In Game 5, Yankees fans lifted their team up -- even as it let them down

At the worst possible moment of their season -- the very end -- the 2024 New York Yankees crashed in an ugly way, with mistake after mistake after mistake in Game 5 of the World Series.

Gerrit Cole had pitched brilliantly, Aaron Judge had momentarily quelled his postseason nightmare with a two-run home run and the Yankees had staked a 5-0 lead Wednesday night over the Los Angeles Dodgers, looking like they would become the first team in World Series history to take a 3-0 deficit to a Game 6.

But the old saying is that you can't give a great opposing lineup an extra out, and in the fifth inning of this game, the Yankees gave the Dodgers three. And yet, remarkably, the fans in Yankee Stadium never turned on them in the way that they have turned on great players and teams in the past.

Judge misplayed a liner, the first of the series of mistakes, and not only did the Yankees fans not boo him, but they started chanting M-V-P, as if to reassure him. Anthony Volpe fielded a grounder and threw to third base in an attempted force out, instead bouncing the ball to load the bases, and the reaction was the sound of collective disappointment, not anger -- not toward a player whose name they chanted near the end of Game 4, after Volpe hit a grand slam.

After Cole undermined his own pitching gem when he neglected to cover first base, still there was no booing from the fans who have famously emulated the late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner through the years, verbally attacking poor performances of everyone from Reggie Jackson to Derek Jeter to Mariano Rivera.

It was as if the Yankees fans decided to give their team the benefit of the doubt in this World Series, for maybe the first time. They recognized that Judge was desperately trying, maybe to his detriment, and that Volpe lives to win, and that Cole's effort was above and beyond.

After the game, Judge put the errors on his shoulders far more than the fans did.

"You give a team like the Dodgers three extra outs, they're going to capitalize on it," he said. "But it comes back to me. I got to make the play and probably the other two don't happen."

Instead, Yankee Stadium offered empathy, not criticism. Every time Judge came to the plate, the crowd stood, seemingly in an effort to lift his confidence. Even as the Yankees gave up their five-run advantage, went ahead again, then gave up two runs in the eighth to hand the Dodgers a lead they wouldn't relinquish, the stadium was with them.

This Yankees team fell short of the Steinbrenner standard -- if you don't win the World Series, you stink -- and yet as the Dodgers celebrated, Yankee Stadium was a place more mournful than enraged, echoing the sadness of manager Aaron Boone.

"I'm heartbroken," he said, fighting his emotions. "I'm heartbroken for those guys. This ending is cruel."

Defeated by a team loaded with future Hall of Famers -- Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw and maybe others -- Yankees fans seemed downright circumspect.

But that might end Thursday.

Because the day after the World Series ends, the business of the offseason begins, in what will be remembered as the Juan Soto winter. And the expectations of Yankees fans -- which is to land just about every great player, despite the cost -- will be as high as ever.

Had the Yankees won the World Series, owner Hal Steinbrenner would've had some cover to approach the Soto negotiations with a degree of restraint. General manager Brian Cashman's expensive gamble to acquire Soto for one season before he reached free agency would've paid off. But now that Soto has demonstrated his greatness, again -- "I think he's the best hitter in baseball," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said during the series -- and the Yankees did not win the World Series, a lot of Yankees fans won't be satisfied unless the team signs him to a contract that keeps Soto and Judge stacked in the lineup for the foreseeable future.

"I think everybody in this room wants him back," Judge said after Game 5. "You can look at the stats and what he did on the field. He just does a lot of the little things that people don't notice that truly make him one of the best players, if not the best player in the game."

Yankees fans are accustomed to having the best. But on top of that, the outrage will be heightened if Steinbrenner is outbid on Soto by one of the chief rivals for Soto's talents: Mets owner Steve Cohen. Yankees fans are not accustomed to losing to the Mets, particularly in the pursuit of great players.

Of course, the decision about whether to commit $500 million or more to any player is incredibly complicated, which the Yankees know firsthand. Two years ago, they paid Judge, their own homegrown future Hall of Famer, $360 million, grudgingly improving their offer from a spring proposal of $213.5 million. Cashman's history has been to recommend against massive expenditures, in the belief that the team could be better served by allocating money to a range of needs, rather than to just one player.

And there's more at stake than Soto's future. Cole has an opt-out in his contract for the final four years and $144 million remaining on his deal; the Yankees can void it by giving him an extra year at $36 million. Cole's situation, however, might have been complicated by his elbow problem in the spring. Cole and the Yankees will know the true condition of his elbow, whatever that is, and how much of a risk for future injury he bears -- and this could greatly impact the Yankees' conversation with Cole.

There are other less expensive matters: Gleyber Torres is set to become a free agent and so are Clay Holmes, who was the team's closer for most of this year, and left fielder Alex Verdugo. The Yankees demonstrated a willingness to trade Nestor Cortes during the season, and now they have to decide how to handle his future, one year removed from his free agency. DJ LeMahieu was hurt again and lost his job as a regular, and he'll be closing in on his 36th birthday at the outset of next season -- while under contract for two more years and $30 million.

The Yankees also hold an option year on the contract of Boone, who has been the target of a lot of fan criticism over his seven-year tenure. Steinbrenner and Cashman could punt on the decision about a long-term deal by picking up his 2025 option, but they could also decide on another multiyear deal. Cashman and Steinbrenner have been clear that they like and respect Boone. But with his contract expiring, Boone could also decide to walk away after seven seasons. Asked about his future after Game 5, Boone was short in his response: "We'll see. I don't know."

The Yankees finished the 2024 season with the best record in the American League and won two rounds in the playoffs. But they dropped World Series games they probably could've and should've won, in Games 1 and 5, leaving them all to wonder about what might have been.

Wednesday night, Yankee Stadium decided to celebrate its team instead of blaming it. But this winter, if the team falls short again, the fans might revert to form -- and decide that nothing but a title is good enough.