The New York Yankees are down 0-2 in their ALDS with the Toronto Blue Jays, and slugger Giancarlo Stanton offered a blunt assessment of how the team will have to view the remainder of the series.
“You can't look to the whole series,” Stanton told SNY after the Yankees’ 13-7 loss in Sunday’s Game 2. “You've got to go one at a time.”
Teams down 0-2 have advanced only three times in 34 tries, including 20 sweeps. The Yankees dug themselves out of this exact position during their 2017 ALDS against Cleveland.
Dating back to last October’s World Series loss to the Los Angeles, New York has seemed to face challenges at every turn. Captain Aaron Judge has remained confident in the team’s ability to turn the tide.
“We’ve been doing it all year long,” Judge told MLB.com after Sunday’s loss in Toronto “We’ve had our backs up against the wall and been in some tough spots. In the Wild Card Series, we lost the first one and played two elimination games. It’s kind of what we did even at the end of the year.”
The Yankees will have Carlos Rodon start in Game 3, and Cam Schlittler toe the rubber in potential Game 4. The team won both games that each of these pitchers started in the Wild Card Series against the Boston Red Sox, and will hope for similar results once they return to the Bronx.
“Obviously it feels like the world's caving in around you — you lose two games like that in their building, where it doesn't go right,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “But, all of a sudden, you go out there and win a ballgame on Tuesday, the needle can change.”
