The typical timetable for a pitcher returning from Tommy John surgery is 12 to 18 months.

Walker Buehler didn’t get into a Major League game for nearly 24 months. He pitched on June 10, 2022, had Tommy John in August, then made his long-awaited return on May 6, 2024.

The comeback didn’t go smoothly at first. He pitched to a 5.38 ERA over 16 regular-season starts last year, only one of them scoreless, and spent over a month on the injured list with a hip ailment.

But then, the calendar flipped to October and Buehler flipped the script. The record books show that he pitched to a 3.60 ERA over four postseason games, allowing six earned runs over 15 innings. Upon closer inspection, the performance is even more impressive: all six of the runs he allowed were clustered together in the second inning of Game 3 of the NLDS. In the other 14 innings, he never yielded. There were four scoreless frames against the Mets in Game 3 of the NLCS, and five versus the Yankees in Game 3 of the World Series. Buehler returned to the mound once more, and did his best impression of 2018 Chris Sale: a 1-2-3 ninth inning to clinch a World Series championship in five games.

“The last few weeks of the season heading into the playoffs, I felt like I was kind of figuring it back out and throwing the ball well,” Buehler said over Zoom on Friday. “Even the San Diego game, which the line was pretty ugly, I think the last three innings there were kind of the turning point of my year. Obviously, I wish it would’ve happened in June, or whatever, but it happened at the most important time.”

Rising to the challenge is nothing new for Buehler, who entered the ‘24 playoffs with a career 2.94 ERA over 15 postseason starts, and the proud owner of a 2020 World Series ring. Coincidentally, his first World Series outing was against the Red Sox. He was a rookie when he took the mound for Game 3 of the ‘18 Fall Classic and blanked Boston for seven innings of what ultimately became a new MLB record for longest postseason game: 18 innings.

“I was scared (expletive)-less,” he said. “I was a rookie pitching in the World Series against a really, really talented offensive team.”

Closing out Game 5 against the Yankees was another frightening moment. He’d never made a relief appearance in the postseason before, and this moment was for all the marbles.

“Again, I was scared out of my mind,” Buehler said. “I (ran) in there, I felt like about two pounds on the mound.”

Being able to come through in that spot, especially after two years away and a rough reentry, was huge for the mental aspect of his game.

“I’m kind of a confidence-driven guy and when I feel good, things seem to go pretty well,” Buehler said. “I think the biggest thing, at least mentally was kind of the struggles that I had had all year, I was okay losing (Game 5). … I would wake up the next day if things went poorly, and I think that freedom is something that I’ve never really had as a reliever. I’ve certainly never struggled the way I had, and it kind of took that to get there. So if there was kind of one good thing to come out of last year, it was certainly that.”

“It’s something that helps your confidence a ton,” Buehler said. “It was the playoffs and the big boys, and to know that I’m able to perform in that situation, I think is something that’s going to be huge for me going forward.”

The postseason also changed the trajectory of his free agency.

“When you’re a rookie you think free agency is going to be 30 teams calling and telling you exactly what they think and giving you an offer every day and raising that offer every other day and whatnot,” he said. “That’s just not the way it goes.”

Even so, Buehler had options. He didn’t settle for a one-year deal with Boston, he chose a one-year deal. He chose Boston.

“Do we do a multi-year deal? Do we do a one-year? Do we go somewhere we really want to? Do we go somewhere and try and help build it,” Buehler explained of his discussions with his camp. “For me, the one-year in Boston and joining a winning franchise and a historical franchise, and you know, a team that has a real chance to win, I think, was the best option for me.”

The ‘24 Sox weren’t officially eliminated from the American League Wild Card until Game 158. If they make it back to the postseason this year, they’ll do so with a much younger, less experienced roster than they did in their most recent two October runs (‘21 and ‘18). A healthy Buehler, who has two World Series rings, could be a game-changer.

“I think we’ve got all the pieces,” Buehler assessed. I keep seeing this stuff on the internet about the ‘18 Boston team and kind of how that was formed versus the team now, and you know I’m not the biggest internet guy, but it is kind of similar, and there’s some momentum, especially after the (Garrett) Crochet trade.

“I certainly think there’s the talent in that building to do some really good things.”