We witnessed maybe the worst collapse in MLB elimination game history.
Then we witnessed the worst 5th inning of all time.
A number of bad things happened here sandwiched around two epic strikeouts from Gerrit Cole.
Even so, Judge had 2 homers and a web gem to his name already in the 5th.
The only reason you’re up 5-0 in the first place is because of Aaron Judge.
So to then turn around and get mad at him for blowing the lead he built himself iskindadifficult.
That’s the most important takeaway.
He NEVER tags 1st base.
It might be the only thing in his entire game that ever bothered me while playing for the Cubs.
He legitimately NEVER EVER EVER touches first base unless he is literally standing within foot-strike distance of the bag.
It’s fundamental to playing with Rizzo and I think most Cubs fans are nodding in agreement.
Why he does this is both simple and difficult… it’s easy to explain but hard to understand.
The reason Anthony Rizzo does this is because he’s in the fuckin big leagues.
All Gerrit Cole has to do is keep running to first base here.
He’s got about 20 less feet to cover than Mookie and he’s already in motion.
Every pitching coach everywhere is yelling something likeCOVER THE BAG.
Why Rizzo doesn’t make this play is simply because he didn’t expect he’d have to.
The fact Gerrit Cole stopped running makes Rizzo look bad - but that’s not really the case.
It’s actually 100% on Cole, especially after being Rizzo’s teammate for this long.
You should know by now that Anthony is never taking the bag for himself.
The breakdown comes entirely from the errors up to this point.
He’s annoyed with Judge dropping a ball.
Annoyed Volpe can’t make a play to get one out.
Annoyed he has to strikeout Ohtani and face Mookie with the bases loaded completely unnecessarily.
Mad that Freeman waits on deck.
Mad that they’re down 3-1 in the first place and just mad things aren’t going better.
And when that happens, you’re bound to break your competitive character.
So much so that you just forget to cover the bag and abandon all responsibility.
That’s the exact reason why they originally attributed Wins and Losses to starting pitchers.
It’s your game more than anyone else and last night Gerrit Cole blew it.
That’s because the game sped up on him.
And while inexcusable, it’s also important to remember that it can happen to anyone.
Even to the best at Yankee Stadium in the World Series.
When you think about it like that, literally just let it rip.
