LOS ANGELES About 27 years ago, George Steinbrenner, upset over the World Series defeat the night before, strode into Yankee Stadium’s home clubhouse and told his manager that the next nine innings were a “must-win game.”
Without flinching, Joe Torre told an unconvinced Boss that he believed they might lose that night as well.
Then, in his first season as the Yankees’ captain, Torre had doubts about his team’s chances against Greg Maddux, the opposition ace, who would undoubtedly put on an outstanding performance. However, Torre assured Steinbrenner that there was “nothing to worry about” and that they could still overcome the Braves, who were the favourites, after falling behind 2-0.
After suffering a 4-2 defeat to the Dodgers in Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday, the 2024 Yankees now have a comparable task. Since any possible Yankees championship victory would now take place in Los Angeles, they are down but not out, knowing the battle before of them when the Fall Classic moves to New York, albeit temporarily, they hope.
Juan Soto, who had two hits and hit a home run in Game 2, stated, “We’ve been going through a lot of tough moments throughout the year.” “We have visited that place. We are aware of how it feels to take a few blows to the face. We simply keep fighting and moving on. It tells you that we may go home, do what we want to do, and then return here to try to win it.
Like this year’s team, the Yankees of 1996 had to wait 15 years to get to the World Series; their most recent Fall Classic defeat was in 1981 against the Dodgers. In Game 3, David Cone defeated Tom Glavine, sparking their comeback after down 2-0 to Atlanta.
Joe Girardi, the club’s catcher, stated on the YES Network that “Game 3 is the biggest game, as Joe Torre always talked about.” “You are either reintroduced into the series or, in a sense, removed from it.”
Despite the excitement of that October-into-November season, only 15 teams in 92 attempts have won a best-of-seven postseason series after dropping the first two games. The 2001 Yankees were one team that was unable to bounce back.
Anthony Rizzo said: “The biggest thing is, we win that game Monday, the pressure goes to the other side and we’ll make this a series.”
Clarke Schmidt, who will be starting for the first time in his World Series career, has that assignment ahead of him. Although the 28-year-old lacks Cone’s experience at the moment, he probably exudes the same level of assurance and swagger.
“This team has a lot of bulldogs,” Schmidt remarked. “I’d argue that everyone in this clubhouse has experienced downtime at some point in their lives. Simply said, we will not stop battling.
