If the New York Yankees had played clean defense in the World Series, they likely would have a 3-2 series lead heading back to California.
Instead, the Los Angeles Dodgers won the Fall Classic in five games.
The Bronx Bombers lived up to their name early in Game 5 on Wednesday night, getting out to a 5-0 lead thanks to home runs by Aaron Judge, Jazz Chisholm and Giancarlo Stanton.
Gerrit Cole was dominating, but all of a sudden, it all unraveled. Judge, right after rewriting his postseason script, dropped a fly ball, putting runners on first and second. Then, Chisholm could not handle a low throw by Anthony Volpe, which loaded the bases.
Cole got the next two guys out without allowing a run, and he seemed to get out of the inning with a weak grounder to first. However, it corkscrewed on Anthony Rizzo, and with Cole not covering, a run scored, and everyone was safe.
Then, the Dodgers pounced, as World Series MVP Freddie Freeman drove in two runs with a single, and then Teoscar Hernandez drove in another pair with a double to tie the game.
The Yanks would regain the lead, but a tired bullpen gave it back up.
Derek Jeter won five titles with the Yanks, so he knows exactly what it takes – and he was befuddled.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever quite seen an inning like this, especially in a World Series or postseason game,” Jeter said on FOX’s postgame show. “The Yankees made some mistakes. You cannot make mistakes against a team like the Dodgers. In that particular inning, they gave them six outs. You just cannot make that many mistakes.”
DODGERS WIN WORLD SERIES AFTER INCREDIBLE GAME 5 COMEBACK OVER YANKEES
“This is one of the greatest meltdowns that I’ve ever seen in 40 years,” added 2009 World Series hero Alex Rodriguez said.
Defense had been a worry for the Yankees all season long, but they were able to outslug it from April to September. However, October is a different animal.
It affected the Yankees in Game 1, as well; triples should have been doubles, maybe even singles. However, on two occasions, the Yanks gave Los Angeles a free 90 feet, putting runners on third base, and sac flies scored both runs. Without those misplays, runners are likely stranded on base, and Aaron Boone never makes the controversial decision to go with Nestor Cortes instead of Tim Hill.
However, as Hernandez said himself in the postseason, L.A. took advantage of the mistakes, and it was the little things that wound up giving the Dodgers their eighth World Series win in franchise history.
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