Yankees lament fifth-inning meltdown in World Series finale
All year, right through the American League Championship Series, the New York Yankees overcame a tendency to play sloppy baseball by vanquishing opponents with overwhelming talent. The metrics calculated -- and the eyes figured -- that they were the worst baserunning team in the majors during the regular season. They regularly committed head-scratching defensive miscues. They were not nearly as fundamentally sound as one would expect from a 94-win AL champion.
But the Yankees flaunted superstars. They had Aaron Judge and Juan Soto fueling an offense that banged home runs. They had Gerrit Cole fronting a top-line starting rotation. They discovered an effective bullpen formula in time for October. Ultimately, they out-talented teams -- until they couldn't.
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Their shortcomings finally caught up with them in Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday night. A total defensive meltdown in the fifth inning, one that will be remembered as one of the worst in postseason history, cost the Yankees their season in a 7-6 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers at Yankee Stadium, ultimately ending their bid to become the first team to overcome a 3-0 series deficit in the World Series.
"This is like as bad as it gets," said Cole, the Yankees' Game 5 starter.
Cole was on the mound for the fifth-inning debacle. The right-hander, pitching on four days' rest for the fourth time this season, cruised up to the disaster, holding Los Angeles scoreless over four hitless innings. Cole threw just 49 pitches. The Dodgers' only baserunner reached on a walk. Trouble did not appear imminent. Then everything fell apart.
It started with Enrique Hernández breaking the modest no-hit bid with a leadoff single. Four pitches later, Tommy Edman hit a routine line drive to Judge in center field. An inning earlier, sure-handed Judge had made a highlight catch crashing into the wall to steal extra bases from Freddie Freeman. This time, he flubbed the liner for his first error in 2024 -- regular season or postseason.
"That doesn't happen, we got a different story tonight," Judge said.
From Wikipedia:
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. They are one of two major league clubs based in New York City alongside the National League (NL)'s New York Mets. The team was founded in 1903 when Frank Farrell and Bill Devery purchased the franchise rights to the defunct Baltimore Orioles (no relation to the current team of the same name) after it ceased operations and used them to establish the New York Highlanders. The Highlanders were officially renamed the Yankees in 1913.
The team is owned by Yankee Global Enterprises, a limited liability company that is controlled by the family of the late George Steinbrenner. Steinbrenner purchased the team from CBS in 1973. Currently, Brian Cashman is the team's general manager, Aaron Boone is the team's field manager, and Aaron Judge is the team captain. The team's home games were played at the original Yankee Stadium in the Bronx from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. In 1974 and 1975, the Yankees shared Shea Stadium with the Mets, in addition to the New York Jets and the New York Giants. In 2009, they moved into a new ballpark of the same name that was constructed adjacent to the previous facility, which was closed and demolished. The team is perennially among the leaders in MLB attendance.
Arguably the most successful professional sports franchise in the United States, the Yankees have won 21 American League East Division titles, 41 American League pennants, and 27 World Series championships, all of which are MLB records. The team has won more titles than any other franchise in the four major North American sports leagues, after briefly trailing the NHL's Montreal Canadiens between 1993 and 1999. The Yankees have had 44 players and 11 managers inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, including many of the most iconic figures in the sport's history, such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, and Reggie Jackson; more recent inductees include Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter, who received the two highest vote percentages of all Hall of Fame members.
According to Forbes, the Yankees are the second-highest valued sports franchise in the world, after the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, with an estimated value in 2023 of approximately $7.1 billion. The team has garnered enormous popularity and a dedicated fanbase, as well as widespread enmity from fans of other MLB teams. The team's rivalry with the Boston Red Sox is one of the most well-known rivalries in North American sports. The team's logo is internationally known as a fashion item and an icon of New York City and the United States.
From 1903 through the 2024 season, the Yankees' overall win–loss record is 10,778–8,148–88 (a .569 winning percentage)