Have I learned my lesson? Let’s hope so. Game five of the 2024 World Series was a pleasant dream for the New York Yankees and their fans which, in the vernacular of John Smoltz, I allowed myself to join for the past week. To thine own self be true, right? No, this life long Yankees hater was overcome with desire for defeat of the best team money could buy and became openly in favor of victory for the sons of Steinbrenner. For four fun innings, it looked like the momentum had definitely shifted. A walk to Juan Soto was followed by a home run to the previously struggling Aaron Judge. Then Jazz Chisholm, who comes close to defying the Yankees grooming orders, hit another. Gerrit Cole was his determined, poker faced self mowing down the Dodgers hitters. Anthony Volpe and Alex Verdugo produced a fourth run in the second inning and the remarkably resurgent Giancarlo Stanton blasted yet another home run to make it 5-0 after three innings. One could imagine Dave Roberts flashing back to 20 years ago, when his team (the Red Sox at the time) came back in the league championship series from a three games to none deficit to vault past the Yankees to the World Series.

Then came the meltdown. Judge, who had made a great catch to deny the unstoppable Freddie freeman in the fourth, dropped a routine fly ball after Kike Hernandez started the fifth inning with the Dodger’s first hit, a single. Then Volpe made a bad throw to Chisholm at third on another routine play and the two errors had loaded the bases with none out. Cole gathered himself and struck out Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani and the pleasant dream was revived. Mookie Betts rolled a grounder wide of first base and Anthony Rizzo had it easily, but Betts runs hard and fast and Gerrit Cole was caught being a spectator without a ticket. Five to one, still nobody out and the bases sacked. Then came Freddie with a base hit to make it 5-3. Teoscar Hernandez then cracked a double and the score was tied and the air was out of the balloon. Cole is an experienced, fiery competitor but it was amazing that no mound visit was made yet–not by the catcher, not by pitching coach Mark Prior, not by the ghost of Thurmon Munson. After Max Muncy walked there finally was a mound visit and somehow, after that 38 pitch inning, Cole returned to pitch the sixth and part of the seventh but momentum, ever slippery, had gone back to the visitors.

Stanton’s sacrifice fly put New York back in front but the fearsome Bronx Bombers had turned into zombies. Helped by a catcher’s interference in the eighth inning, Los Angeles got what they wanted despite Ohtani’s 0 for 4 night.

Just like that it became time to say good bye to repetitive commercials for things I’ll never buy and verbose announcers that I actually listened to quite a bit this game. Now, until next Spring, the TV can rest except for English Premiere League futbol and the European Women Super League along with U.S. men and women games as they occur. Plus streaming movies and shows . Overall, MLB was very interesting all season. I’m starting to favor going back to a 154 game schedule, though. These playoffs go long, and they might turn some of us into zombies if we’re not careful.