Last night's bullpen game was mostly a failure. Ben Casparius started the game struggling to find the zone, walking three times and scoring just 23 times on his 43 throws. He allowed just one run as the Yankees continued to struggle with runners, but it wasn't a great opener. He went with the lead and Daniel Hudson came to the heart of the order in the third round. He also had trouble leading, as he allowed a single, struck out a batter and walked a batter to load the bases Anthony Volpewho immediately unloaded the bases. Landon Knack was mostly fine for four innings, allowing the Dodgers to fight their way back into the game, but Brent Honeywell Jr. needed 50 pitches to get out of the eighth inning and allowed five runs to really put the game out of reach.

In other ways it was somewhat successful. Losses are bad and it was an extremely annoying game, but the Dodgers arguably only used their four least-leverage arms. Meanwhile, the Yankees used four of their lever arms (Tim Hill, Clay Holmes, Mark Leiter Jr. And Luke Weaver). Holmes was used in all four games of this series, the other three appeared three times, including both games in New York. They were all pretty dominant in the series, but at some point fatigue started to show. The Honeywell fight hurt matters a bit, as Weaver had thrown 21 pitches and looked like he would be tasked with getting three outs in the ninth inning of a two-run game. Instead, the deficit ballooned to seven and the Yankees turned around Tim Mayza.

I wrote this before reading Dustin's post previously, so read more about it this here. As frustrating as it was, they still have three chances to win a game and become champions. If you told me this a week ago, I would take it without question.

	5:08 p.m		new York
DH	Ohtani (L)	2B	Torres
RF	Beds	RF	Soto (L)
1B	Freeman (L)	CF	Judge
LF	T. Hernandez	3B	Chisholm Jr (L)
3B	Muncy (L)	DH	Stanton
CF	K. Hernandez	1B	Rizzo (L)
SS	Edman (S)	SS	Volpe
C	Blacksmith	C	Wells (L)
2B	Lux (L)	LF	Verdugo (L)
P	Flaherty (R)	P	Cole (R)

Today there is a rematch of Game 1, with Jack Flaherty go against it Gerrit Cole. Allan has written extensively about this matchup in his thread. They went scoreless in the fourth inning until the Dodgers broke through in the fifth inning. Enrique Hernández tripled with a little help from Juan Soto in law, and Will Smith hit him with a stall. The lead lasted three more batters when Flaherty faced the heart of the Yankee lineup for a third time in the bottom of the sixth. Soto led off the inning with a single, and Giancarlo Stanton hit a ball to Frogtown, giving it a two-run lead. The Dodgers tied it in the eighth, and Freddie Freeman He hit a walk-off bases-loaded grand slam to get the series started on the right foot.

Bases Loaded Grand Slam? Jesus Christ

— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) October 26, 2024

Flaherty allowed two runs and five hits over 5 1/3 innings with six strikeouts and just one walk. He threw 19 swinging strikes, which was his second-highest of the season (21 on April 30 for the Tigers), and nine of the 19 balls he put in play were grounders. It could be a fatigue thing, but Flaherty has been relying on his ankle curve more than usual lately. His two highest usage rates came in his last two starts (40 percent on 10/18, 38.6 percent in Game 1), with mixed results. He threw 30 of them against the Mets and only had one hit in the game (a triple) and didn't see any of it. He had a 70.6 percent whiff rate (!) with his curve in Game 1, but three of the five hits he allowed came from it, including Stanton's home run. Flaherty's velocity was higher than last time out as he again averaged a fastball velocity of 93.6 mph. With a rested bullpen and a day off tomorrow (if necessary), it would be surprising to see Flaherty face the Yankee lineup for a third time tonight, regardless of how he gets along.

As great as Flaherty was in Game 1, Cole was just a little bit better. He allowed four hits and one run over six-plus innings, but struck out just four and got nine swing strikes. The Dodgers hit 13 fly balls off Cole, including a Freeman flyout in the sixth inning with a runner on that would have been a home run at Yankee Stadium. He has allowed at least 12 fly balls in each of his four October playoff starts, which could be an advantage for the Dodgers in this stadium. He had a significantly worse ERA at home this season (4.31 to 2.49 away), but the OPS difference wasn't that significant (.690 home, .601 away) and he actually allowed fewer home runs at home ( five) than on the street (six). Cole challenged the Dodgers to beat his fastball in Game 1, throwing it 51.1 percent of the time. Three of Cole's four strikeouts came on the heater, and he allowed a single, double and triple among the nine entering the game.

The Dodgers are rolling the dice with the same starting lineup as last night, but they did a flip Tommy Edman And Gavin Lux in the lineup. The Yankees field the exact same lineup.

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First pitch is scheduled for 5:08 p.m. PT and will be shown on FOX.