If the Yankees are going to come back to win the World Series, they will have to make history.
But on Monday, they only inched closer to being history.
Back home for The Bronx’s first World Series game in 15 years, one that Anthony Rizzo had called a “must-win game,” the Yankees turned in another dud, falling 4-2 to the Dodgers to go down 3-0 in the series in front of a sellout crowd of 49,368.
Alex Verdugo’s two-run homer in the ninth inning spared the Yankees from being shut out, but it was one of only five hits on the night, putting their season on life support entering Tuesday’s Game 4.
A standing ovation did little to snap Aaron Judge out of his funk as the captain went 0-for-3 with a walk while falling to 6-for-43 with 20 strikeouts this postseason.
There have been 24 teams that have fallen behind 3-0 in the World Series and none of them have come back to win it.
Of course, only one team in MLB history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in any best-of-seven playoff series, and it was the Red Sox against the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS.
The Yankees have not been swept in the World Series since the Reds beat them in 1976.
The Dodgers struck immediately with Freddie Freeman’s two-run homer off Clarke Schmidt in the top of the first and it did not get much better from there as the crowd lost steam with little to cheer for over the course of a chilly night.
The Yankees did not have a hit off Walker Buehler until the fourth inning, when Giancarlo Stanton roped a one-out double to left field.
But then with two outs, Stanton was thrown out at home trying to score from second on Anthony Volpe’s single. It took a perfect throw from left fielder Teoscar Hernandez, whose one-hopper landed in a spot that allowed catcher Will Smith to slap a quick tag on Stanton.
That was as close as they came to scoring off Buehler, who cruised through five innings while allowing just four base runners (two on walks by Gleyber Torres) before Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled him at 76 pitches.
But the Yankees could not figure out six Dodger relievers, either, until Verdugo’s homer in the ninth off Michael Kopech.
Their best chance before then came in the seventh inning, when they put two on with two out, but Torres was called out on a strike three above the zone to end the threat.
After the Yankees wasted Gerrit Cole’s six innings of one-run ball in Game 1, they have received clunkers from their next two starters. Carlos Rodon gave up four runs in 3 ¹/₃ innings in Game 2 before Schmidt lasted just 2 ²/₃ innings while giving up three runs in Game 3.
Schmidt started his night off by not making Shohei Ohtani and his subluxed left shoulder swing at all in his first plate appearance, walking on four pitches.
One out later, the red-hot Freeman turned on a cutter at the top of the zone and crushed it to right field for a two-run homer and the 2-0 lead. Freeman, who came into the series hobbled by a sprained ankle, has now homered in all three games this series and in five straight World Series games (dating to 2021 with the Braves), tying an MLB record.
Judge received a rousing standing ovation and MVP chants as he walked to the plate for his first at-bat, with Torres on first base. But it ended in familiar fashion as he swung through a cutter out of the zone for another strikeout.
Schmidt started the third inning with another four-pitch walk, this one to No. 9 hitter and NLCS MVP Tommy Edman, who then took second on Ohtani’s groundout.
Mookie Betts then put together a strong nine-pitch at-bat that ended with him fisting a bloop single to right field, with Edman going hard the whole time and scoring from second for the 3-0 lead.
The Dodgers used their speed to make it 4-0 in the top of the sixth as Gavin Lux was hit by a Jake Cousins pitch, stole second and then raced around to score on Kiké Hernandez’s single up the middle.