The Yankees are leaving Los Angeles without a win and are now down 2-0 to the Dodgers in the World Series. That’s the bad news. The good news is they will return home to Yankee Stadium for Game 3 on Monday and will be expecting the fans’ support behind them as they look to fight back in this best-of-seven series.
And with it being the Bronx’s first taste of the Fall Classic since 2009 when New York last won it all, the amount of encouragement and enthusiasm pouring out of the city is sure to be on another level and the players can’t wait.
“The fans are gonna bring the energy and when they bring the energy they get the team going,” said Juan Soto. “It’s not easy to play in front of 40,000 fans against you. It’s not only the team [you’re facing], you gotta go against those 45-50,000 people that are against you so I think they are a huge part of this and that’s why every team wants to get the top seed to start a series at home.”
Giancarlo Stanton added: “It’ll be a great atmosphere. They’ll bring the noise. They understand what’s at stake right now.”
What’s at stake for the Yankees right now is the danger of falling behind 3-0 to the Dodgers – territory they would love not to see. Instead, as Anthony Rizzo explained, they’d prefer winning on Monday to put the pressure back on Los Angeles and to “make this a series”.
“It absolutely is a must-win [game],” Rizzo said. “Obviously, you don’t go home if you don’t win Monday, but the odds are against you. I was just talking to Juan, he’s been a part of an insane roller coaster World Series and so have I. You see things in October. This October has been amazing for the game and I don’t think there will be any lay down from our side going into Monday.”
To New York’s credit, both games at Dodger Stadium were well-fought and close and the series could certainly look a whole lot different if not for a pitch or two.
“This series could easily be 2-0 us,” Stanton said. “That’s what happens when you’re [facing] an extremely good ball club on the other side. Yeah, it can go any way.”
While it may be true that the Yankees were a decision here and there away from taking at least one game in Los Angeles, the reality is they’re going back home down 2-0 and fighting an uphill battle.
But New York has been in situations like this all season – recovering in the face of adversity to ultimately come out on top. It’ll have to do it again starting on Monday against Walker Buehler and the dangerous Dodger lineup.
“We’ve been going through a lot of tough moments throughout the year,” Soto said. “So I think we’ve been there, we know how it is to get a couple of punches in the face and we just keep battling. I think that tells you that we can go home and do our thing and then come back here and try to win it.”
“I have full confidence in us,” Rizzo added. “We just gotta win on Monday, that’s the biggest thing… Just win one game. That’s all it is. You just gotta win one game by any means necessary to get some momentum and that’s it.”
“It’s a tough start, but it ain’t over yet,” Soto said.
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