Infamous Yankees Pitcher Has Asinine Take on 2024 World Series vs Dodgers

Maren Angus-Coombs | Feb 26, 2025

Oct 25, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr (65) talks to the media prior to the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers during game one of the 2024 MLB World Series at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images / Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

The last pitch Nestor Cortes threw in a New York Yankees uniform was an inning-ending double play.

“Nobody remembers my second outing,” Cortes recently said to The Athletic. “But I dominated my second outing. Dominated Ohtani, struck him out. Dominated Freeman. Obviously, it didn’t matter at that moment, but I came back and did what I had to do, which was my job: get people out.”

It was the first outing that launched Cortes into baseball history. But last year is in the past for him. He was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for star closer Devin Williams this offseason.

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Cortes has had time to reflect on the pitch Freddie Freeman sent into the right field pavilion at Dodger Stadium in Game 1 of the World Series, and one of the things he took away from it was completely asinine: The Yankees were the better team.

“We had done enough to win that game,” Cortes said. “They can talk whatever they want to talk, but we win Game 1 — which we should have — we lost 2 and 3, we win Game 4 and we should have won Game 5. Then we go back to LA up 3 to 2.

“So people can say it slipped away from us, people can say we made a lot of mistakes, which we did. But at the end of the day, we were the better team. I see it that way, and I’m sure everybody in that clubhouse sees it that way. The reality (could have been) going back to LA leading 3-2. It didn’t happen that way and they deserve all the credit in the world, they won the World Series. At the moment, they showed they were the better team.”

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It's almost shocking that one could think that after the Dodgers took the World Series in five games and won it in New York, celebrating at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees were better. However, Cortes appears to feel that way.

Cortes and the Yankees parted on good terms. He built up goodwill with an impressive five-year stint in New York, posting a 33-20 record and a 3.61 ERA, averaging over a strikeout per inning, and earning an All-Star selection in 2022.

Now, he'll look to continue that success in Milwaukee.

For more Dodgers news, head over to Dodgers on SI.