Scouts criticized Yankees manager Aaron Boone for a few of his World Series moves, but two in particular in Game 5:
1) Not bringing in closer Luke Weaver to start the eighth (with the bottom of the order up, Boone presumably figured Tommy Kahnle, who’d been very solid, could suffice, but Kahnle allowed all three Dodgers to reach before Weaver was called upon).
2) Eschewing a mound visit during the fifth-inning, five-run debacle that lasted 21 minutes. “How the [heck] was there no visit to the mound in — 36 pitches, three errors (actually two plus the failure of Anthony Rizzo or Gerrit Cole to get to first base)?”
In any case, the likelihood is that the Yankees pick up their beloved Boone’s 2025 option, believed to be for $3M plus.
The real negative reflection on Boone was how poorly the Yankees ran the bases throughout the year. Yankees officials say it was a point of emphasis in spring.
One AL scout said this was them at their worst. “The Yankees played really bad in this series, probably the worst they played all season.”
Boone was overcriticized for removing Cole in Game 1, as it turns out. Cole apparently felt he was done. And maybe that helped him in Game 5, where a scout said he was “brilliant” with “all his pitches working” before being undone by the two errors and the first-base disaster. (It sure seemed like Rizzo should have charged and gone to first, but the two apologized to each other.)
Meantime, the Dodgers were brilliant top to bottom. Not only are they comparably talented (even with five excellent starting pitchers out,) they are more together.
They also have a perfect track record on mega deals. The Mookie Betts ($355M deferred) and Freddie Freeman ($162M deferred) and Teoscar Hernandez ($23M deferred) deals are great, so is the Ohtani deal.
While the Yankees have big-time stars — Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton — who are big-time postseason performers — the Dodgers have two players who had below average regular seasons before once again having monster postseasons. That’s Kiké Hernandez and Walker Buehler, both October dynamos.
