NEW YORK – The Yankees just took you on a World Series roller coaster ride that climbed up to baseball heaven and plunged into a scorching hell. Someone escaped this shocking free fall and began sailing up to cloud 9 only to fall back into the pit.

Just when this World Series was getting interesting, the 2024 Yankees crashed to death.

Instead of returning to Los Angeles for a Game 6, the Yankees began the offseason with their worst playoff loss.

NEVER!

The Yankees led 3-0 in Game 5 after one inning, led 5-0 in four with Gerrit Cole throwing a no-hitter and lost 7-6.

You had to see it to believe it.

It was the strangulation of all strangulations.

It was pathetic.

The Yankees were the laughing stock of the fifth inning when the Dodgers scored five to tie the game with Aaron Judge dropping a flyball, Anthony Volpe throwing a bad throw and Cole forgetting to cover to first.

The Yankees recovered from the upset and regained the lead in the sixth inning when two walks, a fielder’s choice ground ball and a sac fly by Giancarlo Stanton made the score 6-5.

Nine more outs and the Yankees survive.

They got three in the seventh from Cole and Clay Holmes, then Tommy Kahnle came in and lit another fire.

After two singles and a walk loaded the bases with no one out, Luke Weaver entered for the 12th time in 14 postseason games.

Weaver needed strikeouts, not flyballs. Gavin Lux flew to center to tie the game, then after Shohei Ohtani reached on receiver interference, Mookie Betts skied to center to put LA ahead for the first time.

The Dodgers bullpen held the lead.

Two one-out walks in the Yankees’ eighth put them up with Blake Treinen struggling, but Stanton flew out to right, Anthony Rizzo struck out and the inning was over.

In the ninth, the Dodgers turned to Walker Buehler, their starter if there was a Game 7, and the Yankees went down quietly with Anthony Volpe at third, then Austin Wells and Alex Verdugo swinging.

The Yankees will fight forever in the fifth inning.

Kike Hernandez led off with a single for the Dodgers’ first hit, then Judge dropped a flyball to center for his first error of the first inning after crashing into the wall to make a nice catch. Then Volpe, their Gold Glove shortstop, fielded a ball in the hole and threw a bad throw to third to charge them with no one out.

From there, Cole reached out and struck out Lux and Ohtani for two huge outs, then he was almost out of the inning when Betts hit a ground ball to first base.

If Cole covers first, the round is over.

Cole started to head to first, then stopped for some reason, Betts beat him and the Dodgers were on the board. Freddie Freeman then struck again with a two-run single to center, Teoscar Hernandez followed with a two-run double and, surprisingly, it was a new ball game at 5-5.

Four innings later, the Dodgers were celebrating.

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Randy Miller can be contacted at [email protected].