Blame Aaron Judge Aaron Boone for Freddie Freeman’s Brutal World Series L Dodgers | News, scores, highlights, stats and rumours

Freddie Freeman delivered one of the greatest hits in Los Angeles Dodgers history with a grand slam in the bottom of the 10th inning to start the 2024 World Series in dramatic fashion.

But the New York Yankees’ failures cast an equally large shadow.

Between another forgettable playoff performance from AL MVP favorite Aaron Judge and a brutal late-game decision from manager Aaron Boone, the story for the Yankees was a missed opportunity to steal Game 1 at Dodger Stadium.

First, though, let’s give Freeman props.

The 35-year-old suffered a badly sprained ankle on Sept. 26 and has been noticeably sidelined all postseason, spending three of the Dodgers’ first 11 playoff games watching from the bench.

He was 7-for-32 with zero extra-base hits and just one RBI in the NLDS and NLCS, but with a few extra days of rest before the start of the World Series, he seemed to move significantly better when he was out. to greet his teammates during pregame introductions.

A few hours later, he hit the biggest home run of his life.

The game-winning blast came on the first pitch he saw from Nestor Cortes, who had absolutely no business being in the game to begin with.

That fateful decision falls squarely on the shoulders of Aaron Boone.

Cortes was inactive during the ALDS and ALCS and the final weeks of the regular season after suffering a flexor strain on Sept. 18. After weighing the risk of further damaging his elbow and needing Tommy John surgery, he decided to rush back. for the Fall Classic.

“I’ve weighed the consequences of this, but if I get a ring and then a year off from baseball, then so be it,” Cortes. he told reporters.

Surely he’ll be eased back into action with a clean inning and a low-leverage situation, right?

With runners on first and second and one out in the 10th, the Yankees had Cortes and fellow lefty Tim Hill warming up in the bullpen and Shohei Ohtani stepped into the batter’s box.

Hill has been used all postseason in exactly that type of spot, posting a 1.59 ERA in 5.2 innings of work in seven appearances and posting some huge outings against Cleveland in the ALCS.

Instead, Boone called up Cortes, who made just one relief appearance during the regular season and complained about it.

While Ohtani was just 2-for-12 lifetime against Cortes, the situation was bigger than just getting past him with one out in the inning. Hill had a 62.3 percent ground ball rate during the regular season and should have been the easy pick to try and induce a double play ball, even if Ohtani’s speed made that difficult.

Ohtani flied out to left field on a wild pitch by Alex Verdugo for the second out before Mookie Betts was walked, and then Cortes’ return to the mound ended in disaster.

Jon Heyman of New York Post suggested moving Judge to at least the cleanup spot in the order following Friday’s game, but Boone balked at the idea of ​​changing things up.

No matter where he hits in the lineup, the Yankees can’t win the World Series unless their MVP pulls his weight.

It’s only one game into a best-of-seven series, but the Yankees have dug themselves a major hole in terms of momentum, and the blame rests squarely on the shoulders of their manager and the face of the franchise.

This has a chance to be a World Series for the ages after a Game 1 that more than lived up to the huge hype, but two of the most prominent figures in the Yankees clubhouse will have a lot to prove in the coming days.