Dodgers' margin of error shrinks with Gerrit Cole in Game 5

Columnist

Oct. 30, 2024 3 AM PT

NEW YORK — This could become interesting. This could become scary, even.

Let’s not kid ourselves. This could become downright frightening for the Dodgers.

This World Series will have a fifth game, and starting for the New York Yankees on Wednesday night will be Gerrit Cole.

Jack Flaherty will start for the Dodgers.

Suddenly, the impossible suddenly feels possible. Suddenly, an unlikely but visible path to victory has emerged for the Yankees, who claimed an 11-4 win in Game 4 at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday after dropping the first three games.

Or, from the opposite vantage point, the Dodgers could blow this.

Cole limited the Dodgers to a run over six innings in the opener. He outpitched Flaherty in that game, which the Dodgers won on a 10th-inning, walk-off grand slam by Freddie Freeman.

With their $324-million ace on the mound and their offense finally doing what it’s supposed to do, the Yankees could take Game 5.

Then what?

The best-of-seven series would return to Dodger Stadium, and anything can happen there.

Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo explored the possibilities before Game 4.

“We’ve got Gerrit Cole lurking tomorrow if we can get there,” Rizzo said. “We got a pissed-off [Carlos] Rodón for Game 6 if we can get there. And Game 7 is always a crapshoot.”

Rizzo has seen this happen. He played for the Chicago Cubs in 2016 when they overcame a three-games-to-one deficit against the Cleveland Indians to win the World Series.

As much as Dodgers fans are thirsting to see their team win a title at home, how could anyone want to let the Yankees hang around when they have Juan Soto, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in their lineup?

As much as fans believe the Dodgers have the better team, how could they want this Series to extend any longer when their franchise history is marked by so much failure?

Bite your nails, if you still have any. Chomp down on your Jerry Tarkanian towel, if you have one.

The leisurely cruise could turn into a turbulent voyage.

Under the worst-case scenario, instead of leaving their mark as the greatest team in franchise history, these Dodgers could forever be known as the only team to blow a three-games-to-none lead in the World Series.

They could become the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. They could become Doc Rivers in the NBA playoff series with a 3-1 lead. They could become Greg Norman at the 1996 Masters.

The Yankees woke up for the first time in this Series in Game 4 and overwhelmed the Dodgers, who are playing with a compromised version of Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani hasn’t looked right in the two games he’s played since partially dislocating his shoulder. While he’s helped produce some runs, he hasn’t played as if he’s a threat to change the game with a single swing.

He continues to run the bases with a makeshift sling that he creates by clutching his jersey collar. He continues to take some ugly swings at pitches out of the zone, as he did when he struck out in the seventh inning.

The greater concern for the Dodgers has to be their bullpen, specifically their usage up to this point.

Manager Dave Roberts tried to run another bullpen game in Game 4, and he couldn’t. The plan required him to get innings out of inexperienced pitchers such as Ben Casparius and Landon Knack. As it turned out, the reliever who sank them was one of their high-leverage options, Daniel Hudson, who gave up four runs in the third inning.

Closer Michael Kopech, whom Roberts avoided using, gave up a ninth-inning homer in a Game 3 victory. Blake Treinen has given up runs in each of his last three appearances.

Have the Dodgers exhausted their bullpen to reach this point? Has having only three starting pitchers finally caught up to them?

It’s entirely possible, in which case blowing their series lead becomes entirely possible.

If there’s something to be encouraged about, it’s that the players sounded as if they weren’t caught by surprise in Game 4.

“We were urgent,” Freddie Freeman said. “We know what’s at stake. We had a chance to win the World Series tonight.”

Freeman downplayed concerns about how the disappointment could carry over to the next game.

“I think we’re gonna be OK,” he said. “This team knows what we gotta do tomorrow.”

Mookie Betts said he expected the Yankees to respond the way they did.

“They’re gonna fight,” Betts said. “If you made it this far, you have a resilience and you’re gonna fight the whole time. We expect that.

“I mean, we’re up 3-1 right now. Feel pretty good about it, but you know that they’re going to fight. It doesn’t matter what the score is. No lead is safe until you win the fourth game.”

Between now and that fourth win, there could be anxious moments.