Gerrit Cole will get the ball for Game 1 of the 2024 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Yankees manager Aaron Boone confirmed on Monday.
It is the expected role for the star hurler, who had a down season largely because of an elbow injury that kept him out until mid-June. Across his first eight starts of the year, he possessed a swollen and uncharacteristic 5.09 ERA, but found his form down the stretch, posting a 2.15 ERA in his final nine starts of the regular season.
Consistency has eluded him this postseason, though. He was shaky in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Kansas City Royals, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits in five innings of work with four strikeouts and two walks. In Game 4, he rebounded to play a key role in clinching the Yankees’ place in the ALCS, yielding a single run on six hits in seven innings.
In Game 2 of the ALCS against the Cleveland Guardians, he only lasted 4.1 strenuous innings, throwing 89 pitches, though he allowed just two runs on six hits with four strikeouts and four walks.
He will face his toughest challenge in a loaded Los Angeles Dodgers lineup that scored 45 runs in six games against the New York Mets during the NLCS. Not only do they have the best player in the game in Shohei Ohtani, but they also have two other former MVPs in Mookie Betts and the hobbled Freddie Freeman, who is currently battling an ankle issue.
But these are the games that Cole was brought in for when he signed a $324 million deal with the Yankees ahead of the 2020 season — and he is the most experienced postseason pitcher in their rotation.
This will be the second time in his career that Cole will start Game 1 of the World Series. It is also his third overall start at a Fall Classic.
The 34-year-old got the ball in the opening game of the 2019 World Series for the Houston Astros against the Washington Nationals, headlined by his current teammate, Juan Soto. Cole was touched up for five runs on eight hits in seven innings of work with six strikeouts. He rebounded to allow one run on three hits in Game 5 of that series with nine strikeouts to force a Game 7, though his Astros would eventually lose the series.
In 20 career postseason starts, he is 11-6 with a 2.98 ERA and 146 strikeouts in 120.2 innings.
