The bar is set very high at Yankee Stadium. The home team has won more championships than any club in any major North American sport, more than the Boston Celtics or Montreal Canadiens. The Yanks haven’t won one – or even participated in a World Series – since 2009, which qualifies as a major drought by club standards, so the fanbase rabidly anticipated this matchup with their longstanding, once-intracity rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
There would have been no shame in losing this matchup under just about any set of circumstances. The Dodgers rated as the better club by most measures (including my team true-talent rankings) and had the home-field advantage. But the way this one wound up going down – man, that’s going to leave a mark.
The Yankees were outclassed in the first three games of the series, digging themselves a hole that no World Series club has ever escaped. This after jumping to an early lead in Game 1 at Dodger Stadium. Franchise player and soon-to-be-named AL MVP Aaron Judge’s postseason ineptitude was dragging on, and none of his supporting cast was able to stave off the heroics of the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman, who was maintaining a strict homer-per-game diet.
But then – signs of life in Game 4. Despite spotting the visitors an early 2-0 lead, the Yanks rolled behind young SS Anthony Volpe, whose 3rd inning grand slam gaves them the lead for good and kept their flickering hopes alive. They had another home game on tap, with their ace Gerrit Cole on the mound and Judge’s at bats starting to look a little better than a lost cause.
And as Game 5 got underway, the momentum appeared to be real. Judge, 1st inning homer, check. Tack-on longballs by Jazz Chisholm and Giancarlo Stanton, check. 5-0 Yanks. Dominant Cole performance – check. Four no-hit innings at a reasonable pitch count. With their win expectancy soaring over the 95% mark, it seemed virtually certain that both clubs would be making the long plane trip west to wrap up this series in L.A.. The only thing that could intervene was, say, the most poorly timed self-immolation in baseball history.
It started off with a clean single by Enrique Hernandez. No big deal……bottom of the order coming up, Cole’s stuff is still electric.
The Fly Ball
Judge has been in a funk this entire postseason at the plate, and while he is not a great defender in center field, he has not carried his offensive woes out there. In fact, he made an exceptional play deep in the left-center field gap earlier in this game to rob Freeman of an extra-base hit. Then he dropped a routine line drive/fly ball off of the bat of Tommy Edman to put runners at 1st and 2nd with none out. Replays showed that he took his eye off of the ball at the last minute. It was so unexpected that baserunner Hernandez was taken off guard and almost forced at second. How bad was this one – you would be hard-pressed to find an easier chance booted for an error by an outfielder all season. And in this spot? Wow. But at least you’ve still got a dominant Cole on the mound, and the bottom of the order still up.
The Ground Ball
Up steps Dodger catcher Will Smith, who taps a routine grounder to SS Volpe, his best play is right in front of him at third base……..and he bounces his throw there, and 3B Jazz Chishom is unable to corral it. Of anything negative that happened to the Yankees this inning, this was the most “normal” mistake. While Volpe is an exceptional defender, a Gold Glove finalist, this kind of stuff happens. The timing is terrible, but hey, you’ve still got Cole on the mound, a five-run lead……but lookie there, Shohei Ohtani is on deck, with the rest of the Dodgers’ lethal top of the order right behind him. Cole’s pitch count is still manageable, but he obviously has major work ahead of him now.
And he gets plenty of work done. He bears down and strikes out both Gavin Lux and Ohtani, and still has his 5-0 lead with the bases still loaded and now two outs.
The Other Ground Ball
The pitch count is now mounting. Cole’s stuff is still solid but he’s clearly exerted a great deal of effort this inning. Mookie Betts hits a soft grounder to Anthony Rizzo, who’s recovering from two broken fingers and hasn’t hit a homer in over four and a half months. The cadence of the play is clearly off, as Rizzo doesn’t charge and Cole appears to get lost in no man’s land between the pitcher’s mound and first base. You could see the play falling apart in real time. Betts hustled all the way and neither Cole nor Rizzo could adjust in time. It was only 5-1 and there were still two outs, but you just knew what was coming next.
Cole’s competitive edge was frayed, and he was quickly reached for a two-run single by Freeman and a game-tying two-run double by Teoscar Hernandez. Yes, Cole would continue to pitch and the Yanks would even briefly give him a 6-5 lead, but for all intents and purposes, this one was over. The Dodgers were going to be celebrating on enemy turf on this night.
In this day and age of expanded playoffs, there are no guarantees of returning to the World Series for even the game’s richest franchises. Juan Soto is headed off to free agency with this sour taste in his mouth. Judge and Cole are both in their thirties and have likely peaked as players. Stanton hit a power streak this October, but also showed that he is physically in steep decline. 2B Gleyber Torres is also likely to depart as a free agent. Outside of Volpe, the Yanks’ younger charges did not acquit themselves particularly well this postseason.
Brian Cashman has the resources and acumen to keep the Yanks relevant and then some, but he has work to do. And the legacies of the Judges and Coles, the standard bearers of this era of Yankee baseball, are beginning to look complicated at best. All roads lead to the top of the 5th inning of Game 5 of the World Series on October 30, 2024.
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