Forgotten Royals pitcher plays pivotal role in all-time World Series classic

The baseball world just witnessed one of the more memorable games in World Series history on Monday night after the Los Angeles Dodgers “triumphed” over the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5 in an 18 inning marathon.

Now, whether or not one combined run in the last eleven innings with countless opportunities missed on both sides constitutes a “triumph” or an “all-time classic” is entirely in the eye of the beholder.

However, what cannot be denied is how each bullpen came in and shut the door in seemingly uncharted waters. And no one did it quite as remarkably as an old friend of the Kansas City Royals – Dodgers hard-throwing righty Will Klein.

Former Royal Will Klein steps up in crucial extra-innings role in World Series

Klein was the last man out of the Dodgers’ bullpen when he entered Game 3 in the 15th inning and what happened after was sheer magic.

He’d retire the first two batters in the 15th before ensuring a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. single was quickly snuffed out by strikeout to Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

He’d then retire the side in order in the 16th and 17th, while ensuring he stranded the winning run on second base after walking a pair of hitters in the 18th, setting the stage for Freddie Freeman’s relief-inducing walk-off solo homer in the bottom half of the frame.

When all was said and done, Klein was credited with the win after throwing four innings of shutout ball, where surrendered just one hit and no walks while striking out five.

What made it even more spectacular is that Klein is not a long-man by an stretch. He’s a fireballer who’s fastball sits comfortably in the high 90s.

But on Monday, he was whatever the Dodgers needed tonight because as AJ Cassavell of MLB.com pointed out, Klein’s 72 pitch outing constituted “roughly 14 percent of the pitches he’s ever thrown on a big league mound”.

“There were times when you’re starting to feel down and you feel your legs aren’t there or your arm’s not there,” Klein told Cassavell. “And you’ve just got to be like, ‘Well, who else is going to come save me, you know?’”

“We weren’t losing that game,” Klein said to Cassavell. “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.”

Simply put, He left the baseball world in awe – especially his manager Dave Roberts, who had nothing but high praise for his reliever.

“What he did was incredible,” Roberts told the media. “That’s not even enough of a credit to him on this outing.”

What makes this moment all the more special is that, Klein likely wasn’t supposed to be here. Both he and Edgardo Henriquez were somewhat last minute replacements on this World Series roster – taking the places of the injured Tanner Scott as well as Alex Vesia, who unfortunately is dealing with some personal matters at the moment.

Since Klein was dealt by the Royals to the Athletics at last year’s trade deadline as part of the return for Lucas Erceg, he only had 17.0 innings of major league work under his belt and bounced around multiple organizations between his time in Kansas City and Los Angeles. And even in Royals uniform, the former fifth round pick threw in just 5.2 big league innings.

There’s always unlikely heroes that present themselves in October and Will Klein just made sure he’ll go down as one of the most memorable ones.