Yankees Have 1 Life Left in World Series Versus Dodgers

Gleyber Torres #25 of the New York Yankees hits a three-run home run during the eighth inning of Game Four of the 2024 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Yankee Stadium on in the Bronx borough of New York City October 29, 2024. Al Bello/Getty Images

Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole joked on Tuesday that the team had to win four games to win the World Series, so he wasn’t deterred by being down 3–0 in the series to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Cole didn’t believe the deficit changed the dynamic all that much.

His teammates followed that stoic attitude and had some life after beating Los Angeles 11–4 in Game 4. New York is trying to become the first team in Major League Baseball history to come back and win a World Series after being down three games to none.

They now have that opportunity but their only focus is winning the next game, according to shortstop Anthony Volpe, who hit a go-ahead grand slam in Game 4.

“We’ve been through so much the whole year. “We’re not going to go down easy at all.” Volpe said at his postgame news conference following the game.”

The Dodgers were rolling and were confident they could complete the sweep after winning Game 1 by 6–3 (10 innings), Game 2 by 4–2, and Game 3 by 4–2. However, after starter Ben Casparius pitched two mostly solid innings, reliever Daniel Hudson entered and allowed the grand slam to Volpe, which boosted the Yankees’ lead to 5–2 and the Dodgers never recovered.

The Los Angeles players knew the Yankees were not going to make it easy. They expected a tough battle.

“They’re going to fight,” Dodgers right field Mookie Betts said after the game in a locker room interview. “If you made it this far, you have a resilient team that’s going to fight the whole time.”

Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts certainly is not taking the Dodgers leads in the series for granted. He was the manager of the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and was able to come back and beat the Yankees in the American League Championship Series after losing the first three games. That was the only time a team has come back from a 3-0 in a postseason series in MLB history.

Roberts didn’t want to revisit that former series when asked about being on the other side of the same scenario. Los Angeles is looking to win its first title since 202o.

“Don’t talk about that. Wrong guy. Way too early,” Roberts said after Game 3 at his postgame news conference.

It’s fitting that Cole will start Game 5 to keep the Yankees’ hopes alive for their first World Series title since 2009. He has remained confident throughout the World Series. Cole will face Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty, who barely outdueled him in Game 1.

“There is probably a bit of a mental battle,” Cole said in his postgame news conference prior to Game 4. “The creatures of habit, the characteristics of players, and the routines we have to get into every single day. I think that helps you to side back into the mentality that, ‘Okay, sure, we have to win four.

“Well, guess what? We had to win four going into Game 1.' In that respect, things haven’t changed that much. One game at a time, one pitch at a time.”

The Dodgers beat the Yankees four games to two when they last met in a World Series in 1981.