The Yankees are no strangers to overcoming a 2-0 World Series deficit.
In the 10 instances that a team won the Fall Classic after losing the first two games, the Yankees did it four times, including in 1956 and 1978 against the Dodgers.
After dropping both games at Dodger Stadium over the weekend, the present-day Yankees will have to author another 2-0 comeback to win their 28th championship.
“[If] we win that game Monday, the pressure goes to the other side,” first baseman Anthony Rizzo said, “and we’ll make this a series.”
Game 3 is set to take place Monday night in the Bronx, where Game 4 is scheduled for Tuesday and Game 5, if necessary, would be Wednesday.
The 1996 Yankees are the last team to rebound from a 2-0 hole and win the World Series, doing so in six games against the Braves despite losing Games 1 and 2 at home. The Yankees’ four consecutive wins that year included beating future Hall of Fame pitchers Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Greg Maddux.
“[George] Steinbrenner came in before Game 2 of the World Series in ’96, and he said, ‘This is a must win,’” Joe Torre, the Yankees’ manager at the time, recalled to the Daily News on Friday, several hours before Game 1 of the 2024 World Series.
“We were flat the first couple of games. I said, ‘George, we’re flat. We may even lose. We’re facing Maddux.’ … I said, ‘Don’t worry about it. We’re going to Atlanta. We’ll win three games there and then come back and win it for you Saturday night.’ I walked out of the office, and that’s exactly what happened, even though I was screwing around with him.”
In 1956, the Yankees came back against the then-Brooklyn Dodgers with help from Don Larsen, who hurled the first — and only — postseason perfect game in Game 5 of that World Series. The Yankees went on to win in seven games, with Yogi Berra homering twice in the do-or-die Game 7.
In 1978, the Yankees won Games 3, 4, and 5 at home, then clinched the series in Los Angeles with a Game 6 win in which Bucky Dent delivered three RBI and Reggie Jackson homered.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, came back from 2-0 holes to beat the Yankees in the 1955 and 1981 World Series.
The only other time the Yankees came back from down 2-0 was in 1958, when the Mickey Mantle and Berra-led Bombers beat Hank Aaron and the Braves in seven games.
Historically, 84% of the teams that took a 2-0 lead in any best-of-seven MLB series have gone on to win it.
Hanging over Game 3 of this World Series is the uncertain status of Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, who left in the seventh inning of Game 2 after suffering a partially dislocated shoulder on a slide as he was caught trying to steal second base.
Clarke Schmidt is set to start Game 3 for the Yankees, while Walker Buehler is scheduled to pitch for the Dodgers.
“No one said it’s going to be easy,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Saturday’s 4-2 loss. “It’s a long series, and we need to make it a long series now. We won’t flinch. We’ve just got to keep at it.”
