CLEVELAND — For nearly an hour Thursday night, the New York Yankees had seemingly survived a game of sloppy baseball and secured a World Series victory in stunning, crowd-silencing and completely insane fashion.

After two runs and two outs in the eighth inning against the Cleveland Guardians, the Yankees were tasked with striking out Emmanuel Clase, the best closer in baseball, to give themselves a chance to take a 3-0 lead in the American League Championship Series to go. In 74 appearances during the regular season, the fireballer allowed five earned runs. The Detroit Tigers got to him once in the AL Division series – before he shut them out again in multi-inning appearances in the next two games. It seemed nearly impossible to make up the Yankees' deficit.

Then Aaron Judge blasted a low-line drive that went through the air just over the right field wall for a tying two-run home run. Two minutes later, Giancarlo Stanton hit a slider over the centerfield wall, giving New York back-to-back homers and a one-run lead. The Yankees poured out of their dugout cheering. They had killed the mighty Clase.

Then a play that bordered on the absurd jumped over the finish line and gave us one of the most memorable games in recent postseason history, ultimately a 7-5 Cleveland victory in 10 innings.

“It was an incredible game on both sides. All the emotions, ups and downs, back and forth, whatever,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “If there is an emotion, we all felt it on both sides.”

Roller coaster. Heavyweight fight. Insert cliche here. It was a classic baseball game. Here are the game's six biggest moments – with the odds of winning before each round – to illustrate the madness.

---

Top of the eighth inning, two outs
Cleveland leads 3-1
Probability of Winning: 93.2% Cleveland

Just before Judge faced Clase, Guardians right-hander Hunter Gaddis appeared to bypass Soto. Gaddis, whose 5% walk rate during the regular season ranked 14th among relievers, delivered a two-out walk over four pitches to Soto, and none of the pitches were particularly tight. Vogt then replaced Gaddis with Clase.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he didn't believe Gaddis played around Soto. The judge said he had “no idea.” Regardless, the series made for a first-class duel. Richter vs Clase. Power against power. The best batsman in the world versus the best reliever in the world.

The clash revolved around Clase early on. The right-hander lunged forward toward Judge and hit a cutter up the middle that Judge missed, and a cutter down the middle that he punched through. Then Judge fired a 99 mph cutter wide of the plate before Clase punctured the outside corner with another 99 mph cutter.

“He just stuck with it,” Stanton said of Judge. “It was incredible. It wasn't a bad throw. It was deep and far away, on the black. And he does what he does.”

What Judge did was throw the baseball. He reached a speed of 109.9 mph straight away, landed just over the wall 356 miles away and slammed into the stands as Judge sprinted to first base. Drawn game.

“I thought it was low,” Judge said. “So, you know, my first thought is to try to be at second base. Hopefully Juan can score or he'll be at third base. But try to get to second base so Big G can get in line in that situation.”

---

Top of the eighth inning, two outs
Drawn game 3:3
Odds of Winning: 59.9% Cleveland

Stanton, like his teammate, fell behind 0-2. He collided with a 91 mph slider, swung through a 100 mph cutter and collided with a cutter in center. Two pitches later, he fouled a 93 mph slider across the plate. These two pitches remained in his memory.

“He went in with the knives and sliders, so it was just a matter of getting one out over the plate,” Stanton said. “And I missed a couple beyond the plate, so I was able to get to the third.”

The third was the seventh pitch of the battle, a 90-mph slider that caught too much plate. Stanton pounced with a swing of 85 miles per hour – the hardest by a player on either side on Thursday. It bounced off the bat at 106.1 miles per hour and was deposited 390 feet from home plate.

“I think I threw a pump with my right fist like I was fired up,” Boone said. “But you’re right in the game. …You kind of stay with what comes next. But you definitely feel the energy of some hits like that.”

And just like that, the Yankees had a lead. It was the first time in 326 career appearances that Clase gave up multiple home runs in a game, including the postseason. New York was three outs away from a win in its first World Series appearance in 15 years. It was a stunning turn of events. And it was just beginning.

