It was the fifth inning of the fifth game of the World Series. With the Yankees up 5-0, one Dodger runner on, and no outs, LA’s Tommy Edman lofted a soft fly ball directly at Aaron Judge, the Yankees center fielder and one of the best baseball players in the last half century. It was the kind of fly ball that middling high school outfielders across America catch with ease. It was the kind of fly ball that Judge, who had not committed a single error all season, has likely corralled thousands of times across a lifetime of playing baseball.

The ball had been thrown by Gerrit Cole, the Yankees’ ace and one of the most accomplished pitchers of his generation. At the time of the ball’s transit through the curiously warm October air, Cole had surrendered a single hit to the Dodgers, baseball’s most prolific offense. Standing in the press box, I didn’t give the fly ball a second thought. The runner on first was already retreating. There it was, one easy ou—

Except Judge dropped it. The ball clanged, somehow, off his glove. There was no sunlight in his eyes, no wind currents ripping it one way or the next. He simply dropped it.

And so began, arguably, the most hellish single inning in the 121-year history of the New York Yankees. There are arguments to be made for game seven of the 2001 World Series, game four of the 2004 ALCS, and game seven of the 1960 World Series. But none of them knew such a swift, mind-crushing collapse, or so many absurd failures layered on top of each other. None of them contained something like Judge’s drop, or shortstop Anthony Volpe throwing a ball into the ground, or Cole and his first baseman, Anthony Rizzo, failing to record an out on a slowly hit grounder. None of them saw a 5-0 lead disappear because a team was given three extra outs. After the Dodgers stormed to victory to close out the series in five games, bouncing up and down at Yankee........

© Daily Intelligencer