The Dodgers are making easy work of the exposed Yankees since the World Series is all but over

The Yankees have a simple problem in this World Series. Everything they do well, the Dodgers do better – power, patience, pitching.

And then there's so much the Yankees don't do well, from running the bases to executing on defense, which Los Angeles also excels at.

Heck, the Dodgers even have an advantage in areas like the much louder home crowd, the deeper bench, and the far better trade deadline.

It sounds like a mismatch, and so far the 120th World Series is exactly that. The Yankees waited 15 years to play in the World Series, and with each subsequent game it was as if they had never been there. At this point we need to send a CSI team to search for fingerprints and DNA.

Game 1 was a classic that the Yankees squandered from their defense to Aaron Boone's decision making. And since Freddie Freeman's grand slam clinched that win in the 10th inning, the Yankees had no lead and were lifeless on offense.

Clarke Schmidt followed Carlos Rodon's example by quickly creating a deficit that the Yankees couldn't dig out of on Monday night, especially as Aaron Judge continued to take an October wrecking ball into his legacy and the bottom half of the lineup like a conveyor belt the automatic remained outs.

The finale ended 4-2 and the Yankees trailed by three games to zero.

At this point, you might be able to convince someone dumb or dumber that the Yankees have a chance, because once in 40 tries, when a team was down 3-0, they actually won a postseason series. That was the 2004 Red Sox, whose comeback against the Yankees was fueled by a stolen base in Game 4 by current Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

The problem is that David Ortiz is on the field doing Fox's pre- and post-game shows, rather than in a Yankee lineup that has had four runs on nine hits in the last 18 innings – five of which came from Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton.

In the first World Series game played in the Bronx since November 4, 2009, Freeman's third home run in three games – a two-run shot off three batters in Game 3 – all but blocked his World Series MVP and turned off 49,368 viewers, which was more anxious than loud.

The Yankees live by the home run. It's a strength that hides so many of her flaws. But Freeman tied the Yankees at 3-3 in home runs – and the Yanks' third home run was hit by Alex Verdugo with two outs in the ninth to make the game seem cosmetically closer. The Dodgers defeated the Yanks 5-3. Another strength is drawing walks. But it was Los Angeles that turned its first two walks into runs. Shohei Ohtani, playing somewhat cautiously 48 hours after he dislocated his shoulder according to the Dodgers report, walked to open the game and finished ahead of Schmidt on a home run by Freeman.

Schmidt walked Tommy Edman on four pitches to open the third, ran down the pitch and took second on Ohtani's groundout, and did what too few Yankees do – he immediately recognized that Mookie Betts' looper would fall to right, and scored easily. Gavin Lux stole a base in the sixth inning and positioned himself to take a 4-0 lead on an Enrique Hernandez single.

The Yanks are now the worst baserunning team in the majors. Stanton, who was as successful as Babe Ruth this month, still acts like he's carrying the burden of the franchise. With one out in the fourth, he barely made it to second on what should have been an easy double and was thrown to the plate by left fielder Teoscar Hernandez after Anthony Volpe's two-out single. Stanton's hit was the Yankees' only extra-base hit, Volpe's only one with a runner in scoring position, until Verdugo hit a home run in the ninth inning.

Schmidt lasted just 2 ²/₃ innings with three runs against it after Rodon managed 3 ¹/₃ innings with four runs in Game 2. Thus, the expected Yankee rotation edge has not manifested. This weakness in starters for the Dodgers led to the Yankees scoring three runs in 16 ²/₃ innings through Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler. Flaherty, Edman and Michael Kopech – deadline acquisitions – all impacted this World Series.

Judge, the most important Yankee, didn't. He went 0-for-3 with a walk in the eighth inning and fell to 1-for-12 with seven strikeouts in this World Series, 6-for-43 (.140) this postseason and 42-for-214 (.196). in his playoff career. Judge hasn't hit in his last two World Series games, and the Yanks are 17-34 (including the postseason) when Judge doesn't hit in a game.

The two MVPs don't shine quite equally with this story. The Yankees often go like Judge — and Judge went poorly in October. It turned into a World Series in which the Dodgers eliminated him and, in fact, the entire Yankee offense – and with them a crowd that had waited 15 years for this game.

The Dodgers outperform the Yankees in every way. Three games to zero feels right.