NEW YORK — The stadium started emptying out in the seventh inning. Beating traffic became more valuable than staying through the end of a hopeless playoff game that cost the equivalent of a mortgage to attend. The product the Yankees put on the field for their first home World Series game in 15 years was so underwhelming that being anywhere else was better than sticking around until the end.
The Yankees looked like a team that still hadn’t recovered from Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam in Game 1. So, when the same guy hit a two-run shot in the first inning of Game 3, the cut was deep.
The atmosphere in the Bronx seemed to mirror the mood in the home dugout: sapped of faith and energy.
“It’s all on the line for a championship,” a flashing message on the center-field jumbotron reminded the weary crowd. Apparently, the players didn’t see it.
They say it’s not over until the fat lady sings. In the Yankees’ case, Fat Joe already sang.
“We just gotta keep relying on each other and keep playing the game we’ve played all year long,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said. “Keep playing the game that got us into this position.”
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There was no sense of urgency for the Yankees on Monday as they lost 4-2 to the Dodgers, which dropped them to 0-3 in the World Series, perhaps because what we’ve seen so far is the best they’ve got. The Yankees reached the World Series by knocking out the Royals and the Guardians, two teams that were defeated by New York even when it wasn’t doing everything right. Against those two clubs, the Yankees got away with their inattention to detail. Against the superteam Dodgers — who have outplayed the Yankees via a deeper lineup, superior rotation, sharper defense and better bullpen — the Yankees’ flaws are being exposed.
One of their pitfalls all year was their response when things got ugly. When the Yankees went 5-16 over a 21-game period this summer, they were making mistakes on the basepaths, committing errors on defense, and playing nonchalantly on top of it. Spectacular individual performances from Judge and Juan Soto were nice distractions. But we’ve seen the Yankees need longer than a seven-game stretch to climb out of their slump before collectively returning to timely hitting and pitching.
So, when the Yankees tell us this is part of who they’ve been all year, we should believe them. The version of the Yankees they need to be now is the one that shows emotion, gets fired up, and cleans up its act from the first pitch to the last. The Yankees have to look alive to keep this World Series going. They can try waking up by being honest about who they’ve been for most of the year: a team that acts as the supporting cast to the starring roles of a few top players. The formula leads to wins only when the stars come through for the team.
Interested to know who the Dodgers are? Just watch how they played in the first three games of the World Series.
Freddie Freeman has now hit a home run in each of the first three games in this Fall Classic. Shohei Ohtani, playing Game 3 with a partially dislocated left shoulder, found a way to get on base despite being in obvious pain. Walker Buehler carried a no-hitter into the fourth inning and recorded his second career World Series start featuring at least five innings, no runs allowed and two or fewer hits.
Los Angeles’ starters have a 1.62 ERA against New York, compared to a 6.00 ERA from a Yankees’ rotation that was supposed to be superior. The Dodgers have scored twice as many runs as the Yankees (14-7).
“There’s just gotta be urgency,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I just don’t want to let these guys up for air.”
It shows. The mentality that Roberts has plugged into his clubhouse has the Dodgers one win away from sweeping the World Series.
“If that team wins three in a row,” Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo said of the Dodgers, “then why can’t we win three in a row?”
Sure, technically, there’s nothing stopping the Yankees from winning three straight and forcing a Game 7. But who that has watched this flawed team play all year actually believes they can? Even if the Yankees internally believe they could still stun the world and pull it off, that would require a sense of urgency and fight from the Bronx Bombers; two crucial championship qualities that they failed to summon in Game 3, which the World Series’ 122-year history assures was a must-win situation.
The Yankees have grown less competitive in each game of this series. Their at-bats on Monday were mostly passive until, down to their final out and trailing by four runs, Verdugo hit a two-run home run off right-hander Michael Kopech. Three of the Yankees’ four runs in Games 2 and 3 — and four of their nine hits — didn’t arrive until the ninth inning. That’s not a good thing. It only gives manager Aaron Boone permission to spout tired lines about his team persevering until the last out despite their deficits proving to be insurmountable.
If that’s New York’s version of a fight, the Dodgers can win the next round — and finish this bout — even after taking the first punches.
“Credit to them that they’ve been able to hold us down and control us,” Boone said. “Then, when we have had some opportunities, we haven’t cashed in. Ultimately, that’s what this comes down to.”
At least the Mets knocked these Dodgers down. Known as the Yankees’ stepbrothers, the Mets didn’t give an inch in their National League Championship Series with L.A. — they were just overmatched when it came to roster talent. The Mets’ hitting and pitching paled in comparison to the Yankees’ in the regular season, and yet they forced six games out of the Dodgers and a return trip to Los Angeles.
The Yankees look like they’re ready to go home.
The only MLB team to ever climb out of a 3-0 hole in a best-of-seven series is the 2004 Red Sox, who won the final four games of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees en route to winning the World Series. Not exactly a memory that will make the Yankees feel warm and fuzzy, right? But a couple of years back, the Yankees tried drawing inspiration from their division rivals when they watched Red Sox highlights from that 2004 ALCS in an attempt to get out of their own 3-0 hole against the Astros in the 2022 ALCS. It didn’t work, and not just because that was a comical idea in the first place. Houston wound up sweeping them out of the playoffs that year.
Two years later, the Yankees are on the brink of being swept again, except this time it will be much more excruciating if they don’t leave everything they’ve got on the field. They’re already the first World Series team in 12 years to drop the first three games. What will be remembered, though, is if they become the first pennant winner since the 2012 Tigers to be swept (by the Giants). It’s a distinction the Dodgers look primed — itching, even — to deliver Tuesday.
“We know the odds are stacked against us,” Yankees southpaw Nestor Cortes said. “But this team is too resilient. I think we showed enough fight in us to come back. If there’s a team out there that can do it, that’ll be us.”
We’ll believe it when we see it.
Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
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