If there is a Game 5 Wednesday night, WFAN will have three sets of tickets to give away Wednesday morning to see Gerrit Cole take the bump trying to send the Yankees out winners in their final home game, and send the World Series back to Los Angeles in a 3-2 deficit.
But Cole was in that awkward position many pitchers find themselves in this time of year: sitting at the press conference table the night before a scheduled start, giving tough answers not knowing if he’ll even get to make that start because his team faces elimination that night.
Well, maybe tough for anyone but Cole.
“There’s probably a bit of a mental battle,” Cole said. “Okay, sure, we have to win four. Well guess what? We had to win four going into Game 1. So, in that respect, things haven’t changed that much. It’s one game at a time, one pitch at a time.”
Cole pitched six-plus innings in a Game 1 the Yankees had two late leads in, and had either of those held up, this would and could be a much different series. But they didn’t, and now, it’s do-or-die, and all Cole can do is watch and hope Luis Gil and his teammates hot the former.
“Obviously, we’re in a tough position, but there’s a lot of baseball left to be played and anything can happen,” Cole said. “We’re excited to get back out there. Hey, we’re still in the World Series, we’re in the Bronx. We’ve still got a shot at this thing. We’re just looking to try to play a little bit better and attack the opposition from the first pitch.”
The other rub for Cole, who has an opt-out in his contract, is that not only unsure if his team will get one more game at Yankee Stadium, he’s also maybe unsure if HE will ever pitch there again in pinstripes. The Yankees gave him $324 million for performances like he gave in Game 1, and would hopefully give in Game 5 (and maybe even Game 7 on a throw day?)...but it all starts today, and could end before tomorrow.