NEW YORK – On Sept. 20, before a game against the Oakland A's, Gerrit Cole approached the New York Yankees relief pitchers' lockers. In his previous start against Boston, Cole had called for an intentional walk to Red Sox slugger Rafael Devers with the bases empty, precipitating a catastrophic collapse. Cole had lasted just 4⅓ innings, putting pressure on his bullpen at a point in the season when they were all gassed. Cole still felt bad. He promised the Yankees' replacements that they could have peace of mind.

“You don’t have to do anything today,” Cole said.

For the next two and a half hours, Cole hosted a pitching practice. He pitched nine innings, by far his longest outing of the 2024 season, and allowed just one run on two hits. Even after the game stretched into extra innings and required a one-inning stint for closer Luke Weaver to secure the win, Cole's argument was clear. Although he suffered an elbow injury that caused him to miss the first two and a half months of the season, and his fastball has lost a tick or two of velocity, there is still greatness lurking in the Yankees' ace.

He must reconvene it on Wednesday. The Yankees saved their season with an 11-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night, and Cole will take the mound at Yankee Stadium in Game 5 with the same load, trying to send the series back to Los Angeles.

Cole is no stranger to win-or-win games, having started six times in the postseason. And he knows the pressure, not just from pitching in New York, but from five years ago, when he had the largest contract ever for a pitcher, $324 million. And he wants to be seen as the guy who made the most important games of his life his playground rather than the guy who held up four fingers before Devers took the stage. He wants to be the guy who told the relievers to calm down and held up his end of the bargain.

“It was a different feeling,” Weaver said. “It was like, OK, Gerrit, you want to do it, we’re not going to get upset about it. Do your thing. And he went out and fucking did it. I thought he had maybe 10 in him.”

“When you have a top dog like that and he expresses it, I feel like he's in Game 5 the way he did in that killer mode, it's going to be a pretty tough task.

This game – with the season on the line, win or stay home – is exactly the type of game the Yankees signed him for. It's the type of game the Dodgers also wanted from him when they recruited him during his free agency season before the 2020 season before he ultimately chose New York over his hometown team. With the Houston Astros in 2019, Cole had thrown an eight-inning, two-hit, 10-strikeout gem, earning a winner-take-all victory in the Division Series. In 2022, he helped the Yankees rebound Cleveland from the postseason with another division series victory.

But in Cole's other four must-win games, his team lost – twice with the Yankees (2020 and 2021), twice with Pittsburgh (2013, 2015). Still, his New York teammates trust him to perform well on the biggest courts.

“He's hands down the best pitcher in baseball,” Yankees left-hander Nestor Cortes said. “He’s been doing this for many years and has gotten better and better. We all know he has talent, but he studies every shot, he studies every opponent he's going to face. He knows percentages, he knows trends. That’s me.’ He’s out there and he knows what percentage of that 2-1 fastball needs to be successful.

With Yankees manager Aaron Boone leaning heavily on his bullpen through the first four games, there's even more urgency for Cole to pitch well — and get deep.

Cole has thrown fewer than 90 shots in each of his last four starts this postseason. Whether he can match or repeat his six outstanding one-run ball innings in Game 1 – against a Dodgers lineup worn down by pitchers – will depend on his efficiency. After months of questions about the functionality of his elbow, Cole is as confident as he was this season when he hit 99 mph with his fastball in Game 1.

“I feel like I’m in good shape now,” Cole said. “I have a reserve when it comes to pitching. So if I need to reach into the tank, I can get it, and then I can get it again. It's not a one-time thing. And then they're both familiar with it. “Myself and my performance, how I move, how well I concentrate the ball in the areas of the strike zone that I want to reach – I very rarely miss defined East and West anymore.”

Game 5 marks just the sixth time this year that Cole has thrown four days between starts. Two of those came in the postseason: a bravura seven-inning, one-run performance in the decisive division series win over Kansas City and a 4.1-inning brawl against Cleveland five days later.

Even if Cole delivers another gem, the numbers are now against the Yankees. No team has ever had to overcome a 3-0 deficit in the World Series and even force a Game 6, let alone come back to win a ring. If they win Game 5, they would have to win two in Los Angeles – with a loaded bullpen, a star in Aaron Judge, who has struggled throughout October, and a lineup that was ineffective in the first three games when the Dodgers couldn't throw , her back arms were weak.

Making matters worse is that Los Angeles will counter with one of its front-end starters. Like Cole, Dodgers right-hander Jack Flaherty is a Southern California native, a former first-round pick – and almost played for the team he'll face. The Yankees attempted to acquire Flaherty from Detroit before the trade deadline. The deal fell through when New York, fearing his back, demanded another return to the Tigers. The Dodgers swooped in, perfectly content to add Flaherty to their rotation, and he was brilliant down the stretch, trading blows with Cole in Game 1.

Now they face each other again – a chance to win his team the championship that's at stake for Flaherty, and for Cole it's about survival. Additionally, the start could be a factor in whether Cole opts out of the four years and $144 million remaining on his contract, a move that may be voided if the Yankees add one year and $36 million to the contract extend.

Cole won't promise the bullpen a day of rest this time, not since the last full game in the postseason came seven years ago. The Yankees don't need this. They just want to live up to the expectations posted on a video board in their locker room after Game 4. The clubhouse, it said, will open on Wednesday at 2 p.m. And underneath, in capital letters, there was less a hope than a mission:

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