National viewers who didn’t watch the Yankees all season may have been stunned by the team’s sloppiness in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the World Series. Fans of the team, however, surely weren’t surprised. Disappointed? Sure. Infuriated? Absolutely. Heartbroken? You betcha. But shocked? How could they be? While the moment magnified the situation, that was the same team Yankees diehards watched all season. If anything, the Bombers’ campaign ended in fitting fashion. Thanks to errors from Aaron Judge and Anthony Volpe and a breakdown between Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rizzo on a squibbed groundball, the Yankees blew a 5-0 lead in the fifth frame of Game 5 against the Dodgers. The ugly inning ultimately led to a 7-6 loss — which also saw the Yankees charged with a disengagement violation and catcher interference — and elimination. “You can’t give a good team like that extra outs,” Judge said, but the Yankees gave away extra outs all season. The team’s 93 errors were the seventh-most in the majors this season. The Mets (94) were the only postseason team with more. While the Yankees posted strong metrics, such as Defensive Runs Saved, Outs Above Average and Fielding Run Value, their knack for making mistakes in the field popped up repeatedly in the playoffs, particularly in Games 1 and 5 of the World Series. The Yankees’ 10 errors in the postseason were the most of any playoff team. While not every playoff team enjoyed a comparable sample size, the Dodgers had five. Defense wasn’t the only area where fundamentals hurt the Yankees, as they weren’t particularly strong baserunners. The team made 45 outs on the bases during the regular season. While that was only slightly above league average (43), the Yanks finished sixth in outs at home plate (18). The Yankees also finished last in FanGraphs’ Baserunning Runs Above Average (BsR) metric, positing a -16.9 mark. Oddly enough, the Dodgers had the second-worst mark (-14.2), though a few instances of aggressive running allowed them to take extra bases in the World Series. According to Inside Edge, the Yankees’ 33 negative baserunning intangibles, described as factors that have real impact but aren’t easily measured without seeing a play, were also the most in baseball in 2024. The Yankees’ baserunning woes weren’t as damaging as their defensive ones in the Fall Classic — Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s legs actually put them in position to win Game 1 before Freddie Freeman hit a walk-off grand slam — but they weren’t nonexistent. For example, Volpe didn’t score on an Austin Wells double off the wall in Game 4, as he misread the ball. While the Yankees won that game, thanks in part to a Volpe grand slam and some speedy baserunning from the shortstop, he acknowledged that the gaffe was not a hard read. Volpe added it’s one the Yankees practice, “one that Little Leaguers make.” Earlier in the postseason, after two pinstripers were picked off in one inning during Game 2 of the ALCS, WFAN’s John Sterling proclaimed the Yankees “run the bases like drunks.” While the temporarily unretired broadcaster spent most of the season out of the booth, he watched enough games in his free time to know those blunders were not atypical. “Boy, if that wasn’t the Yankees,” Sterling began. “That’s what they do.” Back to the World Series, the Yankees had a better average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and ERA than the Dodgers. They also had more hits, homers, steals and walks while permitting fewer runners. But Los Angeles played cleaner baseball, highlighting the Yankees’ need to improve fundamentally despite having plenty of talent. Surely Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone realize that after the Dodgers nearly swept their team off the World Series stage. “Just never to have this feeling again,” Giancarlo Stanton, who doesn’t play the field and is limited as a baserunner, said when asked what the Yankees can learn from the postseason. “Any type of focus, miscues or anything, just to up the level in all aspects in general.” Improving fundamentally may require some changes to the roster, which the Yankees are likely going to make anyway. Second base could become a source of cleaner baseball, as Gleyber Torres had plenty of lapses in the field and on the bases. While Torres, a member of the organization since 2016, found his groove as a leadoff hitter in the second half of the season, he is a free agent. The Yankees also have question marks in left field, right field and at first base, as Alex Verdugo and Juan Soto are also free agents, while Rizzo could become one if the team declines its $17 million club option. The Yankees will likely look for cheap options at a few of those positions, especially if they re-sign Soto. However, incorporating some fundamentally sound players should be a priority as well.