The Yankees finally won a World Series game, and they did it the way they usually win games. Which is to say they covered any funky plays with big hits — in fact, a trio of monster home runs. For one night anyway, they behaved like the Bronx Bombers, and all was right in the boroughs.
The question now is whether this can continue. Well, let’s put aside the obvious that the odds against them remain stacked a lot higher than Aaron Judge’s current batting average, to catalogue the positive and the possibilities. And yes, there are a few.
While the Dodgers still hold a 3-1 advantage in this World Series after the Yankees’ 11-4 victory, and still generally feel like the better and more buttoned-up team, at least there are a few encouraging developments:
1. The complementary players showed they aren’t always reliant on the “big three” hitters.
Anthony Volpe, the fastest Yankee who bizarrely only advanced one base from second on Austin Wells’ double high off the center field wall, became the fourth-youngest player to hit a grand slam in the World Series. Wells later homered into the second deck in right field. And Gleyber Torres locked things up with a late three-run shot.
2. Judge looked better. He lined a run-scoring hit to put a bow on things, and reached base two more times — on a walk and hit by pitch. The best hitter in baseball might be back.
3. The Yankees bullpen out-dueled the consensus best bullpen this postseason, holding this stacked Dodgers lineup to one run over five innings. (Of course, Yankees manager Aaron Boone, knowing it was an elimination game, rode closer Luke Weaver hard, inserting him in the seventh, while Dodgers manager Dave Roberts saved his best relievers.)
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Yankees in the postseason:
- Yankees keep season alive as offense finally breaks out in big way
- Rookie’s first World Series outing was just enough for the Yankees
- Heyman: Yankees finally showed some signs to believe in as Bombers keep title hopes alive
- Vaccaro: The Yankees were at rock bottom before Anthony Volpe’s heroics
4. The Yankees played decent defense, making no errors, with Volpe, the hero of the day, making a nice backhand play on a hard one-hopper off Max Muncy’s bat.
5. The Dodgers finally looked fallible, as they were outhit and outpitched, and made the game’s only error.
6. Shohei Ohtani, the greatest player on Earth and maybe ever, continued to look slightly diminished three days after suffering a left shoulder subluxation. It’s amazing he’s playing at all, but he appears to be favoring the bad shoulder. Of course, Ohtani at 60 percent is still probably a world beater.
This won’t be easy, but with the win, the Yankees improved their situation from impossible.