For all the hype surrounding the first Yankees-Dodgers World Series since 1981, Game 1 immediately delivered a classic — or, depending on your view, an epic gut punch.
Nestor Cortes, who had not pitched since Sept. 18, was one out away from a save.
Instead, on his second pitch of the night, he left a fastball in Freddie Freeman’s bread basket and allowed the injured first baseman to enter Dodgers lore with a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning for the 6-3 win Friday at Chavez Ravine.
For just one game, there’s a heck of a lot to unpack. Here’s a rundown:
— Aaron Boone might never have had to make a decision between Cortes and Tim Hill if his club had done a better job of not giving the Dodgers an extra 90 feet multiple times.
It happened too often during the season and now is magnified on the biggest stage, with the Yankees doing it twice before they arrived in the 10th inning.
In the fifth inning, Kiké Hernandez roped a fly ball to right field that Juan Soto had to run a long way for.
Instead of pulling up and playing it for the double, Soto kept the gas on and still could not reach it, but could not stop himself quickly enough as the ball bounced past him, allowing Hernandez to reach on a triple.
Then in the eighth inning, Shohei Ohtani crushed a double off the right-field wall against Tommy Kahnle.
Soto fielded it and fired a one-hop throw to second base that Gleyber Torres tried to backhand, only for the ball to ricochet off his glove toward the mound, allowing Ohtani to take third.
Both times, the Dodgers cashed in with a sacrifice fly.
In the 10th, Oswaldo Cabrera (who had entered at second base in the ninth after Jasson Dominguez had pinch-run for Torres in the top of the inning) could not come up with a diving stop on Tommy Edman’s ground ball up the middle.
But the two miscues before it were more preventable.
And at this time of year, when every game is tighter, the little things add up.
— Would Boone have had to decide between Cortes and Hill in the 10th if he had given Gerrit Cole a longer leash?
The Yankees ace mostly cruised through six innings of one-run ball before Teoscar Hernandez singled off him to lead off the seventh — after falling behind 0-2 and then battling for a full count.
Boone then decided to go to the bullpen for Clay Holmes to face Max Muncy.
But Cole had worked out a jam the inning before when Edman hit a leadoff double and Cole retired Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freeman in a row.
And Hernandez was only the fourth base runner he had allowed all night.
“I thought he got a little bit taxed there,” Boone said. “The last probably 20, 30 pitches, I thought he kind of grinded a little bit.”
Perhaps, though Cole was still flashing 98 mph in the seventh.
Holmes and Kahnle eventually got out of the seventh with the 2-1 lead intact, but the decision had a domino effect.
Holmes, Kahnle and Luke Weaver combined for nine outs to get through the ninth inning, which meant Jake Cousins had to start the bottom of the 10th trying to protect a 3-2 lead.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Yankees in the postseason:
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- Heyman: It’s time for Yankees to make drastic Aaron Judge move
- Sherman: The Yankees aren’t in Kansas City anymore
- The two sides of Juan Soto showed up in Game 1
— Maybe Boone doesn’t have to decide between Cortes and Hill if Aaron Judge had made his mark.
The game seems to keep finding him in big moments this October, but after going 1-for-5 with three strikeouts on Friday, he is batting 6-for-36 with 16 strikeouts this postseason.
The likely AL MVP can still change the narrative with one big swing.
He nearly had his moment in Game 3 of the ALCS, when he hit a game-tying home run, only for the Yankees to eventually lose that game.
But they need him to rise to the occasion again soon.
— OK, now for that Cortes-Hill decision:
Hill was the Yankees’ most valuable reliever in the ALCS, pitching big outs in all five games.
He and Cortes were both warming as Cousins started the 10th and put two men on with one out as the lineup flipped over.
Ohtani was the first problem to solve.
He was 2-for-12 lifetime against Cortes and 1-for-4 against Hill.
Betts had fared better against Hill (2-for-5) than Cortes (0-for-5).
And Freeman was 1-for-3 vs. Cortes and 3-for-7 vs. Hill.
But again, Cortes had not pitched in over a month.
And after getting Ohtani on one pitch, thanks to a terrific catch by Alex Verdugo while flipping over the half-wall in left field before intentionally walking Betts, Cortes threw a fastball to the wrong location and paid for it.
— If you’re looking for silver linings, here’s two:
The Yankees saw five Dodger relievers, pretty much all of their high-leverage arms.
The more they see them – with a bullpen game on tap for Game 3 or 4 – the more it should work in their favor.
And Jazz Chisholm Jr. had his best game of the playoffs.
In addition to a strong pick on a one-hopper on a hard-hit grounder by Betts in the fifth inning that helped Cole get out of a jam, he singled and stole two bases in the top of the 10th to put him in position to score the winning run.
The Yankees need more of that from Chisholm, not swinging for the fences.
Quick hits:
— Kahnle has now thrown 56 consecutive changeups. He has to throw a fastball at some point … right?
— Things I did not expect to see in the World Series: Anthony Volpe getting intentionally walked, in the sixth inning no less.
— Three of the Yankees’ last four games have gone to extra innings. Gray hairs for everybody.