walk-off home run

The day after he saved the Dodgers’ season, Will Klein was hungry. He ordered from Mod Pizza.

He drove over to pick up his order. The guy that handed him the pizza told him he looked just like Will Klein.

“You should just look at the name on the order,” Klein told him.

Chaos ensued.

“He actually started screaming,” Klein said. “He just started flipping out, which was funny.”

Thing is, if it were two days earlier, the guy would have had no idea what Klein looked like. Neither would you.

On Oct. 26, Klein was the last man in the Dodgers’ bullpen, a wild thing on his fourth organization in two years, a last-minute addition to the World Series roster.

On Oct. 27, the Dodgers played 18 innings, and the last man in the Dodgers’ bullpen delivered the game of his life: four shutout innings, holding the Toronto Blue Jays at bay until Freddie Freeman hit a walk-off home run.

Dodgers pitcher Will Klein celebrates during the 16th inning of Game 3 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 27.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

When Klein returned to the clubhouse, Sandy Koufax walked over to shake hands and congratulate him.

That was Game 3 of the World Series. The Dodgers, the significantly older team, slogged through the next two games, batting .164 and losing both.

If not for Klein, that would have been the end. The Blue Jays would have won the series in five games, and there would have been no Kiké Hernández launching a game-ending double play on the run in Game 6, no Miguel Rojas tying home run and game-saving throw in Game 7, no Andy Pages game-saving catch and Will Smith winning home run in Game 7, no Yoshinobu Yamamoto winning Game 6 as a starter and Game 7 as a reliever.

There would have been no parade.

When Klein rescued the Dodgers, he had pitched one inning in the previous 30 days.

“You can never take your mind out of it,” he said. “You’ve got to stay prepared. Something might come up, and you don’t want to be the guy that gets thrown in the fire and just burns.”

The Dodgers are not shy about grabbing a minor league pitcher, telling him what he can do better and what he should stop doing, and seeing what sticks. If nothing sticks, the Dodgers are also not shy about spitting out the pitcher and designating him for assignment.

In his minor league career, Klein struck out 13 batters every nine innings, which is tremendous. He walked seven batters every nine innings, which is hideous.

The Dodgers scrapped his slider, mixed in a sweeper, and told him his arm was so good that he should stop trying to make perfect pitches and just let fly.

“A lot of times, pitchers are guilty of giving hitters too much credit, and hitters are guilty of giving pitchers too much credit,” said Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations.

“Part of our job is to show them information that helps instill some confidence. I think that really landed with Will.”

In his four September appearances with the Dodgers — after a minor-league stint to apply the team’s advice — he faced 17 batters, walked one, and did not give up a run. That’s why he isn’t buying the suggestion that something suddenly clicked in the World Series.

“Things were incrementally getting better,” he said, “and then you add that to the atmosphere. It amplifies it to 100. All the prep work and mental stuff that I had been doing, I finally got a chance to shine.”

Said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts: “He’s done it in the highest of leverage. You can’t manufacture that. You’ve got to live it and do it. So, since he’s done it, I think he’s got a real confidence.”

Dodgers pitcher Will Klein speaks during DodgerFest at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 31.

(John McCoy / Getty Images)

Klein last started a game three years ago, at triple A. After making 72 pitches in those four innings of Game 3, did he entertain the thought that maybe, just maybe, he was meant to be a starter after all?

“No,” he said abruptly. “I hate waiting four or five days to pitch and knowing exactly when I’m going to pitch.

“When I did, the anxiety just built. I want to go pitch. I hate sitting there and waiting. That kind of eats at you. I like being able to go out to the bullpen and have a chance to pitch every day.”

The Dodgers are so deep that Klein might not make the team out of spring training. Whatever happens, he’ll always have Game 3.

In the wake of that game, a fan wanted to buy a Klein jersey but could not find one. So the fan made one himself before Game 4, using white electrical tape on the back of a Dodger blue jersey. I showed Klein a picture.

“That’s cool,” Klein said. “That’s pretty funny.”

