The Yankees staged a keen competition in a tension-filled Game 5 of the World Series, and it was with themselves.
It was once again the Yankees’ overwhelming talent vs. their underwhelming carelessness.
It was their skillfulness vs. their sloppiness.
Turns out their talent couldn’t quite carry the day, which ended in devastating defeat and painful elimination as the Dodgers, very skilled yet significantly more solid, were crowned World Series champions.
The Yankees hoped to book a flight to Hollywood, to continue to try to write the greatest World Series script ever but instead penned a final heartbreaking chapter in their 7-6 defeat against the Dodgers before a sold-out Yankee Stadium in the matchup of marquee franchises.
The Yankees were hoping to join the 2004 Red Sox as the only team to win a postseason series of any sort after falling behind 3-0 in games, which, you’ll recall was done against the Yankees in the ALCS. But instead, a very nice season, which resulted in their first Fall Classic appearance in 15 years, ended in heartbreak.
The Yankees couldn’t quite outplay their mistakes, blowing leads of 5-0 and 6-5. Their biggest-money stars shined in the finale before abject overall negligence did them in.
Certain regular-season MVP Aaron Judge hit his first World Series home run, doubled and walked twice as the Yanks looked like they were going to be all right — he was going to emerge in October. The new Mr. October, Giancarlo Stanton, homered yet again and Juan Soto reached base four times. And, oh yes, ace Gerrit Cole pitched into the seventh without allowing an earned run — although there were five unearned runs from an unforgettable nightmare of a fifth inning.
That’s when the Dodgers tied the score with the aid of errors by Judge and Anthony Volpe and a failure to record an out on a routine bases-loaded, two-out grounder by Mookie Betts to first base (Cole and first baseman Anthony Rizzo both assumed the other would be getting there) on a play that could have kept the inning scoreless.
In the end, absentmindedness trumped ability. It was a sorry way for the uber-talented club to go out.