New York Yankees vs Los Angeles Dodgers World Series Game 1 live: Scores, updates, highlights, commentary

Oh. My. Goodness.

In a game that featured a little bit of everything, we got the ending it deserved.

Jake Cousins came in to close out the game for the Yankees after taking a 3-2 lead in the 10th, and while he got Will Smith out, he walked Gavin Lux and then gave up an infield single to Tommy Edman.

The Yankees made the decision to bring in Nestor Cortes to face Shohei Ohtani, and on the first pitch, Alex Verdugo made this unbelievable catch.

Because Verdugo ended up in the stands, both runners were able to advance a base. With runners on second and third, the Yankees walked Mookie Betts to set up a left-on-left matchup with the bases loaded, two outs in the bottom of the 10th.

And this happened.

Game 2 of the World Series will begin Saturday at 8:08 ET with Carlos Rodon taking on Yoshinobu Yamamoto. I’ll be back to recap that game as well. Appreciate you following along.

What a game.

Jazz Chisholm has made his mark in his first World Series game.

After singling to right field with one out, Chisholm was able to take advantage of a not-so-speedy Blake Treinen to the plate to steal second and third, and then came home to score on this play off the bat of Anthony Volpe.

Speed kills. Jake Cousins is coming in to try and close out the Dodgers to give New York a 1-0 lead in the seven-game series.

Hey. Free baseball.

Nine innings wasn’t enough to settle it, so the Dodgers and Yankees will head ot extra innings. Luke Weaver got the final five outs, with some help from Alex Verdugo for the final one in the bottom of the ninth.

This will be the third-straight season that we’ve gotten extra-innings in Game 1 of the World Series, so don’t we look quite the fool to not have bet on that result. I’m not sure you can actually bet on that result, but if you can, you should in 2025.

Can a World Series game be great without a little controversy? We won’t find out.

Gleyber Torres came up with two outs in the ninth and appeared to hit a go-ahead homer off Michael Kopech.

But...

Replay quickly confirmed that it was fan interference, and that fan quickly made the decision to get out of the stadium as quickly as possible. It’s very possible that ball would have left the stadium, anyway, but we’ll never know.

The Dodger then intentionally walked Juan Soto to face Aaron Judge — imagine me telling you that’d be a thing a month ago, or ever — and Blake Treinen got Judge to pop up to shortstop.

Crazy game.

We’re tied, folks.

Shohei Ohtani hit a one-out double off the wall in right field, but he didn’t stay at second base for long, as Juan Soto’s throw into second base wasn’t handled cleanly by Gleyber Torres and Ohtani showed off his wheels. You be the judge on who is (more) at fault here.

Speaking of Judge. Mookie Betts came up with the chance to tie the game and did just that with a flyout to the massive center fielder that scored Ohtani with ease.

If you’re a fan of the Yankees or Dodgers, this has to be excruciating. For those of us who are lucky enough to be neutral parties, we love it. This is going to be an incredible series based on how Game 1 has gone.

You’re not going to believe this. I hope you’re sitting down.

But Tommy Kahnle threw more changeups Friday.

Kahnle entered the game with runners on second-and-third with one out, and was able to get Gavin Lux out with one of those changes on a grounder to Gleyber Torres.

Why bring it up? Because Kahnle has now thrown 50 straight changeups in the postseason. No, that’s not a typo. Here’s visual evidence:

It’s a 2-1 game heading to the eighth inning. Hang onto your hats.

Watching Gerrit Cole in the first inning didn’t necessarily suggest that this was going to be a long outing for the right-hander, but Cole was outstanding during his Game 1 start.

He allowed just four hits, didn’t walk anyone and struck out four before leaving with no outs in the bottom of the seventh after a single by Teoscar Hernandez. Clay Holmes has taken over, and Cole is responsible for Hernandez. He should be ready to roll for Game 5, if necessary.

Brusgar Graterol made his postseason debut in the top of the seventh, and he made a proper introduction on this impressive one-handed stop.

Pretty impressive to see a relief pitcher make that play on the biggest stage like you bouncing a tennis ball against a wall while you’re waiting for school to start. Graterol did allow a single to Aaron Judge, but he was able to get through the heart of the Yankees’ lineup without allowing a run while striking out Giancarlo Stanton.

The Yankees’ lead is safe. For now.

