The World Series started six miles from Hollywood, and it felt like a writer's hand was all over this game. Titanic lead changes, a dramatic pitching decision that initially paid off, and a twist ending.
Aaron Boone has done a pretty good job pushing the right buttons this October, but this one may have been the wrong one. Ohtani was 2-for-12 against Cortes for his career, but the pitch he threw to Freeman was just tailor-made for a lefty with the balance of contact and power the future Hall of Famer boasts.
Cortes got a popout from the Dodger DH, thanks to a little help from Alex Verdugo: The problem with the lefty specialty is now you're facing Mookie Betts with two out, and the Yankees elected to walk him, setting up a left-on-left showdown with Freddie Freeman, in theory the most hobbled of the Dodgers ' Big Three.
Maybe a pitcher who wasn't so rusty wouldn't have thrown that, or maybe Tim Hill's sinker-heavy approach would have made it harder for Freeman to elevate, or maybe that wouldn't have happened at all.
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