Dodgers Take World Series In Five After Yankees Cough Up Five-Run Lead

 

Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman celebrate when the Dodgers rallied in the fifth inning. @Dodgers.

The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series after they erased a five-run deficit in Game 5, to beat the Yankees, 7-6, on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.

This is the Dodgers' second World Championship in five years, and first in a full season since 1988. It also is their fourth against the Yankees, starting with their 1955 win while still in Brooklyn, then 1963 and '81 before this triumph.

The game started off just the way the Yankees would have hoped after their 10-4 win on Tuesday night. They rocked Dodgers ace Jack Flaherty, as Juan Soto walked before Aaron Judge crushed one the other way to right field for a two-run home run, his first of the World Series.

Then, Jazz Chisholm Jr., who homered in Game 4, blasted one of his own to right field and just like that, it was 3-0 Yankees.

In the second, Anthony Volpe led off with a double and came in to score on a single from Alex Verdugo, and that chased Flaherty, who spit the bit once again in a possible clincher Game 5 in New York. (the Mets rocked him for eight runs in the NLCS to stay alive)

Then, with Ryan Brasier on for L.A. in the top of the third, Mr. October 2024 Giancarlo Stanton blasted one to right field on the first pitch he saw from the right-hander to make it 5-0 Yankees.

By this point, Cole was cruising easily, as he went through the first four innings yielding just two walks and averaging around 10 pitches per inning. The fourth inning also featured a poster shot of Judge robbing Freddie Freeman of an extra-base hit in front of the Dodger bullpen.

Then, in the fifth, the Yankee resurgence was tested big time. Enrique Hernandez led off with a single, and then Tommy Edman lined what should have been an easy fly ball to Judge, and it popped out of his glove.

Then, Will Smith bounced one to Volpe, and he tried to get a force out at third base, but he had nothing on the throw, so it was the Yankees' second error in as many plays.

Cole then struck out Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani, and he got Mookie Betts to hit a grounder to first base, so he appeared to get out of it unscathed - until...

Cole misjudged where Anthony Rizzo was, and assumed he would take it himself to the bag, when he was looking for Cole to race across the bag to complete the out.

Instead, Betts ran right through the bag and E. Hernandez scored to get L.A. on the board.

Then, Freeman dunked one in to center field to bring in two more runs, and Teoscar Hernandez crushed a double to left-center field that got past Judge to bring in two more, and suddenly it was 5-5.

Cole, obviously shaken by this point, walked Max Muncy, and then E. Hernandez, the 10th batter of the inning, came up and he grounded into a force out to shortstop.

Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said of that fateful fifth inning in his postgame press conference, "Yeah, just we didn't take care of the ball well enough in that inning. Against a great team like that, they took advantage. It looked like just kind of that sinking liner that just Judgey missed.

"The play to Volpe, the right move obviously going to third, a little bit of a short hop over there to at third, didn't complete the play. And then Mookie hits a squibber so Rizz couldn't really run through it. He kind of had to stay there and make sure he secured the catch because of the spin on the ball. And I think Gerrit just - all that he went through in that inning, kind of spent and kind of almost working his way out of it, just didn't react quick enough to get over."

When then asked what the cause of Judge flubbing that fly ball was, Boone said, "I haven't gone there with him yet."

Even though Cole worked a ton in the fifth, he came back for the next inning and retired L.A. in order in the top of the sixth.

That gave the Yankees the boost they needed to re-take the lead, as Brusdar Graterol walked Soto and Judge to start it off, and Stanton brought Soto in with a sacrifice fly to give them a 6-5 lead.

Cole came back for the top of the seventh inning, and retired the first two before walking Freeman, when he exited. He went 6 2/3 innings, and allowed no earned runs - all five he allowed in the fifth inning were unearned - on four hits and four walks, with six strikeouts.

Clay Holmes came on to strike out Max Muncy with two runners on to get out of the seventh.

Instead of keeping him in for the eighth, the Yankees turned to Tommy Kahnle, a decision that blew up in their faces.

E. Hernandez led off with a single, then Edman followed with one of his own before Smith walked to load the bases, and that was all for him.

In came closer Luke Weaver, and he have up a sacrifice fly to Lux to tie the game. 

Ohtani then reached on a catcher's interference to load the bases, and that brought up Betts, and he did what would be expected.

Betts lofted a fly ball to center field for a sacrifice fly to bring in Edman and make it 7-6 Dodgers.

The Dodgers stuck with Blake Treinen, who had already thrown an inning-and-a-third, for the bottom of the eighth and the heart of the Yankees order.

Treinen got Soto to ground out to first base to open it up before Judge laced a double into the left field corner. Chisholm then walked to give the Yankees two runners on and one out, but Stanton flew out to right field and Rizzo struck out to end the frame.

The Dodger then turned to the Game 3 starting pitcher Walker Buehler, to close it out. He got Volpe to ground out to third base, and then struck out Wells and Verdugo to clinch it.

Los Angeles is now the first team to overcome a five-run deficit in a clinching win. It is their eighth championship overall, which puts them one behind the Boston Red Sox and the Athletics, who have each won nine. Second overall is the St. Louis Cardinals with 11 before you get to the Yankees' 27 championships.

Boone said of the end of the season for his American League championship team, "I talked to you throughout the postseason and this World Series just about the closeness of that room. Really that's what it was all about, just guys pouring their hearts out and being there for one another, loving each other, because obviously this is a very difficult moment for us. You get to this point, as I said to the guys, obviously it stings now. But this is going to sting forever. There were just a lot of heartfelt messages to each other.

"I congratulate the Dodgers and (Manager) Dave (Roberts) on winning it all. They were the better team in this series, but it doesn't take away my pride in this group, what we've been through, what they've gone through, what they've battled through, and the togetherness they have."

On what it meant to get the Yankees to the World Series in his seventh season, but ultimately come up short, Boone said, "I mean, I'm heartbroken. It doesn't take away my pride of what that room means to me and what that group forged this year and what we've been through to get here. But I'm heartbroken. 

"I'm heartbroken, and I'm heartbroken for those guys that poured so much into this. The ending is cruel. It always is. I haven't had that feeling of being - celebrating and going home. Like many of the guys in there, I'm 51. I poured my life into that. You're chasing that, and when you get that close, it's heartbreaking."

On if his empathy is greater since he went through this as a player, losing the 2003 World Series as the Yankees third baseman, Boone said, "I'm a product of my experiences, so maybe that feeling in 2003 of - I can still see the Marlins and hear the Marlins celebrating on our field, and it was one of the most painful moments that I've experienced.

"2019 in Houston was super painful. This with this group - I keep saying it, the closeness of this group, just heartbroken for the room."