NEW YORK – Such was the despair in the Bronx this week as the New York Yankees fell to the Dodgers in the World Series that even their fans crossed the finish line.

Before the start of Game 5 on Wednesday night, with the Dodgers just one win from a championship and leading by three games to one in the Fall Classic, much of the pregame talk revolved around the two Yankees fans who interfered – to put it mildly – with Mookie Betts’ first-inning catch in foul territory in right field.

“I’ve never seen anything like that,” said fellow Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández, describing the play in which one fan held Betts’ left wrist and pulled the ball out of his glove while another grabbed Betts’ right arm. “Now that I see pictures and videos and all that stuff, it’s a little crazy.”

Still, everyone involved seemed to agree with how the incident was handled: the two fans were barred from attending Game 5. The main initiator admitted to the Times that he “probably crossed the line.” And Yankees manager Aaron Boone said sternly, “There’s no room for that.”

“Yankee fans are really excited about this team,” Hernández said. “They are tough on the players. But I don’t think there’s any reason to worry.”

“It was perhaps one of the more extreme (examples) of trying to rip out a ball,” Yankees outfielder and former Dodger Alex Verdugo added. “But at the same time it’s kind of New York. I feel like that’s what you expect out here. You expect some unique things.”

The Yankees also had to be unique to have any hope of making a comeback in this series. No team has ever overcome a 3-0 deficit in the World Series. No team has ever forced a sixth game from such a gap.

But the Yankees had their ace, Gerrit Cole, on the mound for Game 5 after he started Game 1 with six innings and a run. And while the Dodgers felt good about having their own No. 1 starter, Jack Flaherty pitching, the pregame responsibility fell on them to make adjustments at the plate.

“He’s one of the best because because of the skills he has and the way he approaches every hitter, he’s not easy to play against,” said Hernández, who only faced Cole in his regular season Was 5 for 26 but managed to hit a single in the seventh inning against him in Game 1. “He’s not going to give anyone a lot of pitches to hit. You just try to make the adjustments during games and in pre-game preparation and just implement them.”

One thing the Dodgers didn’t do well against Cole in Game 1 was attacking his fastball.

The six-time All-Star threw his four-seam – a pitch the Dodgers have had success against in most other games this postseason – on 45 of his 88 pitches and watched the Dodgers harmlessly foul him on half of their 23 at-bats. Of the nine times the Dodgers put one of Cole’s fastballs into play, only three resulted in hits: Hernández’s single, a Tommy Edman double and a Kiké Hernández triple. The Dodgers were only able to stop one of those hits, as Will Smith hit a sacrifice fly that brought home Kiké Hernández.

Manager Dave Roberts said Game 5 will be about improving on that field.

“We are in a good position to finish things off tonight,” he said before the game. “I see us breaking out.”

The Dodgers could only hope so.

From the dugout to the stands, the desperation in the Bronx had only intensified on Wednesday night.