MLB Playoffs: The Yankees' five most heartbreaking plays in ALCS Game 4

Dear sweet, chic Moses, what an absurd ballgame we just saw – and on the heels of one of the most crushing defeats in recent Yankees history. Objectively speaking, Game 3 of the 2024 American League Championship Series will certainly go down in history as the playoff classic of the decade. Personally, as a Yankees fan, I'd rather think about something else right now, but when you put on your neutral hat? It rocked.

The Yankees woke up Friday trying to put the bad memories of home runs by Jhonkensy Noel and David Fry behind them as quickly as possible. I generally hate to pick on the Astros, but New York had to do what Houston did almost 20 years ago (yikes) after Albert Pujols completely ruined Brad Lidge with one of the most famous home runs of this century. Despite the Pujols bomb, the Cardinals actually didn't win that pennant because the Astros shook it off to win the next game and end the League Championship Series.

The comparison isn't perfect because the Astros' win was the nail in the coffin for the Cardinals and the Yankees still need another win. Even with a resurgent Carlos Rodón heading into Game 5 and top player Gerrit Cole heading to the Bronx for a possible Game 6, this series has shown that no lead is truly safe and that Cleveland has no intention of going down quietly. But it's important to bounce back after getting hit in the mouth, and you don't have to be a baseball genius to know how the Yankees are doing a lot It's better to lead this series 3-1 than to be dead even at 2-2.

For a long time tonight I had no idea how I would feel after the final pitch. It seemed like any outcome was possible, and my heart was pounding like a bass-five drum, harder than almost any baseball game I've seen in the last decade. In homage to this chaos – and to simply ease my own stress in the hour after the Yankees' victory – please (?) enjoy the five* most heartbreaking plays of the 2024 ALCS Game 4.

*Yes, strangely enough, the play that scored the eventual game-winning run is not one of the five. This is just my pure gut review based on my feelings, and while it was exciting, it didn't feel as harrowing as the other five. Your mileage may vary!

5) Clay Holmes melts (again)

Right at the start I cheat by putting two highlights in one place, but they were essentially next to each other in purpose. My reaction was identical too. Yankees captain Aaron Boone was desperate to find a way out of this ballgame with a bullpen full of exhausted or unsightly arms. So since Holmes only needed eight throws to lose Game 3 in the fry walk-off, he came back again when Jake Cousins ​​​​left runners on first and third and in the seventh game with a 6-2 lead Leadership went. He retaliated with a K to Fry before allowing back-to-back doubles to right by José Ramírez and Josh Naylor. The Yankees' lead was instantly reduced to 6-5.

In fact, I have to say that before Fry's exit in Game 3, I was feeling good about Holmes again. He has been dominant since being removed from the closer's role in early September. But Boone has asked him to play in every single game so far this postseason, and the wear and tear showed in Game 3. While I understand the selection for good relief options was slim in Game 4, I just had a terrible feeling about Holmes. While these doppelgängers were heartbreaking to a degree, there was also a touch of resignation: “This would happened to Holmes, right?”

May he rest in Game 5. Please. I'm begging you, Aaron.

4) Non Si Può Stopparlo

Similar to how Jon Berti's go-ahead shot failed to break through in the ninth, it's crazy that one of the biggest homers of the Yankees' 2024 season comes here in fourth place. Giancarlo Stanton was electric all month, backing up his already strong playoff credentials with his best October yet as he sought a trip to the World Series for the first time in his 15-year career. The man won't stop hitting majestic home runs, and not even Cleveland's intimidating rookie fireman, Cade Smith, was immune to Stanton's power.

Smith had already faltered the Yankees several times early in the series, but even when he faltered before Stanton's attack in Game 4, I didn't expect Stanton to beat him deep. He had given up just one home run in 84.1 combined innings between the regular season and playoffs in 2024. That happened in June, during a game that Cleveland lost by five points. So Stanton taking over Smith Yard was special. The guy rocks.

