The New York Yankees lost the World Series in five games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. They blew Game 1, holding a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the tenth inning before Freddie Freeman's walk-off grand slam. The Game 5 loss was a calamity of errors, literally, as New York committed two in a brutal fifth inning. Many fans claimed the Bombers blew the game, but World Series champion CC Sabathia thought differently and said so on social media.

Everybody wants me to say the Yankees blew it as if it’ll make the situation better Plenty of mistakes were made and with two great teams, it came down to all the fundamentals…errors, fielding, base running, timely at-bats, situational pitching…the reality is the Dodgers executed throughout the lineup and all of that made the difference.”

The former Yankee said he was rooting for the pinstripers, but the bookend games made the difference. “Yea it hurts…the game 1 walk-off and last night’s 5th inning [were] hard to digest, and I wanted to see my guys lift that trophy but they still made it to the World Series and put themselves in a position to contend. The better team won. That’s postseason baseball.”

The decision-making and fundamentals played out for the entire series. The Dodgers did not make those mistakes and won the World Series because of it.

Yankees' fundamentals lose them the World Series

Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) celebrates in the locker room after the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in game four to win the 2024 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium.
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The fifth inning that Sabathia mentioned featured five unearned runs, tying the game at five and changing the game. Aaron Judge made an error in centerfield, Anthony Vople made a throwing error, and Anthony Rizzo and Gerrit Cole miscommunicated. All of that led to one of the worst innings in World Series history. Sabathia says that the errors cost them the series along with timely pitching.

The Yankees' bullpen was solid during the World Series, shutting down the Dodgers in Games 2 and 3 while the offense sputtered out to two straight losses. Cole did as well as any pitcher could in the sixth, inducing six outs, and even got six more outs after that. The bullpen finally faltered, as Tommy Kahnle did not record an out and the bases were loaded for Luke Weaver. Two sacrifice flies flipped the lead to the Dodgers.

Base running was not as much of a problem in the World Series as it was at other points in the postseason. Volpe did not score from second on a double in Game 4. He scored on the next batter so it did not impact the final score. Earlier in the postseason, Jazz Chisholm and Anthony Rizzo were picked off in the same inning.

Who the mental lapses are on is the question and it could be answered this off-season. The Yankees already announced that Aaron Boone would return in 2025. They do not see the manager as the issue. If there are personnel changes, the fans will find out who the front office blames for this World Series defeat.