Dear sweet, beautiful Moses, what an absurd ballgame we just witnessed – and in the wake of one of the more crushing losses in recent Yankees history, too. Objectively speaking, Game 3 of the 2024 American League Championship Series will certainly go down as a playoff classic from this decade onwards. As a Yankees fan, I’d personally rather be thinking about something else right now, but when you put on your neutral hat? It rocked.

The Yankees woke up Friday wanting to quickly put the bad memories of Jhonkensy Noel and David Fry’s clutch homers behind them. I generally hate calling out the Astros, but New York had to do what Houston did almost two decades ago (yikes) after Albert Pujols absolutely ruined Brad Lidge with one of the most iconic home runs of this century. Despite the Pujols bomb, the Cardinals did not actually win that pennant as the Astros shook it off to win the next game, ending the League Championship Series.

The comparison isn’t perfect, as that Astros win was the nail in the Cardinals’ coffin, and the Yankees still need one win. Even with a resurgent Carlos Rodón in Game 5 and top prospect Gerrit Cole in line for a possible Game 6 in the Bronx, this series has shown that no lead is truly safe and that Cleveland has no intention of going down quietly. But getting back up after being hit in the mouth is important, and it doesn’t take a baseball genius to know that the Yankees a lot of it is better to lead this series 3-1 rather than sitting dead even at 2-2.

For a long time tonight I had no idea how I would feel after the last pitch. It seemed like any outcome of a game was possible, and my heart was beating like a bass 5 drum, louder than almost any baseball game I’ve seen in the past decade. In tribute to that chaos – and to simply ease my own stress in the hour after the Yankees clinched the victory – enjoy (?) the five* most heartbreaking plays of 2024 ALCS Game 4.

*Yes, strangely enough, the play that scored the eventual game-winning point is not one of the five. This is just my gut score based on how I felt, and while exciting, it didn’t feel as seismic as the other five. Your mileage may vary!

5) Clay Holmes melts (again)

From the beginning I cheated by including two highlights in one place, but they were essentially next to each other. My reaction was also identical. Yankees skipper Aaron Boone was desperate for answers in this ballgame with a bullpen full of depleted or unattractive arms. So since Holmes only needed eight pitches to lose Game 3 on the Fry walk-off, he came back again when Jake Cousins ​​left runners on first and third base to open the seventh inning in a 6-2 ballgame. He got revenge on Fry with a K before allowing back-to-back doubles to right to José Ramírez and Josh Naylor. In no time, the Yankees’ lead had dropped to a nail-biting 6-5.

In fact, I have to say I felt good about Holmes again prior to the Fry walk-off in Game 3. He had been dominant since being removed from the closer’s role in early September. But Boone has asked him to pitch in every game of this postseason so far, and the wear and tear was visible in Game 3. While I understand the selection of good relief options in Game 4 was slim, I just had a terrible feeling when Holmes entered. So while these doubles were heartbreaking to an extent, there was also a hint of resignation: “This would happens to Holmes, right?

May he rest in Game 5. Please. I beg you, Aaron.

4) Non Si Può Stopparlo

Similar to how Jon Berti’s go-ahead run in the ninth didn’t make the cut, it’s wild that one of the Yankees’ biggest home runs of the 2024 season is only in fourth place here. Giancarlo Stanton was electric all month, cementing his already strong playoff credentials with his best October yet as he looks to reach the World Series for the first time in his 15-year career. The man won’t stop hitting majestic home runs, and even Cleveland’s intimidating rookie firefighter, Cade Smith, wasn’t immune to Stanton’s power.

Smith had made mincemeat of the Yankees several times earlier in the series, but even though he hesitated prior to Stanton’s at-bat in Game 4, I didn’t think Stanton would take him deep. He had surrendered just one home run in 84.1 innings combined between the regular season and the playoffs in 2024. That came in June, in a game Cleveland lost by five. So Stanton taking over Smith’s yard was something special. That guy rocks.

3) PFP is your friend

I have a lot of sympathy for Mark Leiter Jr.. I fully believe he has done just about everything he can to try to turn himself around since coming over from the Cubs at the 2024 Trade Deadline. It just didn’t work out at all, and he was understandably left out of the play-off squad until Ian Hamilton’s calf injury forced him back into the picture. As noted, the Yankees’ bullpen was somewhat cooked entering Game 4, so a Leiter appearance seemed like a distinct possibility.

Well, Leiter was thrown into the fire, that’s for sure. We’ll get into what happened when he replaced Holmes in a second, but we’ll go to the future for the eighth inning, which briefly made him a pariah. Boone tried to stretch Leiter to get into the ninth with a lead. Even with few alternatives, was this advisable when Leiter had thrown so little and made corners in the seventh since late September? Probably not, but that’s what happened. Bo Naylor led off with a double and advanced to third base on a grounder before freezing on a pop-up by Steven Kwan.

Leiter could have escaped this with an intact 6-5 lead, if only he could knock out Fry. He got weak contact, but couldn’t use his position on the comebacker. The ball trickled away from Leiter after he deflected it, as he also kicked it a bit. That was the first problem. He rushed over to pick it up and might have stopped to tag Fry. It wouldn’t have been easy, as his momentum carried him away from the game, but it was possible. Leiter didn’t do that, but instead tried to throw the ball quickly to Anthony Rizzo at first base. The ball was not caught and the match was tied; New York’s four-point lead was officially gone. Yes.

It’s true that Rizzo should have caught this ball and challenged Leiter’s shaky defense. But if we divide the blame here, the majority goes to Leiter. That can’t happen. Luckily, Leiter was kind enough to strike out Josh Naylor to keep the game tied. But it was scary!

2) Damn it, TBS

TBS has been extremely frustrating to watch this postseason. We don’t have to deal with Bob Costas’ monologues anymore (the ALCS mode is much better), but we still have sloppy camera work. The biggest crime so far was TBS being absolutely fooled by Noel’s catch in the seventh inning after Leiter entered. Yes, it rang loud immediately, and yes, he just hit a huge homer in Game 3. But you’ve got to be better than this, which immediately made hearts drop and think Noel had tanked a three-run shot. put Cleveland ahead, 8-6.

Terrible! These are the moments when I miss YES Network the most. You can quibble 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

See, the actual 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 this on a high note, if not scary, too.

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

Brayan Rocchio grounded out, second baseman Jon Berti and first baseman Oswaldo Cabrera.

They will be sorely mistaken if they don’t watch the video.

Down by one in the ninth and the Yankees ahead, 8-6, Tommy Kahnle walked Noel and allowed a single to Andrés Giménez. A day after breaking the hearts of Yankees fans, Cleveland got a chance to do it again with the tying run on first and the winning run at the plate. However, Kahnle continued to spam his changeups, forcing Bo Naylor to fly out before Rocchio grounded out to Berti.

What the box score didn’t capture is that Berti bobbled the ball briefly (say that ten times fast). In a flash, the image of Kwan coming up with the bases loaded in a walk-off scenario haunted me. Was actually there more magic in Cleveland? The saving grace was that Rocchio is one of Cleveland’s slower baserunners, and Berti capably recovered and threw him out without the play even being close. Phew.

I’m glad we all survived that. Is it too much to ask for Game 5 to be a stress-free Yankees victory? 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 dingers? It would definitely help me sleep a lot easier this weekend, that’s for sure.