2 weeks Ago By Kevin Hickey
The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers delivered a classic in Game 1 of the World Series, resulting in a 6-3 win for Los Angeles in extra innings. A continuation of the historic postseason rivalry got off to an incredible start with a pitching duel between Yankees ace Gerrit Cole and Dodgers ace Jack Flaherty. Both teams made some mistakes on the defensive side of the ball, and the Dodgers were able to take advantage of their handful of opportunities.
The Yankees once again squandered plenty of opportunities, leaving 11 runners on base. Still, the Yankees were able to take a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the 10th inning thanks in large part to Jazz Chisholm's speed. However, the Dodgers eventually broke through and Freddie Freeman sealed the deal with a game-winning grand slam to give Los Angeles the Game 1 lead.
Yankees vs. Dodgers Game 1 takeaways Giancarlo Stanton continues torrid streak Fresh off his American League Championship Series MVP nod in which he hit four home runs in five games, Stanton wasted no time in Game 1 of the World Series to make his mark. After reaching on an error in his first at-bat and striking out in his second at-bat, Stanton took advantage of a hanging breaking ball from Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty.
Flex on 'em, G 💪 pic.twitter.com/sHeHlkuKwU The mammoth designated hitter hit an equally towering shot in the top of the sixth inning to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.
Gerrit Cole delivers a gem In the highly anticipated matchup against Jack Flaherty, Cole delivered an absolute gem for the Yankees. With today's game centered around the bullpen, Cole pitched like a true ace in Game 1. Cole started the game with two loud outs from Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts.
With two outs in the first inning, Freddie Freeman hit a triple to left field after Alex Verdugo misplayed the ball after it ricocheted off the side wall down the line. Cole was locked in after that, retiring 11 batters in a row and tossing four scoreless innings. Kike Hernandez snapped that streak in the fifth inning when he hit a line drive to the right-field corner.
A poor route from Juan Soto allowed Hernandez to get a triple with one out. Catcher Will Smith drove in Hernandez immediately after with a sac fly to right field. Working with a lead after Stanton's mammoth homer, Cole worked around a leadoff double from Kike Hernandez with some smooth help from third baseman Jazz Chisholm, who made an incredible play to save a run.
Aaron Boone's controversial decision paid off...
After a tough battle against Teoscar Hernandez resulted in a leadoff single to begin the seventh inning, manager Aaron Boone made a controversial decision to pull Cole in favor of Clay Holmes. The idea was to have Holmes face lefty Max Muncy in hopes of getting a double play. Instead, Holmes looked like he picked up where he left off the ALCS by hitting Muncy on just three pitches.
Kike Hernandez moved the runners over to second and third base with one out. Then came arguably the biggest at-bat of the night when Holmes got a massive out against Will Smith, who popped up to Anthony Volpe with one out. Tommy Kahnle came in to get the final out of the seventh inning by getting Gavin Lux to ground out to second base.
It was an extremely questionable call by Boone to bring Holmes in given how strong Cole looked. But it paid off. .
..Until it didn't The decision to bring in Nestor Cortes, fresh off an elbow injury and likely pitching under 100%, to face the Dodgers' best hitters in the bottom of the 10th was a head-scratcher.
Though Cortes got Shohei Ohtani to fly out, Freddie Freeman took a 93 mph fastball into the seats in right field to win the game. Opting to go with Cortes fresh off the injury in his first appearance since Sept. 18 over an established lefty like Tim Hill, who's had immense success, will be a highly criticized move.
Defensive lapses doom the Yankees While the Dodgers missed plenty of opportunities to score, they did take advantage of some incredible defensive lapses on the Yankees' side. The first came on the Hernandez triple in the fifth inning. The line drive he hit only had a 5% catch probability, and Soto took a terrible route.
Instead of getting more depth, he allowed the ball to roll around in the corner. Hernandez then scored on a sac fly. The next one came in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Shohei Ohtani slammed a Tommy Khanle changeup off the right field wall. Soto had some trouble getting the ball out of his glove, leading to an easy double. However, Gleyber Torres misplayed the short hop and no one was trailing the runner due to the lack of a double cut.
This led to the ball skipping off Torres' glove into a vacated infield. Ohtani moved to third base, and Mookie Betts drove him in with a sac fly. These are the types of plays the Yankees cannot make if they are going to win this series.
Aaron Judge's struggles continue Though the Yankees' captain notched his first World Series hit with a single in the seventh inning, the rest of his night could not have gone worse. The MLB leader in home runs and RBI continued to struggle during the postseason. Outside of his single, Judge struck out three times.
He saw 22 pitches over four at-bats. Of his 13 swings, Judge whiffed seven times (54%). He was often late on fastballs and chasing breaking balls out of the zone.
The Yankees likely don't have a chance unless Judge steps up in a way we haven't seen from him this postseason..