Gerrit Cole gave up a leadoff double to Tommy Edman, and Shohei Ohtani moved Edman to third on a chopper that saw Anthony Volpe make another strong play at short. That put a runner at third with one out for Mookie Betts, and while Betts hit the ball hard, he was no match for the quick reflexes of Jazz Chisholm who threw Betts out after a stab at third. Freddie Freeman then flew out, so Cole is now through six innings of one-run baseball, and he’s thrown a reasonable 80 pitches.

There’s no one hotter right now than Giancarlo Stanton.

On a 1-2 pitch with one out — a batter after Aaron Judge struck out for the third time in three chances — Stanton golfed out a breaking-ball on the inner part of the plate to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.

It went an estimated 412 feet with a ridiculous 116.6 mph exit velocity. That’s now four-straight games that Stanton has homered in the postseason, the sixth of the playoffs in 2024 and 17th in his career.

Flaherty did throw one more pitch to Jaz Chisholm, but Dave Roberts pulled the right-hander after a ball. He finishes with 5 1/3 innings of two-run baseball with six strikeouts against one walk. The ending wasn’t what he wanted, but the Dodgers should be thrilled by what they got from the right-hander Friday night.

Hey. A run.

In the top of the fifth Jack Flaherty struck out the first two hitters he faced, gave up a single to Alex Verdugo and then got some help from Max Muncy.

Someone had to score first, and it was the Dodgers who had that honor thanks in large part to a liner the opposite way by Enrique Hernandez that went for three bases with some less-than-spectacular defense from Juan Soto.

A batter later, Will Smith lifted a fly ball to right, and while Soto made a strong throw to the plate, Hernandez was able to beat it to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead. We’ll see if this opens the floodgates.

This is not the type of game I expected to see over four innings.

It was another strong inning from both starters, starting with Flaherty who didn’t give up a hit and went unchallenged. After throwing 40 pitches over the first two innings, he’s now sitting at 60 over four scoreless frames. The Dodgers couldn’t ask for more.

Cole also fired a 1-2-3 inning, but he did get a little help from Anthony Rizzo on this nifty over-the-shoulder catch.

That under total is looking pretty good right now.

The Yankees got the leadoff man on for the second consecutive inning, but Gleyber Torres was quickly erased on a double play that featured perfect defensive alignment and a nice play from Tommy Edman. He was then able to get Aaron Judge on this nasty breaking-ball for the second time already.

Meanwhile, it was another fantastic inning from Cole that saw no hard contact and ended with a strikeout of Shohei Ohtani. Cole has allowed just one hit with three strikeouts, and has (mostly) looked like the hurler that took home a Cy Young in 2023.

Flaherty allowed his first hit of the game on a single from Anthony Rizzo that hit Flaherty in the cleat, but he struck out Anthony Volpe on a slider — on a pitch that was in the middle of the plate — before getting a couple of groundouts from Austin Wells and Alex Verdugo. While they haven’t been able to get on the board just yet, they have made Verdugo throw 40 pitches over his first two frames.

It was a much more effective inning for Cole. He struck out the final two hitters he faced, and the first popped out meekly to Jazz Chisholm Jr. in foul territory. He’s also been more efficient than Cole thanks to the Dodgers’ aggressiveness in the first, as his pitch count sits at just 23 thus far.

Well, that was an interesting inning.

Cole got the first two batters out, but both Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts flew out to the warning track in their at-bats. Freddie Freeman then laced a ball down the left-field line, and showed his ankle is feeling fine as he was able to get to third after Alex Verdugo misplayed the baseball. They called it a triple since Verdugo didn’t touch the ball.

Teoscar Hernandez hit the ball hard, but a liner was snagged by Anthony Volpe to keep the Dodgers scoreless. No runs scored, but Los Angeles appeared to pick up the baseball well off Cole.

Flaherty got Gleyber Torres out on a liner to third, and he then walked Juan Soto on four pitches. He struck out Aaron Judge, but Tommy Edman wasn’t able to handle a hard-hit grounder for Giancarlo Stanton to put runners on first-and-second. The 29-year-old was able to get Jazz Chisholm to ground out to second to escape the inning without damage.

Much was made of Flaherty having his velocity dip down, but that wasn’t an issue in the first inning.

The pre-game festivities are always something to behold for the World Series, but they had a different tone this time around.

