Jack Flaherty's early blowup in Game 5 is Dodgers nightmare waiting to unfold

As good as Jack Flaherty was during the regular season (and seemingly against all odds, given his struggles last season with the Cardinals and Orioles), the postseason has been a different beast for him. Ahead of his Game 5 start on Wednesday, he pitched once in the NLDS, twice in the LCS, and then opened the World Series.

The results have been a mixed bag. He gave up four runs in his 5 1/3 innings against the Padres in the LDS, but followed it up with a seven-inning shutout effort in his next start against the Mets. Things dipped again — and even worse, this time — in Game 5 of the LCS, when he gave up eight runs to the Mets in three innings.

His first Fall Classic start kept the teeter-totter moving. Just two runs were given up over 5 1/3 innings to give the Dodgers the immediate lead in the series.

But at this point, the teeter-totter just had to go the other way. Although they dropped Game 4 to the Yankees, the Dodgers still had a chance to win the whole thing on Wednesday, provided Flaherty get them off on the right foot.

He did not. After getting his first out on Gleyber Torres, he walked Juan Soto. Aaron Judge, who's been making himself look like an easy out for the majority of the postseason, came up. He saw a first pitch, center-cut fastball at 94 MPH from Flaherty, and there was no question about where that one was going to end up after Judge hit it.

Aaron Judge, Jazz Chisholm jump on Jack Flaherty early to give Yankees a three-run lead over Dodgers in the first inning of Game 5

To add insult to injury, Dodgers enemy Jazz Chisholm came up behind Judge to hit another middle-middle, 94 MPH fastball out of the yard. All Flaherty had was one out, and the Dodgers were already down by three. He gave up another run after an Alex Verdugo RBI single in the second inning and Dave Roberts immediately pulled him. The bullpen is getting started early in this one — exactly what the Dodgers didn't want.

The fear after Game 4's loss was that the Dodgers gave the Yankees too much room to breathe. Maybe instead of eating that game and letting themselves go quietly into the night, the Dodgers should've decided that it was time to put it all away. They could've gone for the kill, but instead they suffered a rout so that they could come back in full force in Game 5.

There's still time in this one, but for everyone panicking out there, LA still gets two home games after this if Wednesday doesn't go their way.