It’s Christmas Day, and hopefully for all of you celebrating the holiday, you’ll mostly be spending it with your loved ones, with maybe only a brief check of Pinstripe Alley. If you are with your friends and family on this day, there’s a good chance that a good portion of your day will be spent exchanging gifts with them.
That got me thinking about gifts the Yankees received in their run to the 2024 World Series. Sure, you can take that as players or acquisitions they made over the course of the year, but I’m more talking about when they benefited on the field from an opponent giving them a gift by making an absolute meal of something. With that in mind, I went to find the costliest unforced mistake plays (I’m thinking errors, wild pitches, walks, things of that sort) from the 2024 season that helped the Yankees the most, according to Win Probability Added. Now, let’s see what five moments helped the Bombers the most, thanks to some generous giving from their opponents.
5. 6/16 vs. Red Sox – Error: +0.131 WPA
We’re actually starting the list with a moment from a game the Yankees didn’t end up winning, although they could’ve had things quickly not fallen apart.
With Alex Verdugo and Aaron Judge on after each singling, Anthony Rizzo stepped to the plate as the Yankees trailed the Red Sox 4-3 in the top of the seventh. He grounded a ball to first base, where after briefly considering going to second base for an out and maybe a double play, Dominic Smith instead threw over to first to a covering Brennan Bernardino. The throw was behind the pitcher and clanked off his glove.
That set the Yankees up with the bases loaded and nobody out, but they went down in order after that, and a bullpen blowup doomed them to a 9-3 loss. You may also recognize that play as the one where Rizzo went down with a fractured forearm, which kept him out for a decent chunk of the season.
4. 8/18 vs. Tigers – Wild Pitch: +0.139
On the whole, future AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal was very good in his Little League Classic start against the Yankees in Williamsport, but he put himself in line for the loss with a wild pitch.
In a 0-0 game in the sixth inning, Skubal walked Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto to start the frame. While he then got Aaron Judge to ground into a double play, Torres was able to move up to third, which put him in position to scamper home and evade the tag after a low Skubal pitch got by catcher Jake Rogers.