Dave Wong, a Dodgers fan living in San Francisco Giants territory, also wanted to buy a Klein jersey.

“They didn’t have a jersey for him,” Wong said.

He settled for the Dodger blue T-shirt he found online and wore it to last Friday’s Cactus League game against the Giants, with these words in white letters: “Will Klein Appreciation Shirt.”

This, then, would be a Will Klein Appreciation Column.

From his first day attending classes at Harvard-Westlake’s middle school campus, which includes seventh- and eighth-graders, Louis Lappe was being recognized as a celebrity.

“A few of the seventh graders I guess they know me kind of,” Lappe said humbly.

Not kind of.

“Every day, I hear them,” freshman teammate Nate Englander said. “‘Are you Louis Lappe, the kid who hit the walk-off home run in the Little League World Series?’ Every grade, seriously.”

It’s time for the Louis Lappe Show to hit the high school ranks. The national hero as a 12-year-old who led El Segundo to the Little League world championship in 2023 is now 15 and set to begin his first year of high school baseball. He’ll be starting at third base for the Wolverines. He’s 6 feet 2 and is joined by two other top freshmen on Harvard-Westlake’s varsity team, the 6-2 Englander, an outfielder-pitcher, and the 6-2 Mateo Mier, a pitcher.

This reminds scouts of the spring of 2021, when Bryce Rainer, Tommy Bridges and Duncan Marsten started on the Wolverines’ varsity team as freshmen. Rainer became a first-round draft pick, Marsten is a standout pitcher at Wake Forest and Bridges went to Northwestern.

Englander still hasn’t forgiven Lappe for eliminating him and Sherman Oaks Little League in the 2023 regional playoffs.

El Segundo’s Louis Lappe celebrates as he rounds second after hitting a solo walk-off home run off Curacao’s Jay-Dlynn Wiel during the sixth inning of the Little League World Series championship game in 2023.

(Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press)

“Obviously, it was difficult at the time,” Englander said. “We’re boys now. It’s amazing to reconnect. It’s going to be fun.”

During fall and winter ball, Lappe displayed occasional power, similar to what he did as a 12-year-old that allowed him to hit five home runs at the 2023 Little League World Series, including his walk-off home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to beat Venezuela.

He had a .445 batting average in winter ball, second only to Vanderbilt-bound senior James Tronstein.

It’s still going to be a transition season for Lappe.

“It’s a whole new game. A whole new chapter I have to get used to,” he said. “The main thing will be getting used to the speed of the game. It’s much faster than 14-, 15-year-old travel ball. Everyone runs faster, throws harder. When we get used to that, we’ll be just fine.”

Lappe and Mier won gold medals during the summer playing for the USA 15U national team.

Mier is going to be placed immediately on the mound as part of a three-man starting pitching rotation used by pitching coach Joe Guntz to deal with some of the best hitters in the Southland.

“I think it’s more about finding your spot on the team,” Mier said. “It’s a team game. Travel ball is very self-centered. The challenge is learning how to pitch and not be a thrower. I feel coach Guntz is the right person to teach me that.”

All three look like they could be playing basketball or football with their physical statures. That will mark them early on as no ordinary freshmen.

“We’re in the Mission League, which is one of the most difficult and prestigious leagues in the country,” Englander said. “There’s a lot more talent, whether it’s guys throwing harder, hitting the ball farther.”

The Mission League has had an influx of outstanding players from the class of 2029, including Jordan Leon at Sierra Canyon and Brody Brooks at Loyola.

“I think we’ll hold our own,” Englander said. “We look the part. Hopefully we can play the part.”

Mark down Harvard-Westlake’s games against Loyola because the Cubs have four former El Segundo players on their team, including the manager, Danny Boehle. Imagine the trash talk that might be transpiring with Lappe on second base talking to Brooks, one of his best friends who plays shortstop.

“It will be fun to mess with them and also beat them,” Lappe said.

It’s going to be a memorable four years of high school baseball for Lappe and his fellow class of 2029 players.