NEW YORK — This might turn out to be attention-grabbing. This might turn out to be scary, even.
Let’s not child ourselves. This might turn out to be downright horrifying for the Dodgers.
This World Collection could have a fifth recreation, and beginning for the New York Yankees on Wednesday night time might be Gerrit Cole.
Jack Flaherty will begin for the Dodgers.
Out of the blue, the unimaginable instantly feels doable. Out of the blue, an unlikely however seen path to victory has emerged for the Yankees, who claimed an 11-4 win in Recreation 4 at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday after dropping the primary three video games.
Or, from the other vantage level, the Dodgers may blow this.
Cole restricted the Dodgers to a run over six innings within the opener. He outpitched Flaherty in that recreation, which the Dodgers gained on a Tenth-inning, walk-off grand slam by Freddie Freeman.
With their $324-million ace on the mound and their offense lastly doing what it’s speculated to do, the Yankees may take Recreation 5.
Then what?
The very best-of-seven sequence would return to Dodger Stadium, and something can occur there.
Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo explored the probabilities earlier than Recreation 4.
“We’ve got Gerrit Cole lurking tomorrow if we can get there,” Rizzo mentioned. “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 occur. He performed for the Chicago Cubs in 2016 after they overcame a three-games-to-one deficit in opposition to the Cleveland Indians to win the World Collection.
As a lot as Dodgers followers are thirsting to see their staff win a title at house, how may anybody wish to let the Yankees dangle round after they have Juan Soto, Aaron Choose and Giancarlo Stanton of their lineup?
As a lot as followers consider the Dodgers have the higher staff, how may they need this Collection to increase any longer when their franchise historical past is marked by a lot failure?
Chew your nails, when you nonetheless have any. Chomp down in your Jerry Tarkanian towel, in case you have one.
The leisurely cruise may flip right into a turbulent voyage.
Underneath the worst-case situation, as an alternative of leaving their mark as the best staff in franchise historical past, these Dodgers may eternally be generally known as the one staff to blow a three-games-to-none lead within the World Collection.
They might turn out to be the Atlanta Falcons in Tremendous Bowl LI. They might turn out to be Doc Rivers within the NBA playoff sequence with a 3-1 lead. They might turn out to be Greg Norman on the 1996 Masters.
The Yankees wakened for the primary time on this Collection in Recreation 4 and overwhelmed the Dodgers, who’re enjoying with a compromised model of Shohei Ohtani.
Ohtani hasn’t seemed proper within the two video games he’s performed since partially dislocating his shoulder. Whereas he’s helped produce some runs, he hasn’t performed as if he’s a menace to alter the sport 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 within the seventh inning.
The better concern for the Dodgers needs to be their bullpen, particularly their utilization up so far.
Supervisor Dave Roberts tried to run one other bullpen recreation in Recreation 4, and he couldn’t. The plan required him to get innings out of inexperienced pitchers akin to Ben Casparius and Landon Knack. Because it turned out, the reliever who sank them was one in all their high-leverage choices, Daniel Hudson, who gave up 4 runs within the third inning.
Nearer Michael Kopech, whom Roberts averted utilizing, gave up a ninth-inning homer in a Recreation 3 victory. Blake Treinen has given up runs in every of his final three appearances.
Have the Dodgers exhausted their bullpen to succeed in this level? Has having solely three beginning pitchers lastly caught as much as them?
It’s completely doable, wherein case blowing their sequence lead turns into completely doable.
If there’s one thing to be inspired about, it’s that the gamers sounded as in the event that they weren’t caught abruptly in Recreation 4.
“We were urgent,” Freddie Freeman mentioned. “We know what’s at stake. We had a chance to win the World Series tonight.”
Freeman downplayed considerations about how the frustration may carry over to the subsequent recreation.
“I think we’re gonna be OK,” he mentioned. “This team knows what we gotta do tomorrow.”
Mookie Betts mentioned he anticipated the Yankees to reply the way in which they did.
“They’re gonna fight,” Betts mentioned. “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 might be anxious moments.
