Dodgers Take World Series Thanks to Yankees Miscues

 Thanks to an unfathomable New York implosion that started in the top of the fifth inning of Game 5 and carried until Alex Verdugo struck out for the final out of the night, the Dodgers edged out the Yankees 7-6 to take the World Series in five games.

For a few innings, it felt like the Yankees would be on their way to sending the series back to Los Angeles for Game 6.

Gerrit Cole looks on in frustration. Getty Images.

Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning, and Giancarlo Stanton hit a solo shot in the fourth to stake New York to a 5-0 lead.

Then the bottom fell out in the top of the fifth as the Yankees fumbled it away.

Judge dropped a pop-up by Tommy Edman to get the ball rolling in the wrong direction. Then Anthony Volpe threw the ball away on an attempted play at third, allowing Kike Hernandez to reach safely.

Finally, Mookie Betts reached first base on an infield single when Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rizzo miscommunicated who would get to the first base bag. The Dodgers scored a run on the play to make it 5-1.

The floodgates opened when Freddie Freeman lined a two-run single to center, and Toscar Hernandez tied the game on a loud two-run double to center.

Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman celebrate. Getty Images.

All the runs were unearned to Cole’s line. Give credit to Cole for bouncing back. He would return to pitch nearly two full innings of shutout baseball and left with the lead when New York scratched out a run on a Stanton Sac Fly in the sixth inning.

It didn't get any better later. 

 Tommy Kanhle and Luke Weaver struggled to get out of the eighth inning, as the Dodgers grabbed the lead right back.

Kanhle loaded the bases on two singles and a walk before Will Lux hit a sac fly to drive in Kike Hernandez with the tying run.

Next Shohei Ohtani reached on catchers interference, a call that was challenged by the Yankees and upheld. After a balk was called on Weaver, Mookie Betts skied to center to drive in Edman with the winning run. 

It was as much a Yankees collapse as it was the Dodgers doing the little things to take the Series in the Bronx.

The Yankees in 2024 were a good team, but a flawed one as well. They didn’t do the fundamental things right all the time, and it showed in this World Series.