The New York Yankees won’t resume their quest for their first World Series title since 2009 until Friday. That did not stop manager Aaron Boone from revealing his choice of a starting pitcher for Game 1 against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday.
The choice came as no surprise.
Gerrit Cole, the 2023 American League Cy Young Award winner and the team’s highest-paid pitcher, will get the first starting assignment to kick off the historic World Series matchup.
Gerrit Cole will start Game 1, Aaron Boone said.
— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) October 21, 2024
Cole, 34, went 8-5 with a 3.41 earned-run average in the regular season after missing nearly the entire first half of the season recovering from an elbow injury.
In three postseason starts for the Yankees, he’s 1-0 with a 3.31 ERA in three starts. Cole last pitched in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians, allowing two runs across 4.1 innings in the Yankees’ 6-3 victory.
KANSAS CITY, MO – OCTOBER 10: Nestor Cortes #65, Clarke Schmidt #36, Marcus Stroman #0, Carlos Rodón #55, Luis Gil #81 and Gerrit Cole #45 of the New York Yankees celebrate after defeating the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on October 10, 2024, in Kansas City, Missouri. Cole will start Game 1 of the World Series on Friday.
New York Yankees/Getty Images
Cole is a Southern California native who started two World Series games in 2019 with the Houston Astros. The right-hander started games 1 and 5 of that series for Houston, losing the first and winning the second. The Astros lost the series in seven games to the Washington Nationals.
Cole has started the Yankees’ first postseason game each year he’s played into October in New York. This will be his first World Series appearance since signing a nine-year, $324 million contract with New York in Dec. 2019.
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In 12 seasons with the Yankees, Astros and Pittsburgh Pirates, Cole is 153-80 with a 3.18 ERA in 317 career regular-season starts. A six-time All-Star, Cole’s next start will be his 21st of 2024. He made an American League-leading 33 starts a year ago, when the Yankees did not qualify for the postseason.
New York is seeking to win its first World Series since they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009.
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The Yankees are 7-2 in this postseason after finishing the regular season with the best record in the American League at 94-68. It’s been a remarkable turnaround since 2023, when their streak of six consecutive postseason appearances came to a surprising halt.
Standing in the Yankees’ way of their record 28th World Series title: the Dodgers, who eliminated the New York Mets on Sunday to clinch their first World Series berth since 2020.
The Dodgers and Yankees have played each other in the World Series on 12 occasions. From 1941-81, the teams met each other 11 times for the championship, but their reigns of success have never lined up since.
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