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You win or come home thanks to the performance of your ace when the game is on the line Gerrit Cole did not have this opportunity
While I am still reeling from the disappointment of Friday’s loss, as I’m sure many of you are, now that I’ve had 24 hours to calm down, I’ve started to examine what went wrong from a less emotional perspective Mike Brosseau may have delivered the knockout, but it was a decision two innings earlier that set the wheels in motion, ultimately resulting in that knockout.
If you’d told me that ALDS would come down to a Game 5 match between Mike Brosseau and Aroldis Chapman, well, I guess you were a burner for Rob Manfred Entre Chapman who threw 101 at him at the head earlier in the season and the two-home game that Brosseau delivered after this incident, you could not have scripted a more dramatic end to the ALDS It should never have gotten to this point
When Aaron Boone got out of the dugout in the sixth round on Friday night and pointed the finger at the bullpen, he betrayed twelve years of attempt after attempt to get Gerrit Cole to stripe Let me start by saying this is not an article criticizing Aaron Boone In fact, I highly doubt that it was his decision to take Cole out of the game in the situation Instead, I want to review the motivations for signing Cole. this last offseason, and why removing him from the Game Five canceled that whole framework
I understand the reasoning behind Cole’s removal from play in this situation His pitch count was 94 on his very first start with a short rest He looked like he was flexing in the previous inning as his command was getting a bit erratic, leading to Austin Meadows solo shot And he came a few inches away from giving the kickoff to Randy Arozarena on what would be his last throw of the night and of the season. I still argue that Cole was the Yankees’ best option to finish sixth
Shooting Cole so early meant going to a taxed and highly compromised enclosure with few reliable options to get the last eleven outs of the match. That meant giving the two most influential arms of Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman – who weren’t fresh after their three innings and 45 combined work throws the night before – an unreasonable workload in a draw with little to no cover for the last sleeves And it violated the very principle of signing Cole
The reason the Yankees were so steadfast in their pursuit of Cole was exactly this The Game Five / Seven storyline with the season in play The Pocket Ace on the Mound Who you know is gonna rock with everything in play And in this aspect, they failed Cole and themselves You don’t let the rays beat you by ditching an aging pain reliever If the Rays want to beat you, it’s because their best effort beat that of your ace and your top-three pitcher in baseball, in which case you tip your hat and say, « Well done »
The Yankees made their way through the Rubicon when they burned virtually their entire starting stick and field outside Gerrit Cole to make it to Game 5 They knew they were putting all their chips in Cole’s corner, that their season would live or die on the back of his performance But when the time was right they got cold feet and tried to turn around Only the bridge had been washed away for a long time
New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Gerrit Cole, Houston Astros, American League Division Series
World News – USA – Yankees deprived Gerrit Cole of a moment signature in the fine stripes
