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Can the Yankees pull off a miracle with Cole back on the mound?

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After forcing a game five with an 11-4 victory, New York will throw its ace pitcher out in hopes of sending the World Series back to Los Angeles.

In the first three games of the 2024 MLB World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers used a game-winning grand slam off the bat of Freddie Freeman to spearhead another two victories and claim a dominant 3-0 series lead over the New York Yankees. Heading into game four, many around the New York area believed all hope was lost, with their superstar hitter Aaron Judge continuing to struggle at the plate as he has for most of the Playoffs. 

Freeman has hit a home run in every game of the series, including a two-run shot in the first inning to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead before the Yankees even came to bat. As a silence fell over Yankee Stadium, the team rallied to load the bases in the third inning and watched as its 23-year old shortstop of the future hit a grand slam to give New York a 5-2 lead. The Yankees scored six more runs before the game ended to keep the series alive and win game four by a score of 11-4. 

Now, with the chance to send the series back to Los Angeles, New York will send ace pitcher Gerrit Cole onto the mound against Jack Flaherty of the Dodgers, with both having put together strong efforts in game one of the series. Cole was pulled a bit early in the eyes of most, having only thrown 88 pitches and six innings of one-run ball. Now he will have the chance to carry New York to a game six, which has never been done before in the World Series when a team goes up 3-0. 

If New York is to win game five, the pressure would certainly shift towards Los Angeles, as the team would only have one more opportunity to clinch a title before it goes to a decisive game seven. Both games would take place in Los Angeles, though, so the Dodgers would have two chances to win the series at home in the event it were to lose on october 30. 

On DraftKings sportsbook, New York is favored on the money line with odds of -148, with the operator showing confidence that the Yankees’ $324m ace will perform as expected and help his team book a flight to Los Angeles. 20 years prior to the ongoing series, the Boston Red Sox managed to comeback from 3-0 down against the Yankees en route to winning its first World Series title in 86 years. 

While that Red Sox squad and this current Yankees team are obviously different, it would be quite poetic for the Yankees to make history two decades to the date its biggest rival managed to do the same. Funnily enough, the Dodgers manager is Dave Roberts, who was part of the 2004 Red Sox team that pulled off the comeback against New York. 

While players such as Freeman and Volpe have shown out, the expected production from Judge and Dodger’s superstar Shohei Ohtani has been severely lacking to this point. Combined, the two are 4-30 with one run batted in (RBI) and four walks while adding 11 strikeouts over four games. The lack of hitting from both comes as a surprise with Judge and Ohtani set to receive the Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards from each of their respective leagues for their efforts throughout the regular season. This is also their first time playing in a World Series, and Ohtani’s first ever trip to the postseason in general, so perhaps the bright lights have shined a little too much on the biggest names in baseball. 

Ohtani has been dealing with an injured shoulder since game two, so that could be a factor in his lack of power shown in the last two matchups. There are no injury excuses for Judge, though, and the poor postseason form he’s shown has been an unfortunate constant during his career. In 97 Playoff games, Judge has hit for just a sub-.200 batting average, 15 home runs and 32 RBIs while striking out 86 times. 

If the Yankees are to comeback from its now 3-1 deficit in the series, it will need its franchise slugger to find his regular season form and provide some insurance for his pitching staff. Although Cole should only need a few runs to keep the game in the Yankees favor, New York’s offense needs to keep its momentum rolling after scoring 11 runs in game four. 

The Yankees are +600 to win the series on DraftKings, but if the team were to win game five, those odds would most likely decrease to around +300 or even lower. As stated previously, once a team down 3-0 gets the series to a sixth game, the pressure moves completely to the opposition, even in this case where the final two games would be played in Los Angeles. If one were to believe Cole will put on an elite performance in game five and send the World Series back to Dodger Stadium, hopping on New York’s odds to win the series now is the smarter play than waiting to see how October 30 plays out. 

This World Series will still be one to remember despite the currently unbalanced result and the lack of production from its biggest headliners, due in part to the growth MLB has been able to achieve. Viewership for each World Series game, and the Dodgers previous series with the New York Mets, have set record highs throughout the Playoffs, and the sport is only continuing to grow in countries such as Japan as residents get to watch Ohtani play meaningful baseball for the first time in his career.

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