Three games into their first World Series since 2009, the New York Yankees found themselves in a spot where no team wants to be. They were down three games to nil against a loaded team Los Angeles Dodgers team. They were faced with the seemingly impossible task of having to win four in a row to win it all. That’s been done before in a postseason series, and never in the World series.
New York won Game 4 handily with a final score of 11-4, to keep their season alive for at least another day. Anthony Volpe hit one big slamGleyber Torres hit a three-run homer, and Austin Wells had his best game in months.
It was a big step to get on the board, but the Yankees still have little to no chance of making that happen. They need to win three straight games against the Dodgers – two of which are in Los Angeles – to win it all.
As far-fetched as it is for New York to win the Fall Classic, they have to thank Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who seemingly showed no interest in winning Game 4 based on his pitching decisions. While it is obviously unlikely that the Yankees will make this comeback, the door is open for them to do just that. Here’s how it can be done.
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Game 5 of the World Series comes down to Gerrit Cole – it’s that simple. The Yankees gave him a nine-year contract worth $324 million to win games like this, and that’s what he has to do. When he gets going, he can lead his team to victory.
In Game 1 of this series, Cole definitely pitched well enough to give the Yankees the win. He allowed just one run, and that was in large part due to some people sloppy defense from Juan Soto, in six innings of work. He was pulled despite throwing only 88 pitches. An equal or better performance from the right-hander would go a long way.
This Yankees bullpen is depleted, as their starters not named Cole have thrown just 10 innings combined in three games. Luke Weaver, Tim Hill, Mark Leiter Jr. and Clay Holmes have all pitched in each of the last two games. They will almost certainly all be available for Game 5 with the season on the line, but how effective will they be? Quality length from Cole is a must. The Yankees need an ace-type performance.
Figuring out Jack Flaherty is tough, especially when his curveball is as effective as it was in Game 1 of this series (12 Yankees Fragrances on 17 swings per Baseball Savant), but they did get to him in the sixth inning of that game, when Giancarlo Stanton launched a two-run homer that immediately knocked him out of the game.
Their offense woke up in Game 4, but it would be nice to see them continue to show signs of life in what will be a much tougher Game 5. If they can put some pressure on Flaherty and shorten his outing, that would be great, but no matter how this offense plays out, it all comes down to Cole. The Yankees desperately need the reigning AL Cy Young winner to send this series back to Los Angeles.
If the Yankees can get that far, it would be impressive. They were essentially done after losing each of the first three games of the World Series, so sending them back to Los Angeles would be a small victory in itself. That said, though, the Yankees want to win the whole thing.
Game 6 will be a lot harder to win than Game 5 for a number of reasons. New York will be without Gerrit Cole, and the Dodgers will have Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The only clear advantage the Yankees had, at least on paper, was that their rotation was better than the Dodgers. This matchup does not favor the Yankees, and we saw that in Game 2.
That said, the Yankees will need more than what they got from Carlos Rodon, who allowed four runs on six hits in just 3.1 innings of work. Rodon signed a $162 million contract in free agency to pitch like an ace in big moments. Even if he isn’t Cole, he should be able to give the Yankees better than his last outing.
More importantly, Aaron Boone doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for his southpaw to completely implode. Rodon has allowed 11 earned runs this postseason, including seven in two miserable innings. Rodon is prone to the big inning, which can be a huge momentum killer in an elimination game. Getting length off of Rodon would be nice, but with a day off the day before, Rodon’s leash has to be microscopic.
The Yankees bullpen has been a surprising force in this series. They did not allow a single run in relief of Rodon in 4.2 innings in Game 2. They have allowed a total of six runs (five earned) in 18.2 innings of work in this series, four of which came via the Freddie Freeman walk- on Grand Slam in Game 1. Outside of that one rough inning, they were nothing short of dominant. Leaning on them is a must.
On the offensive side, the Yankees will just have to show up. The task is obviously tough for Yamamoto, but will this be Aaron Judge’s breakout game? Does Giancarlo Stanton have another big moment in him? It can’t all be Juan Soto, whose home run against Yamamoto was the only hit New York scored against him in Game 2 and the only run the Yankees have scored against the right-hander in 13.1 innings (including his regular-season start against NYY) . ).
Getting to Game 7 is a tough feat, but if the pitchers who make a combined $486 million show up, it’s not entirely impossible. Still, the task of actually winning a Game 7 is incredibly difficult, even after building the comeback to even the series.
The Yankees should have the psychological advantage considering they tied the series in improbable fashion, but again, the advantage they would have in the rotation isn’t necessarily an advantage in Game 7. what Walker Buehler may have looked likeit would be safe to say the Dodgers have the edge there.
Buehler delivered five scoreless innings in a 4-2 Dodgers win in Game 3 of the World Series, allowing just two hits and striking out five. That came after he pitched four scoreless innings against the New York Mets in Game 3 of the NLCS. Buehler had a rough season in the regular season, but he was always dynamite in October.
Even though Buehler looked great, the Yankees helped him a lot. The right-hander threw a total of 45 strikes that night, 16 of which were called. The Yankees looked at 16 pitches in the zone and did not call on those pitches. Granted, some of them were off the record in what a frustrating strike zone from home plate umpire Mark Carlson, but the Yankees weren’t as aggressive as they needed to be. Nine of the strikes called were on fastballs, which shouldn’t happen. At the very least, fastballs should be thrown into the zone.
Buehler had never pitched against the Yankees before, so perhaps New York’s hesitation had to do with not seeing him. Now that they’ve seen it, hopefully they’ll be more prepared to let it rip in a Game 7.
With their pitching, Boone needs to take the same approach with Clarke Schmidt as he did with Rodon. Gaining height would be nice, but you can’t expect it. He has allowed seven runs in 14.1 innings of work this postseason. He allowed a run in only four of those innings. Like Rodon, Schmidt had a crooked number problem in October. Six of his seven earned runs in the postseason have come in three combined innings.
Leaning on Los Angeles’ bullpen and a better approach at the plate against Buehler can give the Yankees their best chance at a 28th World Series victory.
Of course, mounting this kind of comeback is easier said than done. Things like better base running, better defense, and any kind of meaningful contribution from Judge will matter in all three of these games. While a comeback is extremely unlikely, the Dodgers gave them a little bit of hope.