On Wednesday night, playing in front of their fans, the New York Yankees gave away a chance to travel to Los Angeles and extend the World Series to at least six games. They threw away the game in a fateful fifth frame that included Aaron Judge dropping a routine fly ball, Gerrit Cole failing to cover first base in a close play, and Anthony Volpe spiking his throw to third base.
The Yankees were winning 5-0 when the debacle started. LA wound up winning 7-6, and five of their runs were unearned and occurred in that frame. They could have headed to the sixth frame with a 5-0 lead, but things don’t always work out so easily.
It was shocking and heartbreaking to watch the Yankees’ defense give away a five-run lead and every bit of momentum the team had, if that’s something you believe in.
The Yankees just had one of the ugliest collapses in the history of the game
The numbers say the Yankees debacle was one of the ugliest and most improbable not only in the World Series, but in MLB history.
“The Yankees are the only MLB team to: blow a 5+ run lead, allow 5+ unearned runs, commit 3+ errors, commit catcher’s interference and commit a balk… all in the same game, regular season or postseason (since earned runs became an official stat in both leagues in 1913),” OPTA Stats posted on X.
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The catcher interference and the balk came late in the game, and the former was crucial in the Dodgers’ eighth-inning rally that delivered the tying and winning runs via sac flies.
If you are a Yankees fan, Wednesday’s loss was as gut-wrenching as they come. It’s painful to think the series could potentially be 3-2 heading to LA, but New York just forgot how to play competitive baseball in the fifth inning and deflated the incredible vibes after the first four.
