Outlining a blueprint for how the Yankees can make history in the World Series

Three games away from their first World Series since 2009 New York Yankees They found themselves in a situation no team would want to be in. They lost three games to none against the loaded team Los Angeles Dodgers team. They faced the seemingly impossible task of winning four games in a row to win it all. This has happened once before in the postseason series and never during the regular season World series.

New York easily won the fourth game by a final score of 11-4, keeping the season alive at least for another day. Anthony Volpe struck out grand slamGleyber Torres scored three runs and Austin Wells had his best game in months.

Getting on board was a big ask, but the Yankees still have no chance of making it happen. To win it all, they need to win three straight games against the Dodgers – two of which will be in Los Angeles.

While New York winning the Fall Classic is a stretch, they should thank Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who seemingly showed no interest in winning Game 4 based on his pitching decisions. While yes, it is obviously unlikely that the Yankees will return to play, the door is open for them to do so. Here’s how you can do it.

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.

Game 5 of the World Series comes down to Gerrit Cole – it’s as simple as that. The Yankees gave him a nine-year, $324 million contract to win games like this, and that’s what he needs to do. When he is on the field, he can lead his team to victory.

In the first game of the series, Cole pitched absolutely well enough for the Yankees to win. He only allowed one run, and that was largely due to some shoddy defense from Juan Soto in six innings of work. He was pulled even though he only threw 88 pitches. A similar or better right hand performance would be very helpful.

This Yankees team is exhausted as their starters not named Cole have combined to throw just 10 innings in three games. Luke Weaver, Tim Hill, Mark Leiter Jr. and Clay Holmes have played on the field in each of the last two games. They will almost certainly all be available in Game 5 when the season is decided, but how effective will they be? Quality length from Cole is a must. The Yankees need ace performances.

Jack Flaherty is hard to figure out, especially when his curveball is as effective as it was in Game 1 of this series (12 Yankees fragrances at 17 swings at Baseball Savant), but they got there in the sixth inning of that game when Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer that eliminated him from the competition immediately after the fact.

Their offense woke up in game four, but it would be nice to see them continue to show signs of life in a much more difficult game five. If they can put some pressure on Flaherty and cut his appearance short, that would be great, but regardless of how this offense turns out, it’s all up to Cole. The Yankees badly need the reigning AL Cy Young winner to send this series back to Los Angeles.

If the Yankees can get this far, it will be impressive. They were basically done after losing each of the first three games of the World Series, so sending the team back to Los Angeles would be a small victory in itself. That being said, the Yankees are committed to winning the entire event.

Winning Game 6 will be much more difficult than Game 5 for several reasons. New York will be without Gerrit Cole and the Dodgers will have Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The only clear advantage, at least on paper, that the Yankees had entering this series was a better rotation than the Dodgers. This matchup does not favor the Yankees and we saw that in Game 2.

That being said, the Yankees will do it they need more than they have Carlos Rodon, who allowed four runs on six hits in just 3.1 innings of work. Rodon signed a $162 million free agency contract to play like an ace in big moments. Even if he’s not Cole, he should be able to give the Yankees something better than his last appearance.

More importantly, Aaron Boone doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for his southpaw to completely implode. Rodon allowed 11 earned runs in the postseason, seven of which came in two disastrous innings. Rodon has a penchant for big rounds, which can have a huge impact on the dynamics in elimination play. It would be nice to learn something from Rodon, but given the day off, Rodon’s leash must be microscopic.

The Yankees bullpen has been a surprising strength in this series. They didn’t allow a single run in relief to Rodon over 4.2 innings in Game 2. In total, they allowed six runs (five earned) in 18.2 innings of work in this series, four of which came on Freddie Freeman’s walk. they were eliminated from the Grand Slam in the first match. Apart from that one difficult round, they were simply dominant. Relying on them is a must.

Offensively, the Yankees will simply have to show up. The task ahead for Yamamoto is obviously a difficult one, but will it be a game that Aaron Judge starts? Does Giancarlo Stanton have another big moment in him? That Can’t Be Everything Juan Soto, whose home run against Yamamoto was the only hit New York scored against him in Game 2 and the only run the Yankees scored against the right-hander in 13.1 innings (including his regular-season start against NYY).

Getting to Game 7 is a tall order, but if it includes pitchers who earn a combined $486 million, it’s not entirely impossible. Still, the task of actually winning Game 7 is extremely difficult, even after returning to this series.

The Yankees should have a psychological advantage considering they just tied the series in an improbable fashion, but again, the advantage they were assumed to have in the rotation isn’t necessarily an advantage in Game 7. In fact, with what Walker Buehler looked likeit’s safe to say the Dodgers have the advantage there.

Buehler threw five scoreless innings in the Dodgers’ 4-2 win in Game 3 of the World Series, allowing only two hits and striking out five. This came after he threw four scoreless innings against the New York Mets in Game 3 of the NLCS. Buehler had a rough regular season, but he was always brimming with energy in October.

Even though Buehler looked great, the Yankees helped him a lot. The right-hander gave up a total of 45 hits on the night, 16 of which were allowed. The Yankees checked 16 pitches in the zone and made no offers on those pitches. It’s true that some of them were out of the question in something that was frustrating strike zone from home plate umpire Mark Carlson, but the Yankees weren’t as aggressive as they should have been. Nine of the called shots were fast balls, which should not have happened. Fast balls in this zone should at least be attacked.

Buehler had never played against the Yankees before, so perhaps New York’s uncertainty stemmed from the fact that they hadn’t seen him. Hopefully, now that they’ve seen it, they’re more prepared to deal with it in Game 7.

When it comes to pitching them, Boone needs to take the same approach to Clarke Schmidt as he should to Rodon. Gaining length would be nice, but you can’t expect it. In the postseason, he allowed seven runs in 14.1 innings. He allowed a run in only four of those innings. Like Rodon, Schmidt had a problem with incorrect numbers in October. Six of the seven runs he allowed in the postseason came in three combined innings.

Leaning on the Los Angeles outfield and getting a better base approach against Buehler could give the Yankees their best chance at a 28th World Series victory.

Of course, orchestrating this kind of comeback is easier said than done. Things like better base running, better defense and any significant umpire input matter in all three games. Even though a comeback is extremely unlikely, the Dodgers have given them just a glimmer of hope.