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Luke Weaver Graciously Offers to Help Baseball Scribes Pen Yankees Comeback Stories

Weaver offered no predictions, but left the door open for a historic Yankees comeback in the World Series.

Tim Capurso

New York Yankees relief pitcher Luke Weaver speaks to the media after the club's 11-4 win in Game 4 of the World Series vs. the Los Angles Dodgers at Yankee Stadium on October 29, 2024.
New York Yankees relief pitcher Luke Weaver speaks to the media after the club's 11-4 win in Game 4 of the World Series vs. the Los Angles Dodgers at Yankee Stadium on October 29, 2024. / Screengrab Twitter @snyyankees

New York Yankees relief pitcher Luke Weaver stopped short of making a bold prediction about his club's chances of completing a historic World Series comeback from a 3-0 deficit following Tuesday's 11-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But Weaver knows how good of a story such a comeback—which has never been done in the World Series—would be. And, as he told reporters following Tuesday's victory, he won't put pen to paper but he's happy to help provide plenty of "material" to the baseball scribes for the story.

Weaver was asked if he thinks a comeback from a 3-0 deficit will happen "sometime" in the World Series.

"Well, I'm not one to predict the future," Weaver said. "Stories have to be told, I know you guys do that for a living, so I'll be willing to give you some material to write one."

Weaver wouldn't make any predictions, saying the Yankees will take things "day-by-day." But there's no doubt that Tuesday's win seemed to loosen up the club a bit, starting with Volpe's third-inning grand slam.

"Well, I think it just kind of took a little bit of the burden off I guess," Weaver said. "It took a little bit of the weight. It was awesome coming from a guy like [Anthony] Volpe right? He shows so much energy on the field. He plays with his heart."

"Coming from him, you could just feel that everybody was just lifted from it."

Buoyed by the slam and the Yankees bullpen, which—along with Weaver—fired five shutout innings, New York secured the win to stay alive. Weaver mentioned "one swing", "one moment" that can change everything.

One such moment occurred in Game 1 of the World Series, when Dodgers slugger Freddie Freeman belted a walk-off grand slam. Could Volpe's grand slam be a similar momentum-swinger for the Yankees?

Only time will tell. Ultimately, win or lose, Weaver said he wants to leave it all out on the field.

"I came into today ready to throw three innings if need be," Weaver said. "I wanted to leave it all out on the line. It's the last game before they [The Dodgers] gotta do some business we don't wanna see. I wanna be able to live with myself and put my head on the pillow and be like, 'I gave it everything.' "

Game 5, which begins Wednesday night at 8:08 p.m. ET., will be a battle of aces, as Gerrit Cole takes the mound for New York against Jack Flaherty for the Dodgers.

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Tim Capurso
TIM CAPURSO

Tim Capurso is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in November 2023, he wrote for RotoBaller and ClutchPoints, where he was the lead editor for MLB, college football and NFL coverage. A lifelong Yankees and Giants fan, Capurso grew up just outside New York City and now lives near Philadelphia. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, exercising and spending time with his family, including his three-legged cat Willow, who, unfortunately, is an Eagles fan.

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