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The Yankees emphatically refused to go gentle into that good night. They’re not dead yet, and neither is the 2024 baseball season — I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!
About Last Night: New York avoids sweep in Game 4
Yankees 11, Dodgers 4: The first inning last night looked like it was going to follow the same script as the first three games. Freddie Freeman hit another home run (he now holds the record alone, with home runs in six straight World Series games), and the Dodgers had yet another early lead.
It got even uglier in the bottom half of the inning when a fan attempted to wrench a foul ball from Mookie Betts’ glove. Not the Yankees’ fault, of course. But the vibes were just … bad all around.
But in the bottom of the fourth, as the Dodgers turned to Daniel Hudson to hold a lead in a bullpen game, the tide shifted. Anthony Volpe — the hometown kid who grew up dreaming of playing for the Yankees — brought the Bronx faithful to their feet with a grand slam. At 5-2, it was the Yankees’ first lead in the series since the other grand slam, Freeman’s Game 1 walk-off. (Now it’s time for World Series grand slam trivia by Jayson Stark.)
The Dodgers rallied back to make it close in the fifth, scoring two to make it a one-run game at 5-4, but from that point forward, it was all Yankees. The one insurance run in the sixth would have been sufficient, but after struggling at the plate for so long this series, you can hardly blame them for pouring it on in the eighth, scoring five runs to bring it to the 11-4 final.
For Volpe, not only was it an impossibly magic moment, but he also made history: He became the first player in World Series history to notch four RBIs and two stolen bases in one game.
Ken’s Notebook: White Sox tab new manager
Some news from late last night: The White Sox are hiring Will Venable as their manager, according to a major-league source.
Venable comes to Chicago from Texas, where he worked as the associate manager to the Rangers’ Bruce Bochy for the past two years, winning the World Series in 2023. Venable played nine MLB seasons for the Rangers, Padres and Dodgers as an outfielder from 2008 to 2016.
The White Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol in August after a franchise-record 21-game losing streak. Grady Sizemore took over in the interim, finishing 13-32 at the helm, but general manager Chris Getz said in August that current team staffers would not be considered for the full-time manager job.
“I think it’s important to bring in a new voice, a fresh voice, perhaps that’s been exposed to areas of this game that we don’t currently have in our organization,” Getz said at the time. “I’m very curious to learn more about some of these individuals and then we’ll get it to the finish line and name the next manager.”
The White Sox finished the 2024 season at 41-121, setting the record for the most defeats in modern baseball history.
Pitching Probables: Flaherty vs. Cole in Game 5
So now we will have a pitching rematch of Game 1, as Jack Flaherty and Gerrit Cole go head-to-head in Game 5 tonight. A quick recap of the first matchup:
- Cole: 6 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts
- Flaherty: 5 1/3 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts
That’s a slight edge to Cole — one that only increases when you look at their career postseason stats.
- Cole: 21 games, 11-6, 2.91 ERA, 150 strikeouts, 32 walks in 126 2/3 innings
- Flaherty: 9 games, 2-5, 4.73 ERA, 45 strikeouts, 17 walks, 45 2/3 innings
It is still very unlikely that the Yankees are going to become the first team to come back from a 3-0 deficit and win a World Series. Last night, they looked like the better team for the first time in four games, and it came in a bullpen game. So let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
But if the Yankees are going to have a shot at turning what had been a blowout series into something interesting, Cole’s the guy you want on the mound. He wants to be on the mound, too. Remember 2019? Cole didn’t get into the deciding Game 7 — which makes sense, given he had pitched seven innings for the Astros just three days earlier.
The Nationals won that game 6-2, scoring all of their runs in the last three innings. Cole left the stadium wearing a Boras Corp. cap, reportedly annoyed that he had warmed up, but didn’t get a chance to protect what had been a 2-0 lead after six innings.
It’s not a clincher, but Cole will finally get a chance to stave off an opponent’s champagne celebration tonight. The Dodgers are flying back to L.A. either way. Cole is the Yankees’ best chance at booking a flight of their own.
First pitch is at 8:08 p.m. ET (watch on Fox or on Fubo).
Big Deals: A (new) league of their own?
Really exciting news today: The Women’s Pro Baseball League announced that it is planning to start play in 2026. The league plans to start with six teams, and while the cities have not been announced yet, they are all going to be based in the northeastern United States.
There is currently not another professional baseball league for women, though leagues have existed in the past — most famously, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which served as the inspiration for a documentary, a movie and a TV series, all of which were titled “A League of Their Own.”
The announcement comes on the heels of “See Her Be Her,” a documentary on women’s baseball that premiered on MLB Network on Sunday.
It’s another exciting step forward for women’s sports after a “transformational” WNBA season, and this week’s announcement that the Professional Women’s Hockey League is planning on expanding from its six-team alignment — perhaps as early as next year. Add in the growth in audience for other women’s sports like soccer, gymnastics, and track and field, and it’s about time baseball got on board.
Of note: While there has been no professional women’s baseball league, there is a professional player. Kelsie Whitmore became the first woman to start a Pioneer League game earlier this year with the Oakland Ballers. No word yet on if Whitmore will play in the new WPBL, but we’ll certainly keep you posted as we get developments.
Handshakes and High Fives
Maybe you’ve noticed, but there are a lot of camera angles at this year’s World Series. Evan Drellich has the down-low on the more than 40 camera angles being used.
Just over a year ago, Andrew Bailey took over as the Red Sox pitching coach. How’s he feeling about his first season in the role?
Most-clicked in yesterday’s newsletter: Ken’s scorching column on Aaron Judge and the Yankees’ reality check.
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(Top photo: Robert Deutsch / Imagn Images)
