Alex Rodriguez rightly eviscerates Yankees in World Series Game 5 post-meltdown show

What the Boston Red Sox put forth in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series is the once and future king of all October meltdowns, especially given the context. They were three outs away from curse-breaking victory, after all. But, in terms of sheer incompetence, non-context-dependent, what the Yankees put together in the fifth inning of Game 5 on Wednesday certainly stacks up.

Ironically, both frames featured an aging first baseman waiting back on a baseball to disastrous consequences. After this one, Anthony Rizzo's going to start telling people the fractures were in his leg, actually. Just like Bill Buckner.

It was certainly difficult for Yankee fans to feel confident entering Game 5, and that odd energy was reflected on the pregame show by Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Joe Torre. After all, they'd opened the door and nothing more. A path to Game 6 seemed feasible, and if they advanced that far, they'd be making history, given that no team down 3-0 in the World Series had ever done so. "Being cautiously optimistic about failing in a more palatable way" is not the Yankees' M.O., and everyone, from franchise icons to praying fans, spent Wednesday evening attempting to make a meal of the madness before first pitch.

But no one saw this coming. Or maybe everyone did. The Yankees have unraveled due to poor fundamentals all year. Rarely did so many gaffes converge in a single frame, but it's unsurprising the Dodgers were able to take more advantage of a cracked-open door than the Yankees were.

And, after all was said and done, both Jeter and Rodriguez were somewhat flummoxed while David Ortiz got to roll around smiling in the mud again (yay for him).

Former Yankees star Alex Rodriguez calls fifth inning "worst meltdown in 40 years"

No, we certainly haven't seen many innings like that in postseason games. The closest equivalent we can think of is ... well, Game 4 of the ALCS in Cleveland, when the Yankees bullpen gagged a 6-2 lead, with Mark Leiter Jr. flipping the "final out" through Anthony Rizzo's five-hole. They won that game, but there was no way they were going to be so lucky twice.

Yes, this Yankees team was resilient, even taking a 6-5 lead on Wednesday night after the madness had unfolded. But they were also fundamentally deficient, as Rodriguez summed up succinctly. It wasn't recency bias, either. Nothing in 40 years has looked anything like this -- well, 38 years, to be exact. And that was a different Mookie.