Thoughts after Game 4 of the World Series

It’s funny, once the Yankees fell behind 3-0 in the World Series, I became much more zen. I mean, down 3-0, either things are going to end the way you expect, or you’re going to watch the greatest comeback in sports history. Down 3-0, I'm content to sit back and enjoy the ride, and the last bit of baseball until late February. This sport drives me nuts sometimes, but I love it.

"Kind of felt it after last night, like down 3-0, like why not go out tomorrow and have fun? Like see what happens," Austin Wells said after Game 4.

The Yankees have lived to play another day. Despite yet another Freddie Freeman homer – a first baseman who can hit home runs? what a concept! – the Yankees rallied for an 11-4 win in Game 4 on Tuesday night. Anthony Volpe hit the Yankees’ first postseason grand slam since Tino Martinez in 1998, Wells doubled and homered, the bullpen was dynamite, Gleyber Torres broke it open, and the Yankees have a pulse.

“I think I pretty much blacked out as soon as I saw it go over the fence," Volpe said about his grand slam. “We just want to keep putting pressure on them, and I think everyone had confidence in everyone in the lineup that someone was going to get the big hit.”

There was some consternation about Gerrit Cole not starting Game 4 on short rest – Cole confirmed there was no conversation about that – but I didn’t have a problem with it. You have to win four games, not one, and Luis Gil would have to start Game 5 anyway. Gil in Game 4 and Cole on normal rest in Game 5 > Cole on short rest in Game 4 and Gil in Game 5 in my mind. That was the best path to a comeback. 

Gil wasn’t good Tuesday – he retired 10 of 12 at one point, but four runs in four innings is four runs in four innings – though the offense and the bullpen picked him up (one run in 15.1 innings for the bullpen in the last three games). Now the Yankees have Cole nice and rested for Game 5. One way or the other, it will be his final start of 2024. Cole hasn’t thrown even 90 pitches in a game in a month, but I assume the tank will be emptied. Run support similar to Game 4 would be appreciated.

As for that run support, shoutout to the bottom of the lineup. Volpe, Wells, and Alex Verdugo combined to go 5-for-10 with two doubles and two homers, and they drove in seven of the team’s 11 runs in Game 4. Volpe and Wells each doubled and homered, and Verdugo had the best at-bat of the night, an 11-pitch battle with Brent Honeywell in the eighth inning to eventually drive home an insurance run with a fielder’s choice to second.

That got the ball rolling on a 50-pitch inning (!) for Honeywell. The Yankees put a five-spot on the board, turning this into a laugher, and allowed Luke Weaver to save some bullets for Game 5. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has steadfastly refused to use his high leverage relievers when trailing this postseason and he did it again in Game 4, hence Honeywell with a two-run deficit in the eighth. The Yankees took advantage.

Judge had his best at-bats in a while and the Yankees got contributions from players other than Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton. The bats are waking up. Cole starts Game 5. The players are playing loose and carefree because no one expects them to win. I’m not sayin’. I’m just sayin’. Game 5 on Wednesday with a trip back to Los Angeles on the line. The Yankees got one. Let's see where this goes.

"Last night we all said, ‘We love making history,’” Jazz Chisholm Jr. said after Game 4. “So that’s what we’re trying to do right now. Who doesn’t want to make history? I know I love making history. I love writing my name in the history books and being a part of it. So let’s do it.”