When the going gets tough, baseball teams need to be able to rely on their stars. Arguably the two most important players on the played critical roles in a 2-0 shutout of the in Game 5 of USA TODAY Sports' annual Simulated World Series. Ace Gerrit Cole tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings and MVP Aaron Judge hit a mammoth home run to propel the Yankees to victory, but not before some ninth-inning drama had the Dodgers within an eyelash of reversing the outcome.
In a rematch of Game 1, starting pitchers Cole and Jack Flaherty matched zeroes early -- albeit in very different fashion. The Dodgers had baserunners in scoring position in each of the first four frames, but Cole continually managed to escape with crucial strikeouts in situations where a batter even making weak contact would have scored a run. Meanwhile, Flaherty retired the first 12 Yankees batters in order before doubles by Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo plated the game's first run.
(Rizzo's hit through a drawn-in infield was his first of the Sim Series, breaking an 0-for-16 skid.) Judge provided the big blow of the game, a gargantuan 501-foot blast to deep left field in the bottom of the sixth inning that gave New York an important insurance run. It was Judge's third home run of the Sim Series.
But the Yankees still had to keep the potent Dodgers lineup from scoring. Lefty Nestor Cortes came in to face the top of the order in the seventh, allowing a single to Shohei Ohtani, but getting Freddie Freeman to hit into a .
