The Yankees' decision to send Giancarlo Stanton was an unfortunate sign of desperation

NEW YORK – The earth has been moved and the chairs have been placed. The tombstone has been selected and the epitaph is almost finished:

Here are the New York Yankees, who lost the 2024 World Series…

Four games? Five?

Now all that's left is to finish the engraving after Monday night's 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 at Yankee Stadium.

“We know our backs are against the wall,” Aaron Judge said.

The Yankees have dug themselves a 3-0 hole that might as well be six feet deep. No team before them has accomplished what they now need to accomplish in the World Series. In fact, no team at his position has ever forced a sixth game.

“Hopefully we can tell this amazing story and shock the world,” said manager Aaron Boone.

An obituary for these Yankees could begin in many ways, but the vision of Giancarlo Stanton rumbling toward home plate in the fourth inning might be an apt starting point. It wasn't about whether it was the right decision to let the lead-footed Stanton run around third base to try to make it 0-3 on Anthony Volpe's two-out single in the fourth inning.

The problem was that the Yankees had put themselves in this position in the first place.

“In that situation, two outs, you have to roll the dice,” Stanton said.

So far in this World Series, the Yankees have been outscored 14-7. During the regular season, New York's offense – led by Aaron Judge and Juan Soto – ranked third in runs scored and first in home runs. But Judge is just 1 of 12 with seven strikeouts in the World Series and is in the midst of another miserable performance in October. The Yankees also couldn't trust that the bottom of their lineup – Anthony Rizzo, Alex Verdugo and Jose Trevino – would drive in Stanton, even from third base.

As Volpe's liner flew into shallow left field and landed in front of Teoscar Hernández, third base coach Luis Rojas waved for Stanton to run home. Hernández has one of the stronger arms in baseball, averaging 87.5 mph. But he's also slow to get to most balls and isn't the most accurate either. An opposing scout said his club almost always goes for Hernández when given the chance and that the Yankees' game plan would likely be to do the same. The scout spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

But the Yankees had another problem in Stanton. He is their slowest runner, constantly on cruise control to avoid the soft-tissue injuries to his legs that have plagued him in recent years. All season long, he's on the move with the urgency of a casual grounder. He may be their weakest player, but he was still their best postseason hitter, with a team-best six home runs and a 1.110 OPS in these playoffs. They didn't want to watch him try to turn on the afterburners, let alone slide home.

But that's how desperate the Yankees were. Starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt had given them a 3-0 deficit by giving up a two-run throw to Freddie Freeman in the first inning and an RBI single to Mookie Betts in the third inning before retiring after just 2 2/3 innings eliminated. His opponent, Walker Buehler, held the Yankees' batters.

So the Yankees sent Stanton home, even though it was risky, and it backfired when Hernández made a perfect throw to snag him.

Boone did not condemn Stanton's posting, adding that he needed to watch the video again.

“We wanted to challenge Teoscar a little bit there, especially when he moves to the right,” Boone said. “Thanks to him. He had a good throw. I thought “G” had a pretty good jump and moved well around third base. Difficult when you're behind a few there. But a perfect throw can get him there.”

Did Stanton feel like he was sent because the Yankees offense needed all the help it could get?

“I think this is where you have to keep going until something gets going,” he said. “Start.”

Now it's too late for the Yankees to get much going. They will go into Game 4 on Tuesday unwilling to start ace Gerrit Cole on short rest, opting instead for rookie Luis Gil, who has made just one other start this postseason.

You could win. But history says it wouldn't matter, that they would fail sooner rather than later, and that the Dodgers would probably end up celebrating a title on home soil.

“In our minds it’s about winning a game,” Judge said. “That's how it starts. Even if we are down 3-0, if we win a game, who knows what will happen in the next two games.”

“We’re not where we want to be right now,” first baseman Rizzo said.

Except it's no longer about where the Yankees want to be. It's about how this epitaph will end.

Four games? Five?

(Top photo of Stanton sliding into the house: Luke Hales / Getty Images)