Halloween started early in the Bronx after a nightmare on 161st Street.
The New York Yankees had come back to life. Mirroring the night before, one swing was all it took to ignite the Bronx Bombers’ offense against the Dodgers, this time off the bat of the captain himself.
As many believed it would, Aaron Judge’s first career home run in the World Series sparked an offensive surge that filled the Yankee faithful with something it had lacked throughout much of the series — hope. Jazz Chisholm Jr. immediately followed up the 403-foot two-run blast with a solo shot of his own, sending Yankee Stadium into a frenzy.
Alex Verdugo singled home Anthony Volpe and sent Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty to the dugout before he could complete two innings. Giancarlo Stanton tacked on one more with yet another homer, extending the Yankee lead to 5-0 before the Dodgers could blink.
With a revitalized offense and Gerrit Cole throwing a gem on the mound, the Yankees were set to become the first team in baseball history to force a Game 6 in the World Series after falling behind 3-0. Then came the fifth inning.
The Yankees had a disastrous meltdown in Game 5
In the most important start of his career, Cole was untouchable. He had a no-hitter through four innings, allowing just two baserunners on walks. Just like in Game 1, he was mowing down the Dodgers’ offense with ease.
The Yankees ace surrendered a leadoff single to open up the fifth inning and things took a turn for the worse. After a legacy moment in the first inning, Judge dropped a routine fly ball — his first error of the entire season. Immediately after, Volpe, the reigning AL Gold Glove shortstop, dealt a wild throw on a fielder’s choice to load the bases with no one out.
Without the support of his defense, Cole stayed resilient and decided to do it himself, emphatically striking out Max Muncy and Shohei Ohtani back-to-back. He then got Mookie Betts to hit a ground ball to first baseman Anthony Rizzo, however, the pitcher failed to cover the bag and get the out.
Not only did the combination of misplays give up a run, but it also opened the floodgates for one of the most monumental collapses in baseball history. The Dodgers continued to hit and before the Yankees knew it, the game was tied at five apiece. They finally escaped the devastating inning but the damage had been done.
Of the five runs Cole surrendered in his 38-pitch fifth inning, none were earned.
Cole rebounded nicely and pitched into the seventh inning, holding a one-run lead after a sacrifice fly from Stanton in the bottom of the sixth. However, the disastrous inning had completely changed the game; the energy once flowing through Yankee Stadium was seemingly nowhere to be found.
As if it couldn’t get any worse, defensive miscues continued for the Yankees in the form of a catcher’s interference and a balk, allowing the Dodgers to take a 7-6 lead in the top of the 8th inning. The Los Angeles lead would hold – as the Yankee offense once again went quiet – and the Dodgers secured their eighth World Series title in franchise history.
Cole didn’t sugarcoat the team’s performance postgame, noting, “This is like as bad as it gets.”
The Yankees’ season-long weaknesses were exposed in World Series
The disastrous fifth inning in Game 5 served as a microcosm for the fundamental fragility that infested the Yankees throughout much of this season. As described by Yankees radio broadcaster Suzyn Waldman, “Every weakness the Yankees have had all year has come out in this game.”
New York may have won 94 games this season but defensive mistakes, careless base-running, and managerial blunders consistently surfaced during their 2024 campaign. While they were able to coast through the regular season and American League in spite of their irresponsible play at times, it was only a matter of time before it came back to haunt them.
Although they narrowly avoided a sweep, the Yankees had plenty of opportunities to beat the Dodgers. While the struggles of Judge were well documented, Ohtani’s offensive production was also nonexistent in the World Series. The $700-million man hit just 2-19 (.105) without a single RBI in the Fall Classic.
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The Yankees were a frame away from stealing Game 1 in Los Angeles. Despite the monumental mishandling of an 8th-inning relay that stretched an Ohtani double into a triple — where he eventually scored on a sacrifice fly — the team had an 88.7% win probability carrying a one-run lead into the tenth inning.
Nevertheless, Yankee manager Aaron Boone’s decision to call upon Nestor Cortes Jr. to record the final two outs after not pitching in over a month proved fatal, as Freddie Freeman launched a walk-off grand slam that halted the Yankees’ momentum for the following two games.
Before the nightmare fifth inning in Game 5, the Yankees’ win probability was a whopping 96.5%.
In his postgame interview, Judge acknowledged that his costly defensive error completely shifted the outcome of the game:
“That doesn’t happen, we got a different story tonight.”
In some other timeline, the Yankees are up 3-2 heading back to Los Angeles to secure their 28th World Series trophy. In this one, though, the Yankees’ season-long fundamental blunders eventually came back to haunt them against a team that knew how to capitalize.
