The 2024 World Series shifting to Yankee Stadium for Game 3 did not slow the Los Angeles Dodgers one bit. Freddie Freeman got L.A. going by homering for a third straight game, and Walker Buehler and the Dodgers bullpen combined to quiet the New York Yankees' offense again.
How did the Dodgers push the Yankees to the brink of elimination, and is there hope left for the home team in Game 4? We've got it all covered, from updates and analysis during the games to takeaways after the final pitch to what's next for each team.
Dodgers: Pitching Dominance and a Healthy Freeman
The Yankees were supposed to have the starting pitching advantage in this series. The Dodgers have completely obliterated it. Walker Buehler pitched five scoreless innings in Game 3 on Monday night -- after Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed just one run in 6 1/3 innings in Game 2 and Jack Flaherty allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings in Game 1. The three have combined for a 1.62 ERA, the lowest by a team's first three starters in the World Series since Cleveland in 2016.
Among the three, Buehler was probably the most uncertain. He returned from a second Tommy John surgery midway through the year, struggled through a 5.38 ERA in 16 regular-season starts and seemed to have lost his overpowering fastball.
But he found an effective curveball against the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series and finally got his lively fastball back on Monday night. The Dodgers are now one win away from their first championship in four years and their first full-season title since 1988. At the most critical juncture, starting pitching has gone from the Dodgers' biggest uncertainty to one of their greatest strengths. And their biggest concern, the overall health of first baseman and No. 3 hitter Freddie Freeman, doesn't seem to be one at all anymore.
Yankees: Offense Missing in Action
The Yankees are facing an 0-3 series hole because their offense, led by their presumptive American League MVP, has gone missing. On Monday, New York produced four hits, five walks and boos from the home crowd. Giancarlo Stanton went 2-for-4; the rest of the team finished 3-for-27. Aaron Judge went 0-for-3 with a strikeout and a walk, running his series tally to 1-for-12 with seven strikeouts. Stanton's double in the fourth inning Monday was New York's only extra-base hit. They went 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base. They had rallies end with a questionable send (Stanton getting thrown out at home in the fourth inning) and a questionable strike three call (Gleyber Torres taking a pitch above the strike zone with two runners on base in the seventh inning). This is certain: The Yankees, who have managed to score five runs in this series, are another quiet night away from getting swept.
Can the Yankees Stage a Comeback?
The big question for Game 4: Is this really going to be a sweep? While the oddsmakers favored the Dodgers in this series, it was by a slight margin, and evaluators saw it as close to a coin flip. Three games in, the Dodgers have so thoroughly shut down Yankees hitters that crowning Los Angeles feels like an inevitability.
Entering this series, MLB teams took 3-0 series leads 40 times. Thirty-one of them ended in sweeps. The Yankees can only hope Luis Gil shows up and pitches better than Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt did in Games 2 and 3. And even then, considering how New York's offense has performed this series, the prospect of Los Angeles going with an all-bullpen game on Tuesday doesn't seem all that disadvantageous.
The only baseball team ever to come back from down 3-0 in a best-of-seven series is the 2004 Boston Red Sox -- against the Yankees. New York needs a miracle at this point. The way they're playing, it's difficult to envision what that looks like.
The Future is Uncertain
By this time next week, the MLB offseason will be underway. The World Series will conclude on Saturday at the latest, and free agency begins the day after a champion is crowned. Five days after the World Series ends, those free agents can officially put pen to paper and ink their contracts.
Which means exciting days are ahead for the San Francisco Giants, and they’re almost here. But first we have to get through the 2024 World Series.
It didn’t get off to a good start. The hated Los Angeles Dodgers took Game 1 on Friday in come-from-behind fashion, winning on a 10th-inning walk-off grand slam by Freddie Freeman. It was one of the greatest moment in World Series history, and it was accomplished by a team you despise. All you can hope for now is that it becomes one of those funny “this would be the greatest moment in franchise history, except they ultimately lost the World Series” footnotes.
The Dodgers also won Game 2, which means the New York Yankees now need to win four of the next five games. Try not to think about that too much. Instead, try to think about how the Yankees have Aaron Judge and Juan Soto and gee, those guys must really give you an advantage when it comes to winning baseball games.
The next three games are in the Bronx, and they’re all at 5:08 p.m. PT, on FOX. Monday pits the Dodgers’ Walker Buehler against the Yankees Clarke Schmidt, while Tuesday is LA’s TBD (likely a bullpen game) against NY’s Luis Gil.
Please win, Yankees. Beat LA.
