Ranking the Yankees’ fifth-inning errors from terrible to inexcusable in the World Series

Everything was going well New York Yankees. They kept their season alive on Tuesday with a win Los Angeles Dodgers quickly reduce the series deficit to 3-1. Of course, the odds were still slim, but the Yankees had a chance to at least get back to Los Angeles – if not make history ending what would be a comeback unlike any we’ve ever seen.

The momentum continued to point in their direction until Aaron Judge’s bat in the first inning came to life his first home run in the World Series. Then Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit his own long home run. Giancarlo Stanton joined the team in the bottom of the third inning, hitting a home run. New York led 5-0 with their ace Gerrit Cole dealing.

Unfortunately, everything became clear in the fifth round. It all started when Kiké Hernandez had the Dodgers’ first hit of the night. Then came a comedy of errors. New York’s defeat in the fifth inning opened the door for the Dodgers to one of the stranger and more shocking comebacks in recent memory. They capped it off with a World Series win.

New York committed three defensive errors in the fifth inning, but not all three were created equally. Here’s their ranking from terrible to inexcusable.

For more news and rumors, check out Robert Murray’s MLB Insider Baseball Insiders Podcastsubscribe Moonshotour weekly MLB newsletter and join the discord for coverage from now through the MLB offseason.

The Dodgers had their first two starters in the fifth inning, and a leading double play candidate, Will Smith, soon emerged. The ground ball would have been huge if Cole had tried to keep it 5-0 for New York. He got the ball on the ground, but the result was far from what anyone expected.

Smith hit the ball on the soft ground to Anthony Volpe’s right side. He hit it cleanly and tried to power out to third base. A poor throw allowed Kiké Hernandez to get there safely, loading the bases with no one out, opening the door to a Dodgers rally.

I think Volpe made the right decision here. His momentum carried him towards third base and he would have hit Hernandez with a good throw. Unfortunately, the shot was deflected and Jazz Chisholm Jr. He couldn’t make a strong jump.

It’s a move that Volpe absolutely should have made, especially considering he’s usually a strong defender, but it also wasn’t the easiest move to make. That’s bad, but not the closest to New York’s worst fifth-inning error.

More Yankees errors allowed the Dodgers to load the bases without a turnover, giving them a chance to make up a 5-0 deficit. Despite the mistakes made behind him, Cole was unfazed. He struck out Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani with the bases loaded, keeping the score at 5-0 and giving himself a chance to get out of the inning. He was one step away from the biggest escape of the season.

When Mookie Betts hit a ground ball to first base, it felt like Cole was out of the inning. The routine exit was about to be made – until it wasn’t. The Yankees had two ways to get out of first base and failed to do either one, allowing the Dodgers to score and extend the inning. We all know what happened next.

It would have been a difficult play, but if Anthony Rizzo hadn’t looked up and wondered what Gerrit Cole was doing, he probably could have hit Betts to first base. The biggest mistake, however, was Cole’s refusal to cover first base in the game. He started heading to first, but stopped just as Rizzo was about to field the ground ball. Why Cole stopped is anyone’s guess.

Covering first base as a pitcher when a ground ball is hit to the first baseman is routine. Cole even made it to first base after hitting a ground ball to Rizzo, and Betts singled the ball in the first inning of that game! His refusal to move there may not have been a scoring error, but it was a mental error that played a huge role in New York’s cost.

The fifth game was like Aaron Judge’s night. He struggled throughout the postseason and At last showed signs of life. The homer he hit in the first inning looked like the player we saw in the regular season. He even made an incredible catch in the fourth inning, denying Freddie Freeman another extra-base hit and ending a potential Dodgers rally before it could even begin. Unfortunately, everything he did before the fifth round was forgotten when Judge threw the ball in the air, as he usually does.

How does this happen? Tommy Edman hit a lazy fly ball into midfield and the referee just… dropped it. The referee was there, the ball was supposed to land right into his glove, but he just failed to secure it. It’s a play the Judge can perform in his sleep. This is a move that any MLB player can easily pull off. The referee just dropped it.

The Dodgers started the inning with their first hit of the game, giving themselves some hope, but then Cole bounced back and scored what was surely a routine out. The umpire’s error gave the Dodgers even more reason to believe and opened the floodgates to a season-defining inning.

Worse still, it wasn’t some bush in the middle of a field. This was the referee’s first mistake in this match season. He saved it for the most routine performances on the biggest stages. A shocking mistake that completely changed the season.