The Baseball Gods and Karma in the 2024 World Series

Nice try, meddling kids. We get hardware. You're out.

Lots has been written about the Yankees' absolute implosion in last night's World Series Game 5, in which the Dodgers came back from a 5-0 deficit and a 6.1% chance of winning, clawing back in a fateful top of the fifth inning.

But I haven't seen anyone yet link the Yankees' multiple-position on-field meltdown to the deplorable off-field behavior of Yankees fans, and the Yankee organization, the prior evening in World Series Game 4.

These two events are definitely and inextricably linked. There is no other logical explanation for how the Yankees could have crumbled like that without divine intervention The baseball gods took note of the Game 4 malfeasance, and then, when one least expected it, the baseball gods took action.

And you don't ever want to piss off the baseball gods.

So let's breakdown this story chronologically First of all, here's the Yankees thugs in action in the bottom of the first inning of Game 4, with absolutely reprehensible behavior in the stands molesting Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts:

And then, though Yankees security escorted these two out of the game--getting high five slaps from many Yankees fans around them on the way out of the stadium--the season ticket holders were initially told they were scheduled they would be back on their season seats for Game 5:

Capobianco and Peter were escorted out of Yankee Stadium but said they were told they would be allowed back for Game 5 on Wednesday. The Yankees did not immediately respond to ESPN's request for comment regarding if that was indeed the case.

Only when MLB got involved did the Yankees change tack and say the pair of miscreants were in fact banned from Game 5. And let's be clear, even other baseball fans not involved with the series thought the Yankees fans, and the spineless organization behind them, were total bullshit.

And those two horrible individuals still spent a great night out on the town, "slamming drinks," and lavishing in their newfound infamy.

Meanwhile, the Yankees organization clumsily tried to spin this into a heartwarming tale, belatedly giving the tickets to a young cancer patient.

But don't let that PR diversion distract one from the facts: Yankees fans were way out of line, and the Yankees organization was initially complicit in their turpitude. They loved the action from their goons, and the outcome of that game.

But the baseball gods took note. And they remember.

Mookie was steely-eyed and focused after the Game 4 loss. In the locker room, Betts spoke to the press, including a swath of New York reporters trying to bait him into a hyperbolic comment that could be bulletin board material or fodder for the New York tabloids. Betts wisely just called the play "irrelevant" and remained focused on the next day's task at hand. And you could see he was simmering.

So then we get to World Series Game 5. Gerrit Cole was absolutely dealing through four innings, and the Dodgers didn't even have a hit to that point in the game (just two baserunners, walks to Gavin Lux in the third and Mookie Betts in the fourth). Things looked bleak. Yankee fans were fired up, taunting, cocky, confident--just like those two unrepentant idiots in the stands for Game 4.

And then, the baseball gods struck.

What a fifth inning. An error by Aaron Judge. An ill-advised throw by Anthony Volpe, and a missed catch at third by Jazz Chisholm Jr. Gerrit Cole's failure to cover first base on a grounder to Anthony Rizzo. Solid two-RBI shots from both Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez to tie the game at 5.

Earlier this game, Aaron Judge hit his first World Series HR and appeared if he would finally get that monkey off his back. The gods firmly put that monkey right back in its place. (And I do feel a little badly about this, but that's another post for another day.)

Wow. What an amazing turn of events. I'm going to watch highlights of that inning, and the Game 1 Freddie Freeman walkoff grand slam, forever.

Later in the game, the baseball gods taunted Yankee fans even further, allowing the Yankees to retake the lead in the sixth inning, while the Dodgers appeared to be exhausting all viable pitching options. And Cole heroically soldiered on and kept the Dodgers off the board in the sixth and seventh innings, while the Yankees went up 6-5.

But then, in the top of the eighth inning, two sacrifice flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts (bookending another fielding gaffe, a catcher's interference call on Austin Wells that allowed Shohei Ohtani to take first base despite clearly having trouble with his swing) put the Dodgers back in the lead. This time, it was for good.

Yankee Stadium was quiet. The baseball gods had spoken.

And the Dodgers pull off the biggest World Series comeback ever in a clinching game, responding to a five-run deficit to earn the crown.

Here's Mookie describing the Game 4 brouhaha on the Game 5 postgame show, when he said (with a laugh) that this was one of the two times in his whole life when he wanted to fight somebody:

And here's FanGraphs' win probability on World Series Game 5. The Yankees' expected win percentage was 95.6% in the bottom of the fourth inning, and even back up to 79.3% at the seventh-inning stretch.

We'll see if the Yankees have the spine to actually punish those two season ticket holders further. Maybe other Yankees fans, many of whom want him banned for life, will mete out their own judgment on these two idiots.

All I know is, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the 2024 World Series Champions.

Karma is a bitch.