A recording of Game 5 of the 2025 World Series still sits on my DVR, but not because there’s any danger I’ll ever forget it. The truest words that Yankee manager Aaron Boone has ever spoken came in the aftermath of that game when he emerged bleary eyed from the clubhouse to face the media and answer questions about one of the most shocking defeats in the long postseason history of the greatest franchise in sports.
“As I said to the guys, obviously it stings now. This will sting forever.”
I said something similar to my wife the next day as I was trying to put my life back together. “As long as I live, I will never get over that game last night.”
I could say that confidently because twenty-four years later I still haven’t gotten over Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, and I still wear the scars of the last four games of the 2004 ALCS. Keep in mind, my connection to this organization is measured only by the dozens of Yankee caps I’ve worn over the past 47 years, the seven World Series titles I’ve celebrated, and the thousands of games I’ve watched. This team is a part of me, so obviously losses like these are more than just disappointments.
But I’m at least self-aware enough to know that I don’t really know. I can’t possibly know what it feels like to begin working with a purpose in January, report to spring training in February, ride busses across Florida in March, endure the trials and tribulations of a six-month regular season, and then fight through two playoff rounds in October only to have the journey end in the most inexplicably painful way imaginable.
What I do know is that there are coffee mugs and mouse pads and t-shirts with the FOX chyron from that fateful top of the 5th inning, souvenirs that celebrate one team’s devastating collapse rather than the other’s improbable comeback. I know that I’ve catalogued the comments and asides I’ve gotten from Dodger fan friends and family here in Southern California, each remark innocent in its delivery but cutting nonetheless.
But I can’t know how many times Aaron Judge has thought about that dropped fly ball or how he will feel when he inevitably gets a sarcastic standing ovation before his first at bat at Dodger Stadium on Friday night. I can’t know how often Nestor Cortés has replayed the pitch he threw to Freddie Freeman, or whether or not Gerrit Cole had flashbacks during PFPs in spring training.
Will those demons get in the way during these three games, or will they drive the team to success over the weekend and through the rest of the season? Paul O’Neill frequently reminds us that the white hot brilliance of 1998 might never have happened had it not been for the October disappointment of the year before, so maybe we’ll see something similar this year. Maybe.
But I don’t think we’ll get an answer to that this weekend. Instead we’ll get constant comparisons of Judge and Shohei Ohtani, frequent reminders of last October and some of the more distant Octobers, and breathless predictions of another matchup in this year’s World Series. And we’ll probably get some good baseball.
And me? At some point I’m sure I’ll check my DVR and navigate to the folder titled “L.A. Dodgers @ New York Yankees.” I’ll watch the first inning as Judge hits a rocket into the right field stands and the crowd explodes with relief, I’ll watch Jazz Chisholm follow with a home run of his own, I’ll scan ahead to Stanton’s bomb in the third, and I’ll remember how it all felt. But then I’ll watch the fifth inning, and I’ll wonder what might have been.
[Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.]
End of May/early June sure is far from October, but still, winning a weekend series against the Dodgers sure would be sweet.
1980 losing to Farking KC.
10 pm is past my bedtime these days. Then Fox and ESPN games.
My first time closely watching a World Series was 1960. I will never forget that double-play ball that hit Tony Kubek in the throat and the three run home run by Hal Smith (note: not the same Hal Smith who played Otis the town drunk on the Andy Griffith show) in the 8th inning, turning a 3 run lead into a 2 run deficit. I ran to the bathroom and was crying hysterically when my mother came in and told me that the Yankees had tied the game up (note 2: thanks to Mickey Mantle making the smartest play of his career). Of course the very first thing I then saw was you-know-what.
A few years ago a friend told me that he still wasn’t over 2001. He asked me how long it took for me to get over 1960. I told him that he’d be the first person to know if I ever got over it.
This is making me ill.
Officially ill.
I’ve seen enough of DJ LeMahieu.
It's just too late for me. If I watch a couple innings I get too jazzed up and can't go to sleep.
Just as well last night, I guess.
But I don't believe in ghosts. Just win.
Well that was a shite game. I was at Coopwrstown last weekend and the museum had a scavenger hunt for kids. The first item to be found was Aaron judge's bat that hit Homer number 62. Unfortunately,all I could think was that there was no sign of his glove from that game five. Sigh.
[8] They dropped the ball on that.
Not optimal
My Friday night plans are about to ne ruined and it's nit even 7:45. Boooooooooooooo!
Yup, no new shows to watch. Aw fer fuck’s sake.
Nice job, Warren. Here comes the Salami.
Yankees will get no hit
Sigh
Get Warren out of there.
The Dodgers are our daddy.
Well played, Boone.
