LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers have stormed ahead to a 2-0 World Series lead after winning the first two games at home. The Yankees’ offense was all but shut down by Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2, which also featured an injury scare for Shohei Ohtani after he was caught stealing second base in the seventh inning.
Here are our top four takeaways from the Dodgers’ 4-2 win Saturday.
1. Aaron Judge’s disappearing act
It’s extremely difficult to believe the Yankees will force this World Series to go the distance, much less win, without the MVP version of Judge. For the second straight day, the Dodgers’ starting pitcher completely neutralized Judge’s bat. Game 1 starter Jack Flaherty and Game 2 starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto combined to strike out Judge five times in six at-bats and didn’t allow him to reach base. Yamamoto especially looked confident facing the player who recorded the highest OPS (1.159) in baseball this season.
Judge is now 1 for 9 with six strikeouts in the Fall Classic. He’s 6-for-40 in this postseason with 19 strikeouts to accompany just two home runs and six RBIs. Within the span of a few weeks, he’s gone from being the best hitter in the universe to waving at offspeed pitches like he’s an automatic out.
The Yankees have had a hard time publicly admitting that Judge is missing pitches in the postseason that he would normally get to. Whether it’s the long layoff before the playoffs began or the break between the ALCS and the World Series, it seems entirely plausible that the lack of everyday at-bats and games have messed up Judge’s timing. That could be why he finally broke out in Game 3 of the ALCS against the Guardians with a game-tying two-run home run off star closer Emmanuel Clase. If Judge just needs time to warm up, then he could have a huge week ahead of him when the Series goes to the Bronx on Monday. With a championship on the line, the Yankees can only hope that’s the case. — Deesha Thosar
2. Time to give Tommy Edman his flowers
Turns out Edman’s MVP performance in the Dodgers’ NLCS against the Mets wasn’t a fluke. Los Angeles’ Swiss-army knife has picked up right where he left off, going 4-for-8 with two runs scored and an RBI in the World Series so far. His latest trick was a solo shot to left field off Carlos Rodón in the second inning to put the Dodgers on the board.
Edman hadn’t even played this season when Andrew Friedman traded for him this summer. The Dodgers needed an infielder at the time, knowing that they didn’t want to play Mookie Betts at shortstop anymore, while factoring in that Gavin Lux and Kiké Hernandez are not everyday players. There was real risk in making him the lone position-player addition at the deadline. Nobody really knew how Edman would play after his offseason wrist surgery, which included a setback in spring training. While his performance in August and September was serviceable, Edman has been huge for the Dodgers in October.
Not only is he showing up at the plate, but the former Gold Glover has seamlessly shifted between shortstop and center field from game to game. While his name won’t often come up on a team full of superstars, he’s been a huge coup for the Dodgers — and he could be an enormous factor in them winning the whole thing. — Thosar
3. The Carlos Rodón roller-coaster continues
Given the southpaw’s turbulence this postseason, the Yankees had to know there was a fat chance that Rodón would unravel the way he did on Saturday. Aaron Boone and the Yankees’ decision-makers are just as responsible for this poor outing as the left-hander himself is. Rodón took the mound for Game 2 having surrendered seven earned runs over his previous three playoff starts (14.1 innings) this October. He spiraled against the Royals in the ALDS, then course-corrected in his first outing of the ALCS, only to struggle again in the clincher versus Cleveland.
On Saturday, he surrendered home runs to Edman, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández by the third inning and was pulled in the fourth.
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The up-and-down nature of Rodón’s postseason spelled trouble the moment New York lost Game 1 to Los Angeles. More than anything, the Yankees needed a reliable starter who would give them the best chance to return to the Bronx with a series split. That made right-hander Clarke Schmidt the superior option for Game 2, not only because he has been more consistent on the road than Rodón, who pitches better at home, but also because the Dodgers hit lefties so well. Why take that chance when the Yankees had to get even?
Beyond the team’s culpability, Rodón being unable to deliver on the sport’s biggest stage is a huge blow to the Yankees. Nights like Saturday were precisely why they signed him to a six-year, $162 million deal before the 2023 season. That he stayed healthy all year, ate up innings and delivered quality starts in half of his 32 outings when ace Gerrit Cole missed the first two-plus months of the season with an elbow injury was invaluable. His instability since then made him a questionable choice to start Saturday in the first place, and it now has the Yankees in a potentially insurmountable 0-2 hole. — Thosar
4. A potentially costly loss in victory
A commanding 2-0 lead in the series did not come without a potentially significant cost, as an already injury-ravaged Dodgers roster might have taken its biggest hit.
Manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani suffered a subluxation of his left shoulder when he was caught stealing in the seventh inning. Roberts was encouraged by the initial strength and range of motion tests and said he’s “expecting him to be in the lineup,” but he won’t know more until scans are completed.
“Obviously when you get any one of your players that goes down, it’s concerning,” Roberts said. “But after kind of the range of motion, the strength test, I feel much better about it.”
Dodgers players after the game did not seem to know the severity of the injury. Ohtani left the stadium immediately after the game and was not available to provide an update. Based on initial testing, though, Roberts believes Ohtani will be available to play as the series moves to New York.
“I’m expecting him to be there,” Roberts said.
Ohtani had been caught stealing just four times while recording 59 stolen bases during the regular season, but he has been caught stealing on both of his attempts this postseason. — Rowan Kavner
Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
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