In Game 4 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday night, the New York Yankees will try to avoid being swept by the Houston Astros and keep their season going. (At least, if the weather is good.) The Yankees need to win four straight games to get to the World Series. Before Game 4, they are looking to the 2004 Boston Red Sox for inspiration, which might seem like an odd choice.
Mental skills coach Chad Bohling gave out highlight videos of the 2004 Red Sox on Sunday morning, manager Aaron Boone told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. During Boone’s time with the media in his office before the game, ESPN’s Eduardo Perez connected with David Ortiz, who was a key player in the 2004 Red Sox team, through on-board conferencing.
The Red Sox are the only team in the history of Major League Baseball to come back and win a best-of-seven series after being down 3-0. The team from Boston is New York’s biggest rival, and they made that comeback 18 years ago against the Yankees. This makes it funny (or awkward, depending on your point of view) that the Yankees are looking to them for motivation. In a way, these Yankees are taking heart from the failures of their spiritual ancestors.
In fact, the Yankees won the first three games of that ALCS by a total score of 32-16. The Red Sox then won games that went into extra innings (Game 4 had 12 innings and Game 5 had 14 innings) before tying the series with a 4-2 win in Game 6. The Boston franchise won Game 7 by a large margin, beating the Yankees 10-3 to have the championship.
Now, both the Yankees’ track record and the odds are against them making a similar run against the Astros. Again, it’s important to remember that the 2004 Red Sox is the exception. Only eight of the other 38 teams who fell behind 3-0 were able to win Game 4 and keep the series from being swept.
That’s all well and good, but the 2004 Red Sox had similar things said about them. Look no further than this story to see that strange things happen all the time. Maybe the Yankees will be the second team ever to come back from being down 3-0.
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