3) PFP is your friend

I have a lot of sympathy for Mark Leiter Jr. I truly believe he has done just about everything to fix it since being traded from the Cubs at the 2024 trade deadline. It just didn't work out at all and he was understandably left out of the playoff squad until Ian Hamilton's calf injury forced him back into the game. As previously mentioned, the Yankees' bullpen was somewhat rattled before Game 4, so a Ladder appearance seemed a distinct possibility.

Well, Ladder was thrown into the fire, that's for sure. We'll briefly cover what happened when he replaced Holmes, but let's jump ahead to the eighth inning, which briefly made him a pariah. Boone tried to stretch Ladder to get into ninth place with a lead. Was this advisable, even with few alternatives, when Leiter had pitched so little since the end of September and was stuck in the seventh? Probably not, but that's exactly what happened. Bo Naylor led off with a double and advanced to third on a grounder before freezing on a popup by Steven Kwan.

Leiter could have escaped that with a 6-5 lead intact if he could just retire Fry. He made weak contact but was unable to improve his position against the comebacker. The ball trickled away from Leiter after he deflected it as he also kicked it a little. That was the first edition. He climbed over to pick it up and might have stopped and just tried to tag Fry. It wouldn't have been easy as his momentum kept him off the play, but it was possible. Leiter did not do so, but instead attempted to quickly throw the ball to Anthony Rizzo at first base. The ball was not caught and the game ended in a draw; New York's four-run lead was officially gone. Yikes.

It's true that Rizzo should have caught that ball and undone Leiter's shaky defense. But when we assign blame here, the majority goes to leaders. That can't happen. Luckily, Leiter was kind enough to take out Josh Naylor to keep the game tied. But it was scary!

2) Damn, TBS

TBS has been extremely frustrating to watch this postseason. We don't have to deal with Bob Costas' soliloquies anymore (the ALCS booth is much better), but we're still left with some bad camera work. The biggest crime so far was that TBS was completely fooled by Noel's fly out in the seventh inning after Leiter came in. Yes, it sounded loud right off the bat, and yes, he just crushed a huge home run in Game 3. But you have to be better than that, which immediately got hearts racing and made you think Noel had hit a three-run shot that put Cleveland ahead 8-6.

Terrible! These are the times I miss YES Network the most. You can argue with some of the announcers if you want, but the work behind the scenes is excellent 99 percent of the time. Troy Benjamin is right.

1) The finale, somehow, somehow

Look, the real answer to what stopped my heart the most is TBS' atrocious work on the Noel flyout. However, we had a happy ending to this game, so I'll end it on a positive note – although not a scary one.

Someday, fans who were too young to see this game (or simply skipped it and became baseball fans later in life) might read the score from ALCS Game 4 2024 and think that this crazy game ended at least somewhat normally :

Brayan Rocchio is out, second baseman Jon Berti is out for first baseman Oswaldo Cabrera.

They will be sorely mistaken if they don't check the video.

With one down in the ninth and the Yankees leading 8-6, Tommy Kahnle walked Noel and allowed a single to Andrés Giménez. A day after breaking the hearts of Yankees fans, Cleveland had a chance to do it again with the first and game-winning run at the plate. However, Kahnle continued to pile up his changeups, getting Bo Naylor to fly out before Rocchio hit his grounder to Berti.

What the box score couldn't capture is that Berti wiggled the ball briefly (let's say that ten times fast). The image of Kwan popping up with the bases loaded in a walk-off scenario struck me in a flash. Actually there was more Magic in Cleveland? The saving grace was that Rocchio is one of Cleveland's slower baserunners, and Berti deftly recovered to throw him out without the play even being close. Phew.

I'm glad we all survived that. Is it too much to ask for the Yankees to get a stress-free win in Game 5? The NLCS was full of them! Maybe Rodón will shine again and the Bronx Bombers will live up to their name with a whole bunch of things? It would certainly help me sleep a lot better this weekend, that's for sure.