Yankees have an even bigger issue than Aaron Boone’s pitching decisions

The New York Yankees squandered a golden opportunity in Game 1 of the World Series. Twice New York founds itself three outs away from notching a huge road win and snatching home-field advantage from the Los Angeles Dodgers. But twice, they blew it: Shohei Ohtani's eighth-inning triple helped send the game to extra innings before Freddie Freeman's instantly iconic grand slam in the bottom of the 10th sent everyone home.

In the immediate aftermath, it was Aaron Boone who bore the brunt of Yankees fans' ire. Boone opted to pull Gerrit Cole at fewer than 90 pitches in the bottom of the seventh, setting New York's bullpen machine into motion earlier than was maybe necessary. But that paled in comparison to the fiasco in the 10th: Rather than let lefty reliever Tim Hill — who's been excellent all postseason long — face Ohtani and Freeman with the game on the line, Boone called on ... Nestor Cortes, who is 1) not a high-leverage reliever and 2) hadn't pitched in a live game in five weeks due to an elbow injury. As you might imagine, that decision didn't work out too well.

But while I'm certainly not here to defend Boone's bullpen management, it's also not the only reason the Yankees snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. In a game that close, there's never just one culprit, and tactics aren't the only thing that New York needs to work on if it wants to get back into this series.

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Defense costs the Yankees again in World Series Game 1 vs. Dodgers

In a tight series against a team as talented as the Dodgers, every out and every little edge counts. And far too often in Game 1, the Yankees gave L.A. far too many thanks to a dizzying array of defensive miscues. It began early, when left fielder Alex Verdugo allowed Freddie Freeman — hobbling around the bases on one good ankle — to get all the way to third on a liner down the line in the top of the first.

While Gerrit Cole bailed out his outfielder by getting out of the inning, the Yankees wouldn't get so lucky in the fifth. This time it was New York's other corner outfielder, Juan Soto, who not only failed to get to an Enrique Hernandez fly ball but turned it into another triple by taking a bad angle.

This time, it cost the Yankees on the scoreboard, was Hernandez would score on a sacrifice fly — the only run Cole allowed in six-plus innings of work.

New York rallied for two runs in the seventh, and just when it looked like the Yankees might escape with a win, again poor defense reared its head. With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Shohei Ohtani hit one off the wall in right. It seemed like Soto might have a chance to throw Ohtani out trying to advance to second, but it took him multiple seconds to get the ball out of his glove — and when he did finally make the throw, it skipped away from Gleyber Torres, allowing Ohtani to advance to third. That would loom large one batter later, when another sac fly pushed Ohtani across as the tying run.

Somehow, though, the Yankees defense was not done. Utility man Oswaldo Cabrera, playing second in lieu of Torres after the latter was pinch-run for in the top of the ninth, booted a ground ball to put two men on with Ohtani coming up in the bottom of the 10th. It was hardly a routine play, but it's one a Major League second baseman has to make, especially in such an important spot.

While the Yankees might not have been able to turn a double play, Cabrera could've at least gotten one out, which would have changed the tenor of the inning entirely; there were two outs when Freeman launched his grand slam to end it. That's all six of the Dodgers runs, all either directly or indirectly the result of New York's subpar defense. Boone's bullpen management deserves all the criticism it's getting, but no matter who's managing, these games are going to be tight — and the Yankees can't afford to give away runs at this rate.