No matter what happens with Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees need to start hitting if they want to get back into this World Series.
The Yankees have only scored five runs in 19 innings during two tough losses to the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are hitting just .143 with runners in scoring position (2 for 14) and have left 17 players on base.
A return to New York might help Judge and the rest of the Yankees break out of their slump when the best-of-seven Series moves to the Big Apple, where they went 3-1 in the American League playoffs.
“We’ve been through a lot of tough moments throughout the year. So I think we’ve been there,” slugger Juan Soto said. “We know how to take a couple punches in the face and just keep battling and keep going. We can go home and do our thing.”
The Dodgers lead the Series 2-0, thanks in part to a home run from Freddie Freeman in each game. The World Series returns to Yankee Stadium on Monday night for the first time since November 4, 2009.
That night, Hideki Matsui hit a home run and drove in six runs, earning the Series MVP as New York secured its 27th championship with a 7-3 win over Philadelphia.
Now, the Yankees hope to make a comeback that would at least send this exciting matchup back to Los Angeles for a possible Game 6.
“The Bronx is a special place. They back us. They pump us up. They put pressure on other teams,” first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. “When that stadium is rocking, we feel it. We need to get that energy when we come in on Monday and get it going.”
Mookie Betts and the Dodgers are just two wins away from their second World Series title in five years and the franchise’s eighth overall.
After a scare with his injury, it looks like Ohtani will play in Game 3 if he can manage any remaining pain. The star player partially dislocated his left shoulder while sliding into second base to end the seventh inning during Saturday night’s 4-2 win in Game 2.
Ohtani planned to practice swinging in an indoor batting cage at Yankee Stadium during the team’s workout on Sunday night.
“I just don’t see him not playing Game 3,” said Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts. “If he feels good enough to go, then I see no reason why he wouldn’t be in there.”
Ohtani did not travel with the team to New York because he needed imaging done on his injury and took a separate flight.
“He’s the best player in the game, and to see him on the ground in pain, it’s not a good feeling for sure,” teammate Tommy Edman said Saturday night. “We’re hopeful he recovers quickly.”
While many players wore ski hats, the Dodgers had a practice under the lights at Yankee Stadium, similar to what they did 12 days ago before Game 3 in the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets.
Meanwhile, the Yankees spent Sunday traveling across the country and were not available to speak with the media.
The temperature is expected to be about 53 degrees at the start of the game, dropping slightly, after the first two games took place in sunny Southern California with temperatures in the mid-70s.
Clarke Schmidt (5-5, 2.85 ERA), son of a team pilot, is set to pitch for New York against fellow right-hander Walker Buehler (1-6, 5.38 ERA), who will be making his debut at Yankee Stadium.
Schmidt also started Game 3 in each of the first two playoff rounds, with a 3.86 ERA over 9 1/3 innings in two no-decisions against Kansas City and Cleveland.
Both of those games were on the road, with the series against the Royals tied 1-1, and the Yankees leading the Guardians 2-0.
“Obviously, it’s a dream come true being able to pitch the first game at home in a pivotal game,” Schmidt said. “I’m obviously very excited to get out there, but I know I have a job to do. We’re trying to win this World Series. I think for me I’m just trying to go out there and execute and do my job.”
Buehler, a two-time All-Star, returned in May from his second Tommy John surgery and missed nearly two months this season due to a hip injury, returning in mid-August.
He has also started two Game 3s this postseason, giving up six runs over five innings in a 6-5 loss at San Diego and pitching four innings in an 8-0 win against the Mets on the road.
Buehler enjoys pitching in cold weather and has a record of 3-4 with a 3.25 ERA in 17 career postseason starts. He has allowed only one run and five hits with 17 strikeouts over 13 innings in two previous World Series games, in 2018 against Boston and 2020 against Tampa Bay — both in Game 3.
“We’re looking forward to Walker because Walker’s a big-game pitcher,” said Freeman, who has homered in his last four World Series games dating back to 2021 with Atlanta.
In the previous two World Series matchups between these rivals, the team that lost the first two games away from home came back to win the next four and take the title.
New York did this in 1978, followed by the Dodgers in 1981.
The last two times the Yankees were down 2-0 in a World Series, they came back to win three straight games. They won four in a row to take the championship in 1996 against Atlanta and went up 3-2 in 2001 before losing Games 6 and 7 in Arizona.
“All the momentum and the hoopla and all that stuff, I think it’s just learning how to kind of embrace that. I think pretty early in my career I learned how to do that in some ways,” Buehler said. “But I think that’s the mental hurdle, and then it’s kind of the same game, just on a bigger stage.”
