Q: What do the New York Yankees and Michael Jackson have in common?

A: They both wear one glove for no apparent reason.

Not since the Rangers melted down defensively in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the American League Division Series has a team imploded as spectacularly as the Yankees did in Game 5 of the World Series.

Yankees ace Garret Cole was cruising through the first four innings. He’d given up no hits, just two walks, and struck out three. More importantly, he had a 5-0 lead.

Then, he gave up his first hit, to Kike Hernandez, a single to right. It was at that point that the baseball gods must have placed a huge wager with Vegas on the Dodgers. Because there is no other way to explain their epic collapse from that point on.

Tommy Edman his a lazy fly ball to Aaron Judge, who had finally broken out of his offensive slump with a two-run homer earlier in the game. Judge dropped it. The next five thousand balls just like that hit to Judge, he will catch. This time, he didn’t.

First and second, no outs. Then Will Smith hits a grounder to short. Anthony Volpe’s tosses to third. He tosses it away. Now bases loaded, no outs.

Gerrit Cole dug deep. He struck out Gavin Lux then Shohei Ohtani. All he needed was a weak ground ball to the infield to get out of it. He got that weak ground ball to first. He watched it roll right into Anthony Rizzo’s glove. He watched Mookie Betts bust it down to first. He watched Betts beat Rizzo to first. Because he was watching the play instead of partaking in it like he should have done.

That gaffe scored a run. Freddie Freeman (who else) dumped a single to center, scoring two. Teoscar Hernandez doubles off the wall scoring the other two. A 5-0 lead disappeared into a 5-5 tie. Along with it, the thin hopes the Yankees had of staging a historic comeback.

With the wind taken out of their sail, the Dodgers sailed past the Yankees to win 7-6, and win the 2024 World Series.

Congratulations to the Dodgers. The baseball gods were definitely on your side.