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If the New York Yankees want to win the 2024 World Series, they'll have to do something no team has ever done before in the Fall Classic. Down 0-3 and starring down a sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York needs to stage a historic comeback to hoist its 28th championship trophy.
It starts Tuesday night when Luis Gil takes the mound for the Yankees, while LA opts with a bullpen game. Though the Yankees were thoroughly outplayed on Monday night in Game 3, manager Aaron Boone hopes the Dodgers' pitching staff had to show enough to give his team the edge in Game 4.
“If nothing else, I think we extended their guys quite a bit. Like most of their bullpen guys came in and threw a lot of pitches,” Boone said. “Hopefully that little bit of familiarity serves us well going into (Game 4), but it’s going to be a challenge with all their arms. Again, we’ve got to get after it.”
The Yankee skipper may be grasping at straws, trying to find positives with his team one game away from being swept out of the World Series, but there's merit to what he's saying. The Dodgers used six relievers on Monday. They didn't throw enough pitches to make fatigue a major concern, but the Yankees have now faced all of the Dodgers' high-leverage arms multiple times. Michael Kopech and Anthony Banda have both appeared in all three games.
The Dodgers must find 27 outs from their bullpen to sweep the Yankees
In a series that was supposed to be evenly matched, Dodgers pitchers have silenced the Yankees' bats. That can change at any time, though, and if the series lasts beyond Tuesday, the advantage starts to swing New York's way as their hitters get more familiar with Dodger pitching.
If the Yankees want to prolong their season, that needs to start now, and lucky for them, a bullpen game from LA is a good opportunity. Since 2019, batters facing a reliever three or more times in a postseason series are hitting .274 with an .828 OPS, according to MLB.com's Sarah Langs. To counter that, Brent Honeywell Jr., Ben Casparius and Landon Knack are all good bets to see time on Tuesday. None of them has pitched so far in the World Series.
The Yankees also appear to be trying to force Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to go through as much of his bullpen as possible. Boone moved Jazz Chisholm Jr. up to the cleanup spot for Game 4, putting the lefty between right-handed batters Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Lefty batter Austin Wells is also back in the lineup to add some more balance.
Of course, none of this matters if the Yankees don't hold the Dodgers' offense down. Gil was solid in four innings against the Cleveland Guardians in his only postseason start this year, but he'll need to be even better on Monday. The Yankees' season depends on it.
