World Series: Keeping Yankees alive is what Hal Steinbrenner paid Gerrit Cole for

When the Yankees signed Gerrit Cole to a record nine-year, $324 million contract before the 2020 season, a giddy Hal Steinbrenner said they’d have to win “some world championships” to validate the mammoth investment, the franchise’s largest at that time.
To be clear, Steinbrenner added “plural” for emphasis.
Five seasons later, the Yankees are 0-for-4 in that pursuit, and fittingly it was Cole who shouldered the responsibility for keeping them alive this October when he took the mound for Wednesday night’s do-or-die Game 5 at the Stadium.
This was as close as Steinbrenner has ever been to a title since the Yankees’ last successful trip to the World Series in 2009. And in reality, even with Cole primed to save their season, they still faced pretty long odds. The Yankees were the 24th team to fall behind 3-0 in the Fall Classic, and became just the fourth to avoid a sweep with Tuesday night’s 11-4 rout of the Dodgers in Game 4.
None of those teams, however, made it as far as Game 6, which is where Cole comes in. While the Yankees were playing for their World Series survival, Cole’s pinstriped legacy was on the line, and delivering Steinbrenner the first of his multiple titles wasn’t going to happen if the reigning Cy Young winner didn’t come through with a money performance in Game 5. The Yankees expected nothing less.
“I wouldn’t trust anyone else,” Carlos Rodon said Wednesday afternoon. “He’s Gerrit Cole. His resume speaks for itself — a future Hall of Famer. It’s going to be a treat to watch. I’m excited to watch him work.”
Cole’s got plenty of experience. Wednesday was his 22nd postseason start, third-most in the majors since his 2013 debut, behind only Clayton Kershaw (30) and Justin Verlander (25), and he’s 11-6 with a 2.91 ERA over that playoff stretch. The only other time Cole pitched in a World Series was 2019, and with it tied up two games apiece, he won Game 5 with a seven-inning gem (3 H, 1 R, 7 Ks) before the Astros ultimately fell to the Nationals. Cole signed with the Yankees two months later.
Now, Cole has more than a ring at stake in Year Five of his contract. He can opt out when the World Series is over — a trademark of his agent, Scott Boras — but the Yankees then have the option to retain him by triggering a 10th year worth $36 million tacked on to the end of his current deal.
From the Yankees’ standpoint, they’d be paying a 34-year-old Cole, coming off spring elbow concerns that cost him the first 2 1/2 months, $180 million over the next five seasons. On the open market, Cole obviously would be at the top of this winter’s class, alongside Corbin Burnes (age 30) and Blake Snell (32) — two other Boras clients.
Keeping Cole, after what he’s meant for the franchise, would seem to be a no-brainer for the Yankees. Before the elbow glitch — numerous diagnostic tests showed nothing more serious than nerve inflammation and swelling — Cole had been the sport’s most durable pitcher, leading the majors with 664 innings through his first four seasons in pinstripes. As the years and mileage pile up, it’s only natural to worry about wear and tear, and the average velocity of his four-seam fastball dipped to 95.9 during his 17 starts, down from 96.7 the previous year.
Whether the velo drop is a by-product of his gradual build-back from elbow rehab or age slowly creeping up on him, it’s difficult to tell. Cole can still dial up 99 mph when the need arises, and his final fastball — 88th pitch — of his Game 1 start, at the end of six innings, was clocked at 97.9 mph.
Cole had allowed only four hits and one run to that point, striking out four without a walk, but was removed anyway in a somewhat controversial decision. Aaron Boone later explained that “Cole was done. You just have to take my word for it.” It’s curious that Cole hasn’t reached 90 pitches in any of his first four playoff starts — he got to 89 over 4 1/3 innings vs. Cleveland in the ALCS — but Boone couldn’t afford to be quite so conservative handling his ace in Wednesday’s pivotal Game 5.
With a short bullpen, the Yankees needed serious length from Cole, whose high-water mark this October was the seven innings (4 hits, 1 run) in the ALDS Game 4 clincher against the Royals on Oct. 10. During the regular season, Cole only made it past the sixth inning twice, both in September. He pitched nine innings during a two-hit, seven-strikeout performance against the A’s, his second-to-last start, in a game the Yankees won, 4-2, in the 10th. This October, Cole is 1-0 with a 2.82 ERA, and staying on his normal rest — aside from the nine-day break before the World Series opener — has kept him strong during the postseason strain.
“I feel now like I’m in good shape,” Cole said. “I have a reserve while I’m pitching. So if I need to dip into the tank, I can go get it, and then I can go get it again. It’s not like a one-time thing.”
Cole needed to empty the tank Wednesday. With no tomorrow, there’s no saving bullets now. And this is what all Steinbrenner’s money was for.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.