When did the Los Angeles Dodgers chapter of Walker Buehler’s baseball career close? Was it when he became a free agent last fall, or when he signed with the Red Sox in late December? Maybe his season debut this spring, his first professional game with another franchise?

It could have been Friday, when the Dodgers arrived at Fenway and his former teammates presented him with his 2024 World Series ring before beginning their pregame drills.

Or perhaps Sunday, when the right-hander will start the series finale and try to beat the team for whom he spent nearly a decade trying to win.

“It’ll be interesting,” said Buehler, noting that he’s already faced several ex-Dodgers this season, including Cody Bellinger (Yankees) and Corey Seager (Rangers). “I think playing against your old team is one thing, but playing against them when you haven’t seen ‘em since you won the whole thing is a whole different thing. So yeah, once I get (the ring), I think that kind of part of it’s done, but at the end of the day, we’ll still all kind of be close or whatever for forever, and have some really good memories of October.”

Los Angeles drafted Buehler out of Vanderbilt in the first round in 2015, and called him up for a late September debut two years later. He represented the storied National League club at two All-Star Games, pitched in five postseasons and won a pair of World Series in Dodger blue.

“They’re probably the model for a lot of people in the way that modern baseball should be done, and I was very fortunate to be drafted and developed and spend so much time there,” Buehler said. “I attribute a lot of the success I have had to them and how they handled and treated me.”

It’s a significant adjustment to go from being part of a world to the outside looking in. Throughout Buehler’s first season away from the organization, he’s seen clips of momentous occasions; among them, the ring ceremony at their home opener, and Clayton Kershaw’s 3,000th strikeout.

“Stuff pops up everywhere, and yeah, it’s an interesting feeling, obviously, to be a part of it for so long and then now to be here,” Buehler admitted. “I texted (Kershaw). It’s a cool thing. Kinda wish I would’ve seen it. Obviously, I got to see (Max) Scherzer’s. I think any of those monuments you get to see as a player is really, really cool… No one deserves the success he’s had more than Clayton.”

Both teams had Thursday off, so he spent time with Kershaw, his longtime friend and role model.

“Kersh and I were joking yesterday, we should have tried to line each other up,” said Buehler. (Kershaw will duel Garrett Crochet on Saturday, instead.)

Buehler’s camp had conversations with the Dodgers when he became a free agent, but they never aligned.

“They went and signed guys that they wanted to sign, and I signed with a place that I wanted to play, and it kind of is what it is,” he said.

“It’s been awesome here. I’m enjoying the (expletive) out of it,” Buehler said of Boston. “I think it would have been hard to leave there for anywhere except for here. Our fans here, I hear ‘em long and loud, and you know, kind of similar in a lot of ways to LA. It’s been a really fun year, outside of some of the playing stuff for me. But in terms of my family and me, we’re loving it here and have felt really welcomed here as well, just like we kinda were in LA.”

Receiving his ‘24 ring at Fenway is an especially full-circle moment for Buehler, who first came to the ballpark as a visiting player during the 2018 World Series. Boston ultimately won four games to one, but the Dodgers’ lone win was the historically-long Game 3. Buehler, then a 24-year-old rookie, gave his team seven scoreless innings. One hit, no walks.

He turns 31 on Monday.

What would Buehler say if he could speak to that rookie version of himself?

“I wouldn’t say anything! I was a lot better then, I think,” he quipped. “I wouldn’t change anything about my career– obviously except for getting hurt, probably would be the only thing. I enjoyed my time in LA a lot. (From) a lot of those playoff runs, I think I’ve grown from and learned a lot about myself in, and I think now I’m just trying to kind of help the younger guys here that haven’t done that before.”

As for when he got closure on his Dodgers chapter, that door is both open and closed.

“I think you already have (closure),” he said, then added. “Everyone kind of knows I’m on a one-year contract, and so you never know what’s going to happen down the road.”

His media obligations complete, Buehler walked over to the visitors’ side of the field. Thronged by former teammates, he opened his ring box, admired it with them, and they posed for a photo together.

Then, ring box tucked under his arm, he walked across the diamond once again, back to his next chapter.