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The Yankees emphatically refused to go into that good night softly. They’re not dead yet, and neither is the 2024 baseball season – so am I Levi Weaverhere with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!

About Last Night: New York avoids a sweep in Game 4

Yankees 11, Dodgers 4: The first inning last night looked like it would follow the same script as the first three games. Freddie Freeman hit another home run (he now holds the record alone, with home runs in six consecutive World Series games), and the Dodgers once again had an early lead.

Things got even uglier in the bottom half of the inning when a fan tried to wrench a foul ball out of Mookie Betts’ glove. Not the Yankees’ fault, of course. But the atmosphere was just… bad everywhere.

But in the bottom of the fourth, when the Dodgers turned to Daniel Hudson to hold onto a lead in a bullpen game, the tide changed. Anthony Volpe – the hometown boy who grew up dreaming of playing for the Yankees – brought the Bronx faithful to their feet with a grand slam. At 5-2, it was the Yankees’ first lead in the series since the other grand slam, Freeman’s Game 1 walk-off. (Now it’s time for Jayson Stark’s World Series grand slam trivia.)

The Dodgers came back to make it close in the fifth, scoring two to make it a one-run game at 5-4, but it was all Yankees from then on. One insurance run in the sixth would have been enough, but after struggling at the plate for so long this series, you can hardly blame them for pushing through in the eighth and scoring five runs to reach the final of to reach 11-4.

For Volpe, it was not only an impossibly magical moment, but he also made history: He became the first player in World Series history to record four RBIs and two stolen bases in one game.

Ken’s notebook: White Sox new manager tab

In some news late last night, the White Sox have hired Will Venable as their manager, according to a major league source.

Venable comes to Chicago from Texas, where he spent the last two years as associate manager to the Rangers’ Bruce Bochy and won the 2023 World Series. Venable played nine MLB seasons for the Rangers, Padres and Dodgers as an outfielder starting in 2008. until 2016.

The White Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol in August after a 21-game franchise losing streak. Grady Sizemore took over in the interim and finished 13-32 at the helm, but general manager Chris Getz said in August that current team staffers would not be considered for the full-time manager job.

“I think it’s important to bring in a new voice, a fresh voice, maybe exposed to parts of this game that we don’t have in our organization right now,” Getz said at the time. “I am very keen to learn more about some of these individuals and then we will get to the finish line and appoint the next manager.”

The White Sox finished the 2024 season at 41-121, setting the record for most losses in modern baseball history.

Pitching Probabilities: Flaherty vs. Cole in Game 5

So now we have a pitching rematch from Game 1, with Jack Flaherty and Gerrit Cole going head-to-head tonight in Game 5. A quick recap of the first matchup:

• Cole: 6 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts
• Flaherty: 5 1/3 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts

That’s a small advantage for Cole — one that only grows when you look at their postseason stats.

• Cole: 21 games, 11-6, 2.91 ERA, 150 strikeouts, 32 walks in 126 2/3 innings
• Flaherty: 9 games, 2-5, 4.73 ERA, 45 strikeouts, 17 walks, 45 2/3 innings

It’s still highly unlikely that the Yankees become the first team to come back from a 3-0 deficit and win a World Series. Last night they looked like the better team for the first time in four games, and that came in a bullpen game. So let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

But if the Yankees want to have a shot at turning what was a great series into something interesting, Cole is the guy you want on the mound. He want to are also on the hill. Remember 2019? Cole didn’t get into the decisive Game 7 – which makes sense, considering he had pitched seven innings for the Astros just three days earlier.

The Nationals won that game 6-2, scoring all their runs in the last three innings. Cole left the stadium wearing a Boras Corp. cap, reportedly annoyed because he had warmed up, but didn’t get a chance to protect the 2-0 lead after six innings.

It’s not a deciding factor, but Cole finally gets a chance to prevent an opponent’s champagne celebration tonight. The Dodgers are flying back to LA anyway. Cole is the Yankees’ best chance to book a flight of their own.

The first pitch is at 8:08 PM ET (watch on Fox or Fubo).

Big Deals: your own (new) competition?

Some really exciting news today: the Women’s Pro Baseball League has announced that it plans to begin play in 2026. The league plans to start with six teams, and while the cities haven’t been announced yet, they will all be located in the Northeast. United States.

There is currently no other professional baseball league for women, although leagues have existed in the past – the most famous being the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which inspired a documentary, a movie, and a TV series , all of which were given the title ‘A competition of their own’.

The announcement follows “See Her Be Her,” a documentary about women’s baseball that premiered Sunday on MLB Network.

It’s another exciting step forward for women’s sports after a “transformational” WNBA season, and this week’s announcement that the Professional Women’s Hockey League plans to expand from its six-team roster – perhaps as early as next year. Add to that the growth of audiences for other women’s sports like football, gymnastics and track and field, and it’s time for baseball to come on board.

Note: Although there has been no professional women’s baseball competitionthere is a professional player. Kelsie Whitmore became the first woman to start a Pioneer League game with the Oakland Ballers earlier this year. No word yet on whether Whitmore will play in the new WPBL, but we’ll be sure to keep you posted as we receive developments.

Handshakes and high fives

You may have already noticed, but there are some lot of camera angles during this year’s World Series. Evan drellich has hit rock bottom on the over 40 camera angles used.

Just over a year ago, Andrew Bailey took over as the Red Sox’ pitching coach. How does he feel about his first season in the role?

Most clicked in yesterday’s newsletter: Ken’s blistering column about Aaron Judge and the Yankees’ reality check.

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(Top photo: Robert Deutsch / Imagn Images)