---

Bottom of the ninth inning, two outs
The Yankees lead 5-3
Probability of winning: 98.5% New York

Luke Weaver, called for a four-out save, had danced his way out of a two-on-two-out situation in the eighth inning by striking out David Fry. Then, after Anthony Rizzo committed an error entering the bottom of the ninth, he launched a nifty 1-6-3 double play to stymie Cleveland's momentum.

He was just one out away from his fourth postseason save of at least four outs. It seemed imminent when he took a 2-0 lead after a double play against Lane Thomas. But suddenly he lost his momentum. The next three pitches were uncompetitive and Thomas used them to complete the count. The sixth pitch of the at-bat was a 95 mph fastball down that saw Thomas hook off the high left field wall.

“You get to 0-2 and you just try to do a little too much,” Weaver said. “Thomas has a good shot there and yeah, the moment is starting to get a bit big. So I just tried to take a step back and tonight I didn’t quite have the execution that I needed in that moment.”

---

Bottom of the ninth inning, two outs
The Yankees lead 5-3
Probability of winning: 95.4% New York

After the game, Vogt was clear about why he sent Jhonkensy Noel to pinch-hit for Daniel Schneemann: “I mean, he pinch-hit to hit a home run,” Vogt said. “That’s why we sent him there.” And, boy, did the man they call “Big Christmas” deliver.

After taking another uncontestable pitch well out of the strike zone, Noel lunged for a big changeup over the middle of the plate and left no doubt. The second he touched the ball, he gently turned his racket to the side to decide the game. Pandemonium rained down around him. At least for now, he had effectively saved the Guardians' season.

“I really felt like I let the team down and myself down,” Weaver said. “It’s baseball, these things happen. One wave of the arm and it just feels a little devastating. The bats were hot and the ball flew out of the park.

Weaver hadn't given up a home run or multiple runs since Sept. 2, his last appearance before becoming the Yankees' starting closer.

“It hurts a little more, yeah,” Weaver said. “It hurts a little more knowing how hard they work to get the game to where it is. It hurts even more knowing I was 0-2, we're just one throw away from a big double play. Yes, it all stinks.” It hurts more when you know how close we were, how big a 3-0 lead would be.

---

Top of the 10th inning, one out
Drawn game, 5-5
Probability of winning: 50.8% New York

The Yankees threatened to quickly retake the lead when Stanton drew a one-out walk to bring in Jazz Chisholm Jr., who had drawn walks and singles in his two previous plate appearances. This time, the Yankees third baseman hit a chopper into the hole at second base that seemed destined to go through the infield.

Until Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez moved left, somehow caught the baseball in shallow right field, turned around and made a jump shot that fell on his butt. The one-hop went to first baseman Josh Naylor, who pushed himself to the limit and barely touched first base with his left foot to complete the improbable out.

The game, reminiscent of the style Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar played in his three seasons as Cleveland's second baseman at the turn of the century, ended the Yankees' recovery.

“Andrés Giménez is the best infielder in the world,” said Vogt. “He was and he will be. He makes plays that seem to amaze us every day.”

---

Bottom of the 10th inning, two outs
Drawn game, 5-5
Odds of Winning: 62.7% Cleveland

The night finally ended after 3 hours and 52 minutes when Cleveland's Fry launched an error-filled 1-2 sinker that Yankees reliever Clay Holmes let over the plate and into the seats behind the left field wall.

“I just told God, 'Hey, man, take this,'” Fry said. “It's a tough fight. Just try to have fun. They took over the offense, fell behind in the count and just got a throw into the zone and luckily it went out.”

According to ESPN Research, to this point in their postseason history, the Yankees had a record of 196-1 when leading by multiple runs in the ninth inning or later. Your only other loss in this situation? Game 3 of the 2022 ALDS against… the Guardians.

“We’re supposed to go out there and do our job,” Holmes said. “That’s our job, to go out and close the ball. Our hitters did a great job putting us in position and we just weren't making any throws. But our expectation is to go out there and put zeros.”

It was Fry's second home run of the postseason, and both were great. The first was a two-run home run in Game 4 of the ALDS against the Detroit Tigers that left the Guardians facing elimination. That home run saved the Guardians' season before they came back to push for another run. Time will tell if Thursday's performance will do the same.