Now that the World Series is over, players who reached 2024 in the final year of their contracts are eligible for free agency.

First, Major Leagues will observe a five-day “quiet period” during which those free agents will only be able to negotiate with their current team.

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Perhaps no player increased his free agent pool over the past week like Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler.

After throwing five scoreless innings in Game 3 against the New York Yankees, Buehler was one of the few acceptable pitchers at manager Dave Roberts’ disposal for the final inning of Game 5.

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Buehler pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to close out the Dodgers’ 7-6 victory. In the sixth inning, the Dodgers and Yankees were tied 5-5 when Buehler walked to the Dodgers bullpen in preparation for a possible appearance late in the game. The 30-year-old right-hander had not pitched in relief since 2018, and never in the postseason.

After Blake Treinen pitched a scoreless eighth inning to preserve the Dodgers’ one-run lead, Buehler stepped up with his second key performance of the World Series.

The ending was triumphant for a pitcher who struggled mightily at times in his first season back from the second Tommy John surgery of his career. Buehler was 1-6 with a 5.38 ERA in 16 regular-season starts.

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While that might have been enough to disqualify him from the postseason roster in some years, the injury-plagued Dodgers rotation needed Buehler despite, not because of, his performance.

The San Diego Padres burned Buehler for six runs in the second inning of Game 3 of the National League Division Series. But that was the only inning of the 15 Buehler pitched this postseason in which he allowed a run.

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In a postgame interview with David Vassegh on SportsNet LA, Buehler confessed how deeply he felt the toll of his season-long struggles, which included missing the better part of two months with a hip injury.

“I thought they were going to release me,” Buehler told Vassegh.

“I don’t think they’ll release you now,” Vassegh responded.

“We’ll see,” Buehler said, before joining his celebrating teammates in the visitors’ clubhouse at Yankee Stadium.

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Clearly, Buehler’s free agent status was not far from his mind even in a moment of triumph.

Buehler is eligible to receive a qualifying offer, a one-year contract worth $21.05 million through 2025. While such a high salary might have seemed unfathomable when the month of October began, it’s now worth asking whether Buehler has pitched well enough in this postseason to receive the qualifying offer.

Would he accept the Dodgers’ qualifying offer or test the waters of free agency for the first time? As Buehler himself said: We’ll see.

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