The choice of "Empire of Evil" was to crush the ace. The New York Yankees, who are considered the most prestigious players in the U.S. Major League, lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers with one win and four losses in the 2024 World Series, the first time in 15 years since 2009, have decided to retain ace Gerrit Cole.
 
U.S. sports media ESPN reported on the 5th (Korea Standard Time) that Cole agreed to re-implement the remaining four-year total of $144 million (about 11.8 billion won) and annual average of $36 million with the Yankees.스포츠토토
 
Cole has emerged as one of the best pitchers in the Major League with 20-5 losses and a 2.50 ERA in 2019 for the Houston Astros. Cole, who became a free agent after the 2019 season, transferred his talent to New York by signing a nine-year, $324 million contract, the highest ever for a pitcher in the Major League at the time. Cole's record was broken by the Dodgers last winter when Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed him. The Dodgers reportedly paid Yamamoto $1 million more than Cole's contract in consideration of Cole's contract. Since the contract period is 10 years, Cole receives a lot more annually.

Cole and the Yankees' FA contract included the right to declare an opt-out after five years. However, the Yankees also added a one-year salary of 36 million U.S. dollars to the existing contract and added a condition to invalidate Cole's opt-out.
 
Cole declared an opt-out on the 3rd with a four-year, $144 million contract left, so the Yankees chose to keep Cole on the FA market rather than send him to the FA market. They only agreed to extend the contract, not add $36 million for a year, and the renewal period and specific amount will be discussed later.
 
Cole, who has been the Yankees' first starter since 2020, has been an ace. Cole, who recorded 7-3 with a 2.84 ERA in the 2020 season, had 16 wins and 8 losses in the 2021 season and 13 wins and 8 losses and 3.50 in the 2022 season. In the 2023 season, his fourth year, he played 209 innings in 33 games, recording 15 wins and 4 losses and an ERA of 2.63. Cole, who is at the top of all indicators, has won the Cy Young Award for the first time in 11 years since his big league debut in 2013.
 

This year, he suffered from an elbow injury in the first half of the year, but he left 8-5 with a 3.41 ERA.
 
In the postseason as well, Cole displayed the Yankees' ace pitching. He had one win and an earned run average of 2.17 in five postseason games. However, with the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the World Series, Cole made a fatal mistake of not entering the base cover when Mookie Betts grounded out to the first base. It was recorded as Betts' hit, but if Cole had entered the base cover, the Yankees could have finished the inning with a 5-0 lead. Cole's base cover miss continued the Dodgers' chances, and Freddie Freeman's two-run timely hit and Teoscar Hernandez's two-run double ended up tying the game at 5-5. Prior to Cole's base cover mistake, Aaron Judge made a mistake by missing an ordinary fly ball, and Cole's five runs were unearned. Cole, who managed to end the crisis with a 5-5 tie in the fifth inning, took the mound in the sixth inning, and also took the mound in the seventh inning with two outs. Even in a situation where his mental state could be shaky, Cole did his part and then left the mound.
 

In the end, the Yankees lost Game 5 of the World Series, failing to win the World Series title for the first time in 15 years since 2009, by garnering one win and four losses overall. It is analyzed that the Yankees, who are trying to win the World Series trophy again next season, decided that Cole needs to play a role as the first starter in order to achieve their goal, and chose to make him collapse. However, Cole's four-seam fastball speed seems to have declined somewhat compared to his peak. Was the Yankees' choice wise? Attention is focusing on the outcome of Cole's accompanying the Yankees next season.