All season long, the New York Yankees faithful has been overly critical of the performance of left fielder Alex Verdugo, who has struggled immensely from the plate. Fittingly, it was Verdugo who stepped up to the plate with the Yankees down to their final out of the World Series.

The much-maligned Verdugo promptly struck out in three pitches, ending the Yankees' World Series hopes as the Dodgers won the series with an epic 7-6 comeback victory in Game 5.

One could only imagine the pressure that was on Verdugo's shoulders as he faced a confident Walker Buehler on the mound as the Yankees' last hope. And as Verdugo swung and missed on a nasty curveball from Buehler, there was a disturbance in the force, as millions cried out in agony following the Yankees' missed World Series opportunity.

A look of shock was apparent in the faces of Yankees stars Aaron Judge and Juan Soto as they witnessed all their hard work throughout the course of the season result in a painful ending.

It might have been unlikely for the Yankees to mount a comeback, but all the bottom of the order had to do in the bottom of the ninth was to get on base as the tying run to at least bring the top of the order back to the plate. The Yankees would have needed two to reach base so they could get Soto an opportunity to save their season, but alas, it was not meant to be.

While losing in the World Series is as painful of an experience as there can be, the Yankees will have no one but themselves to blame, especially for letting the Dodgers back into Game 5 after seemingly taking control of the contest in its early innings.

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It's too little, too late for the Yankees as self-inflicted wounds cost them

Gerrit Cole was rolling, holding the Dodgers in check through the first four innings. However, after a leadoff single from Kike Hernandez, the wheels fell off for the Yankees, particularly on defense. Aaron Judge failed to catch a routine line drive to center field, and then Anthony Volpe compounded matters by airmailing a throw to first base to load the bases.

Cole responded by striking out the next two Dodgers batters, bringing Mookie Betts up to the plate. He induced a ground ball towards the first-base line from Betts.

However, Cole failed to cover first base, which allowed the Dodgers to drive one run in. Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez then drove in two runs each in the next two at-bats, and just like that, the Yankees' advantage disappeared.

It's simply heartbreaking for the Yankees to lose the game in this manner. Judge was heating up at the plate as well, and had they managed to avoid that disastrous fifth inning, they would have had momentum heading into a potential Game 6. It's too bad that that scenario will remain hypothetical, and now, they have a long offseason ahead of them to stew on these costly mistakes.