Game 1 of the World Series was played last night, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. I had 3 concerns going into this Series:
1. There would be at least 1 game where the Yankees just didn't hit.
2. There would be at least 1 start where Gerrit Cole would not pitch like an ace.
3. There would be at least 1 game where the bullpen would blow it.
The next question was, if and when any of those things happened, how many times would the Dodgers take advantage of it, and win? If it was 4, then they would win the Series.
Last night, #2 didn't happen: Cole was fine. But #1 and #3 happened. The Yankees needed baserunners, and didn't get enough of them. Juan Soto drew a walk in the 1st inning, and was stranded. Anthony Rizzo led off the 2nd with a single, got to 2nd base, but got no closer. Gleyber Torres singled to lead off the 3rd, but was erased on a double play. Alex Verdugo, who went on to make 2 great catches, singled in the 5th, but was stranded.
With the Dodgers leading 1-0, Soto led off the top of the 6th with a single. Judge struck out -- his 3rd of the game, and his 2nd with Soto on 1st. Then Stanton hit a long drive down the left-field line. If it was fair, it was out, and I wasn't sure until it landed: It was out. 2-1 Yankees.
Jazz Chisholm singled. But Rizzo struck out. Anthony Volpe was intentionally walked, and Austin Wells singled. Bases loaded. This could have been where the Yankees broke the game wide open. But Verdugo struck out to end the inning.
At the age of 32, Judge finally got his 1st World Series hit, a single, with 2 out in the 7th. But Stanton, who has been doing in this season what we had hoped Judge would do, flipped the script, and stranded him by striking out.
The Dodgers tied the game in the 8th. With 2 out in the top of the 9th, Torres doubled, and Soto was intentionally walked to set up the force play. Walking somebody intentionally to pitch to Aaron Judge? In the postseason, it works: Judge popped up.
The game went to extra innings. Thank God, no "ghost runner" in the postseason. Stanton struck out. But Chisholm stole 2nd. Rizzo was intentionally walked. Chisholm stole 3rd. Volpe grounded to short, and Tommy Edman, the Most Valuable Player of the National League Championship Series, couldn't make the throw to home plate, opting to go to 2nd base instead. Rizzo was out, but Chisholm scored, and Volpe was safe at 1st. Then Volpe stole 2nd. This could have been a big inning. Then Wells struck out.
If the top of the 10th felt like a return to the Joe Torre era, the bottom of the 10th was pure Brian Cashman "gutless wonder" baseball, with a bit of Aaron "Baboone" managing thrown in. After Luke Weaver got out of a jam in the 8th with only 1 run, and pitched a scoreless 9th, Boone brought Jake Cousins in to pitch the 10th. He got Will Smith to fly out, but walked Gavin Lux. (Sounds like the real name of a comic book villain.) Edman grounded to 2nd, and Oswaldo Cabrera, having replaced Torres, couldn't make a throw.
A 1-run lead, but men on 1st and 2nd, 1 out, and the next 3 batters are Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Career OPS+'s, respectively: 157, 138 and 142. Career home runs? Ohtani 225 at age 30, Betts 271 at 32, and Freeman 343 at 35. Barring further injury, all 3 of them are likely to finish with at least 400, and Ohtani may well top 500.
Boone could have brought in Tim Hill, who has been very effective in this postseason. Instead, he (apparently) looked at stats only for Yankee pitchers against Ohtani, and brought in Nestor Cortés, who, due to injury, hadn't pitched since September 18. The Yankees have a history of unlikely postseason heroes, but this move looked really unlikely.
Ohtani sliced one into the left-field corner. It looked like a sure double, to tie or even win the game. Instead, Verdugo ran over and made a great catch, then managed to throw back and hold the runners. If Cortés had managed to get 1 more out, and the Yankees ended up winning the Series, it would have been a play that lived forever.
It lived just 2 more plate appearances. Boone made the mistake of ordering Betts walked to load the bases, and set up the out at any base. The next batter was Freddie Freeman, who has already won a World Series with the 2021 Atlanta Braves, and has been key for the Dodgers ever since. He hit a no-doubt-about-it game-winning grand slam, landing in the right field pavilion, roughly where the ball that Kirk Gibson hit to win Game 1 of the 1988 World Series landed, the 1st homer to be called a "walkoff." Dodgers 6, Yankees 3.
The Yankees were 1 out away from taking home-field advantage away from the Dodgers. But they lost this game because Boone made the wrong strategy choices, and because, in innings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 combined, they got only 5 singles and 2 walks, 1 of those intentional.
They needed to score 3 runs in the 1st 9 innings, and couldn't do it. Counting the postseason, the Yankees are 91-37 when they score at least 3 runs, and 8-34 when they don't.
So now, instead of needing to win 4 out of 7, the Yankees need to win 4 out of 6.
Great game, lousy result. But the last time I said that was after Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, and the Yankees won the next 2 to take the Pennant.
Do you know how many times the Yankees have lost Game 1, and still gone on to win the World Series? They did it in 1923, 1936, 1951, 1952, 1956, 1958, 1978, 1996 and 2009.
So there is hope.
Don't tell me the Red Sox have won 9. They have won 5. They cheated for their last 4
Don't tell me the A's have won 9. The Philadelphia Athletics (R.I.P., 1901-1954) won 5, the Oakland Athletics (R.I.P, 1968-2024) won 4, and the Sacramento Athletics, obviously, have won none.
Game 2 is tonight at 8:00. Carlos Rodón starts against Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
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