Twenty-eight years and seven days ago, the New York Yankees were staring down the barrel of World Series defeat. Two-nil down to the Braves and on their way to Atlanta, few would have envisioned that they would win the next four games to complete a famous comeback, before winning a further three Commissioner’s Trophies in the next four years.
Two-nil down to the Los Angeles Dodgers following two narrow defeats on the West Coast, the Yankees will now have to pull off a similar escape act, beginning on Monday night, if they want to win their first Fall Classic since 2009. In their favor, this time, is the fact that Game 3 will take place in the Bronx.
“It’ll be a great atmosphere,” said Giancarlo Stanton, per MLB.com. “They’ll bring the noise. They understand what’s at stake right now.”
Right fielder Juan Soto echoed Stanton’s hopes that a change of scenery will provide a change in fortunes.
“We’ve been going through a lot of tough moments throughout the year,” he said. “We’ve been there. We know how it is, getting a couple of punches in the face. We just keep battling, keep going. That’s what tells you we can go home, do our thing and then come back here to try to win it.”
Only 15 of 92 teams who lost the first two games of a best-of-seven postseason series have come back to win.
But the second iteration of Yankee Stadium has the seventh-best home-field advantage in the postseason of any ballpark ever in MLB history, and – it having been 15 years since the Bronx has seen a World Series game – the Bronx Bombers will be hoping that a vociferous home crowd can help kick-start a comeback.
If there is one man in particular who is looking for that spark, it is Aaron Judge. The AL MVP favorite is one-for-nine with six strikeouts so far in the series, and just six-for-40 with 19 strikeouts across the whole of this postseason.
“I’ve definitely got to step up, and I’ve got to do my job,” said the star center fielder. “Guys around me are doing their jobs, getting on base, and I’m failing at backing them up. We’ve got to turn it around in Game 3.”
Judge’s teammates understand the importance of the six-time All-Star rediscovering the kind of performance that made him the American League’s dominant player during the regular season.
“We’re all a little bit anxious; it’s the first two World Series games in our careers,” said Jazz Chisholm Jr. “You’re going to go out there a little bit anxious. I feel like, when we get home, he’s going to feel more confident and he’s going to calm down. The swing still looks the same, it’s just a timing difference.”
Just as Yankees fans will be hoping Judge shows up on Monday night, Dodgers fans will be hoping that their own MVP shoo-in, Shohei Ohtani, will be healthy to play having picked up a shoulder injury in Game 2.
It’s looking good for the Japanese superstar. “If he feels good enough to go, I see no reason why he wouldn’t be in there,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts at a press conference Sunday.
“He’s got to still go through the workout and swing the bat,” Roberts continued. “But again, today feels better than yesterday, and our assumption is tomorrow is going to feel better than today. And so with that, that’s what I’m banking on.”
After excellent showings from starters Jack Flaherty and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Games 1 and 2, the Dodgers will now turn to Walker Buehler, who is confident he can shut out the noise at Yankee Stadium.
“I think, in any of these big game scenarios that you talk about, it’s all the momentum and the hoopla, and all that stuff,” Buehler told a press conference on Sunday. “I think it’s just learning how to embrace that. Pretty early in my career I learned how to do that in some way.
“I’ve never thrown here, so that will be exciting. And Game 3 of the World Series – it doesn’t get more exciting than that.”