Los Angeles honored legendary Dodger hurler Fernando Valenzuela after Valenzuela passed away Tuesday. Instead of throwing out a first pitch, fellow former Los Angeles stalwart Orel Hershiser placed the baseball behind the number 34, which has been painted behind the mound to honor Valenzuela.

Dodgers: Won National League West at 98-64 and clinched first-round bye; won the NLDS 3-2 over the Padres; won the NLCS 4-2 over the Mets.

Yankees: Won the AL East at 94-68 and clinched first-round bye; won the ALDS 3-1 over the Royals; won the ALCS over Guardians 4-1

The Yankees have only lost two postseason games thus far, but that’s not say it’s been a breeze for the AL winners. Two of their three wins over the Royals were by just one run in the Division Series, with the other a 3-1 victory. Their final two wins in the ALCS saw them score runs in the ninth and tenth innings, respectively, including the extra-inning homer for Juan Soto that clinched their trip to the Fall Classic. This is not to say the Yankees haven’t been good because of course it isn’t, but fans of the Empire would be the first to tell you there’s been some hang-on-to-your-seat moments.

It was almost an early exit for the Dodgers in the NLDS as they trailed San Diego 2-1 in the best-of-five format, but they were able to win the final two games thanks in large part to their bullpen — and the Padres’ bats going ice cold. The NLCS was a bizarre one that saw no close games, and the Dodgers’ bats were simply too much for the Mets’ pitching staff to handle. The Dodgers’ rotation has essentially been a mess outside of one start each from Jack Flaherty and Yoshinobu Yamamoto — and a so-so one from Walker Buehler — but the bullpen has (mostly) been outstanding, and the Los Angeles lineup has been spectacular. No surprise there.

Cole is the reigning Cy Young winner, but on top of missing significant time due to injury, he had an inconsistent season that saw him forge a 3.41 ERA and 99/29 K/BB over 17 starts and 95 innings. That inconsistency has carried over to the postseason, as he’s had two so-so starts with a brilliant one against the Royals in between those outings. Cole has made two starts in the World Series in his career — both in 2019 while he was with the Astros — and he threw 14 innings with a 3.86 ERA with a 15/3 K/BB. It’s unlikely there will be jitters for Cole, but the concern here is that he hasn’t missed bats as of late and facing a loaded Dodgers lineup.

Flaherty was acquired by the Dodgers from the Tigers at the deadline, and Los Angeles would be in a lot of trouble if they hadn’t have made that deal considering their starting pitcher issues. He struck out 194 batters in his 162 innings while walking just 38 opponents with a 3.17 ERA in his 28 starts with his two clubs. The 29-year-old was roughed up for eight runs in just three innings in his last postseason start, but prior to that he dominated the Padres with seven scoreless innings and allowing just two hits. As good as Cole has been over his career, it’s fair to argue that Flaherty has the higher upside of the two starters, but the lower floor.

• Moneyline: LAD: (-126) | NYY: (+108)
  
• Spread: LAD: -1.5 (+152) | NYY: +1.5 (-184)
  
• Total: 9 -- Over: (+102) | Under: (-124)

Both teams have announced their starting lineups for the ever-so-critical Game 1, and there’s no real surprises.

* The big news for the Dodgers — outside of this lineup being really good — is that Freddie Freeman is back as expected after missing Game 6 due to his ankle injury. It’ll be interesting to see how much maintenance the Dodgers do, but as long as he’s relatively healthy, he’s going to be in the lineup.

* Enrique Hernández gets the start in center, with Andy Pages beginning the game on the bench. Hernández has been a stellar performer in the playoffs throughout his career, and he’s hit 8-for-21 against Gerrit Cole in a (very) small sample with a homer and three doubles.

And it looks like Hernández isn’t leaving the lineup anytime soon.

* Miguel Rojas is back after missing the NLCS, but will begin the game on the bench. It’s likely we see Rojas used as a defensive replacement late in games, but he will start Game 2, so that’ll mean Gavin Lux retreats to the bench for that contest Saturday.

* Giancarlo Stanton remains in the cleanup spot, which makes sense considering how white-hot he’s been with the bat as of late. Austin Wells will hit eighth; the usual cleanup hitter against right-handed pitchers.

*Jasson Dominguez remains on the bench with Alex Verdugo the starter in left. So far Verudgo has registered a paltry .544 OPS, and if he struggles over the first couple of games of the series, it wouldn’t be a huge upset if the Yankees turned to the Martian at some point in this best-of-seven set.