yoshinobu Yamamoto – who threw a complete game in Game 2 just two days prior – was up as the final arm the Dodgers would use Oct. 27. Ultimately, Klein was able to preserve one of the Dodgers’ ace arms with a gutty performance. The way he described it after the game, it was an exercise in repetition. And arguably stubbornness.
‘We weren’t losing that game,’ Klein said, per MLB.com. ‘And so I had to keep going back out there. I was going to keep doing that – and doing all I could to put up a zero and sit back down and do it again.’
Will Klein stats
Since his Major League debut in 2024, Klein has pitched for three teams in the Majors. He was drafted by the Royals in 2020 and made just five appearances with Kansas City in 2024, going 5 ⅔ innings across those appearances and posting an ERA of 6.35 with 10 hits, four runs allowed, and two walks surrendered. He also struck out six batters.
After he was traded midseason to the then-Oakland Athletics for cash, Klein made just three more appearances in 2024, posting 1 ⅔ innings and giving up five runs on two hits and four walks and one strikeout.
Klein was traded to the Mariners in January 2025. An arm factory in their own right, Klein strugged with Triple-A Tacoma and was designated for assignment at the end of May to clear room for the highly touted Cole Young. The Dodgers then traded southpaw Joe Jacques to acquire Klein. He spent time with both the Oklahoma City Comets and the Dodgers, posting a 5.16 ERA with the Comets over 22 ⅔ innings pitched and a 2.35 ERA in 15 ⅓ innings with the Dodgers in interspersed appearances.
With the Dodgers, Klein allowed six runs (four earned) with 14 hits and 21 strikeouts against 10 walks. He was inactive in the playoffs until the World Series, where the Dodgers activated him with their bullpen shorthanded.
In Game 3, Klein threw 72 pitches total and gave up one hit with two walks and five strikeouts. While the Blue Jays felt like they were in and out of trouble throughout the latter innings of the game, Klein ended up not throwing a ton of high leverage pitches, keeping the game flowing and allowing Dave Roberts to keep turning his superstar-studded lineup over until Freeman finally ended the game.
Will Klein contract
Klein is currently in pre-arbitration, meaning his salary is a set scale. He made $760,000 for his 2025 season which will escalate to $820,000 in 2026.
Klein will then be on a series on one-year deals until he gets through his team control, which will include arbitration. That will be determined by a myriad of elements.
Can Will Klein pitch in Game 4 vs Blue Jays?
Can Klein pitch against the Blue Jays in Game 4? Yes. There’s no rule he can’t. But things would have to go extremely sideways in Shohei Ohtani’s start to see him.
Klein’s 72 pitches were 27 more than his previous high this year of 45, which came on Aug. 30 in Triple-A. While Yamamoto seemed ready to go with over 100 pitches thrown two days ago, they’re two different types of pitchers and Yamamoto at least saw a day of rest.
If anything, Klein’s heroics may have simply salvaged a Dodgers pen that was always going to be depleted in Game 4.
In a night where Ohtani reached base nine times and Freeman had his second World Series walkoff, Klein stood among giants. And he may have to do the same as the Dodgers trudge toward their second straight title in what is proving to be an incredibly hard-fought series.
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