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Anthony Rizzo stares at the ignoble Yankees ending after a World Series miscue

Anthony Rizzo’s plan is to take x-rays of the fourth and fifth fingers of his right hand on Thursday and then assess what his future with the Yankees could be.

The club has a $17 million option on the veteran first baseman for next season and Rizzo’s preference is to stay.

But the Yankees might as well give him a $6 million buyout and look in a different direction.

Mookie Betts continues with an infield hit when no one was covered after Anthony Rizzo fielded a grounder during the fifth inning of the Yankees’ season-ending loss to the Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series on October 30, 2024. Robert Sabo for NY Post

“I’m going to talk to Cash and the Yankees and see what they think,” Rizzo said, referring to general manager Brian Cashman after the team’s 7-6 loss to the Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series.

Rizzo’s prefers to stay at the club.

“I feel like I have a lot to offer this game in a lot of different ways,” he said. “I don’t want to take this (uniform) off.”

Rizzo was in the middle of a fifth-inning play Wednesday that helped wash away the Yankees’ 5-0 lead and send the Dodgers toward the World Series trophy.

Anthony Rizzo reacts after striking out swinging with two runners on to end the eighth inning in the Yankees’ loss. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

Mookie Betts hit a bases-loaded squib grounder to Rizzo for what should have been the final out. But Rizzo was slow to get to base and that was made worse by Gerrit Cole not covering the bag.

Betts was safe, the Dodgers’ first run scored and before the inning was over it was 5-5.


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“The balls of the bat against a right-hander, they spin,” Rizzo said. “I went one way and the ball kicked the other way, so you really have to follow it all the way because you don’t know what the ball is going to do.”

And a breakdown in communication with Cole didn’t help.

“Pitchers are always taught to get over it no matter what,” Rizzo said. “It was just a weird spinning play.”

Rizzo, who broke two fingers last month and missed the ALDS before returning for the ALCS and the World Series, said it was difficult to say goodbye to his teammates afterward.

Luke Weaver speaks with Anthony Rizzo during the ninth inning of the Yankees’ loss. Jason Szenes/New York Post

“That’s the last time you’ll be with that exact team and these exact people at that time,” Rizzo said. “The uncertainty of what this clubhouse will look like next year is certainly in the air. But when you lose like this, it’s more a matter of hugging each other and letting each other know how much they mean to you.”