Pretty glad my Saturday was too full to spend time in front of the TV. (And really glad we decided to catch a game in Anaheim instead of Dodger Stadium.) Yikes!
I mean, Aaron Judge is pretty good. Sure, the headline will be that the Dodgers are crushing the Yankees, but three home runs and a double in two games is not bad.
Dear Yankees, please try not sucking tonight.
Thank you,
The Banter
I guess one run is acceptable. Not ideal though
Now that’s a waste.
I’ll take the Dodgers being stupid.
Rats, tied.
Hah! See what happens when youn walk Judge.
I honestly would rather see George Lombard, Jr. hitting .190 than LeMahieu.
I’ll take that.
In case anyone's wondering, I'm still not comfortable.
I like this RISP hits philosophy
If you didn't predict that Yamamoto would get chased in the fourth and Yarbrough would dominate the Dodger bats through six, you just don't know ball.
You can’t predict baseball.
So the Yankees took my advice
Cookie DFA'ed.
Assuming they close this down in the ninth, this will be the first time all season that Judge will be hitless in consecutive games.
Phew. Looks like the next couple months will bring us some… adventurous ninth innings.
Well this sucks
Oh great Sawx games this weekend, at least tonight’s game has a YES broadcast. I think.
It's the usual for a series like this -- YES on Friday, FOX on Saturday afternoon, ESPN on Sunday evening. The Mets and Dodgers series were fun, but I miss those high octane days of Yankees-Red Sox in the late 90s and early 00s. There was nothing more stressful and nothing more fun than those games. Watching Pedro when he was at his peak was terrible and terrific all at once, but the worst for me was when they had Manny and Ortíz hitting third and fourth. Sometimes I couldn't bear to watch those at bats; I'd pause the game and walk away, then scan through the action while hoping for the best. The tension was too much.
It's still the Red Sox, but it's not quite the same.
81 years ago today Yogi had a very busy day.
I have to watch NESN.
The crew is very... philosophical.
This must be Buehler's Day Off.
Sorry. I felt like someone had to say it.
I don’t have a good feeling about tonight’s game
Austin!
Hah, Devers
Sigh.
Yarborough was due for a stinker.
Yankees only mostly dead.
Ye olde catcher’s interference
Yarbs vs. Crochet.
1. Unsurprising: Yankees lose by 3.
2. Surprising: they score 7 runs and still lose by 3.
Any news on Volpe -- is he back this evening?
At least Cone is in the booth
Haha, FUCK YOU, Dobbins!!!
go ahead and retire, kid. never hoid of ya...
aLL RISE!
Volpe back in the lineup
I hate these in game interviews
yeah, that sucked. jazz would have made that throw just fine...
These guys really are terrible. They're complete fools. How can Cone stand them?
Wow that was sweet, that K to end the inning.
Hey thelarmis, is this the first time all season we've both been here in the Bronx Banter line-up??
[59] Hey, RI! I think so...
[57] i think that's why cone doesn't talk much on these broadcasts.
i'm surprised the crowd wasn't giving this asshole pitcher the business from the get-go...
motherfucker. : /
Oy.
that homer hat is as stoopid as their home stadium.
Kristian Campbell???
Although the walk was what really got me -- while they're yammering endlessly about how awesome Rodon has been, he's not demonstrating control.
Boo, that’s a cheapie. You should decline it on principle
walk the 8th-hole hitter, then let the struggling rookie 9-hole hitter tie the game. FUCK!
we should be destroying this joker of a pitcher. we haven't even driven up his pitch count.
DJ!!!
Okay, your weak-ass hitter homers, out weak-ass hitter homers.
fucking FUCK
Ooof.
Why can't we get prospect catchers like that?
WTF? I walk the terrorists and both teams score, the Townies just more.
i fucking ABHOR the shit sox.
[73] similar situation - both times i went upstairs to start dinner, i came back and there were two runners on base...
[72] right handed, no less
fucking hell
fuck you, blue.
Of course. Grrrr.
Yeesh. What has happened to our pitching? Looks like batting practice. (Happened yesterday too.)
well, dinner is ruined. i guess i'll watch the nba finals, then head into the studio...
They’ve scored 23 runs in 24 innings against us this series
We better score multiple runs here.
[93] two is better than one
If Devers were hitting these home runs, it would still suck, but I’d at least understand. But this just sucks.
And there’s another. Damn.
oh my goodness. i fucking loathe boston.
Well, that I understand.
Unfuckingbelievable : /
Fuck that piece ‘o shit and his disgusting wad of chaw.
Really hate the Red Sox.
They scored 27 runs in 27 innings against us this weekend. Nauseating.
Thank goodness for the royals.
Night off for Judge, ahead of the Sawx series
Huh, Sunday’s game isn’t ESPN’s Sunday night game.