Yanks look to ’96 for comeback inspiration: ‘It’s not over until it’s over’

LOS ANGELES — It was some 27 years ago that George Steinbrenner marched into the home clubhouse at Yankee Stadium, fretting over the previous night’s World Series loss, and informed his manager that the next nine innings constituted a “must-win game.”

Joe Torre did not flinch, telling an incredulous Boss that he thought they might lose that night, too.

Then in his first year as the Yankees’ skipper, Torre was doubtful of his team’s chances against the opposing ace, Greg Maddux, who would indeed deliver a splendid performance. But Torre declared to Steinbrenner that there was “nothing to worry about,” and that they could still recover from a 2-0 deficit to upset the favored Braves.

The 2024 Yankees now face a similar challenge, having absorbed a 4-2 loss to the Dodgers on Saturday evening in Game 2 of the World Series. They are down but not out, understanding the task ahead of them as the Fall Classic shifts venues to New York — temporarily, they hope, since any potential Yankees championship victory would now occur in Los Angeles.

“We’ve been going through a lot of tough moments throughout the year,” said Juan Soto, who homered and had two hits in Game 2. “We’ve been there. We know how it is, getting a couple of punches in the face. We just keep battling, keep going. That’s what tells you we can go home, do our thing and then come back here to try to win it.”

Those ’96 Yankees, like this year’s version, endured a 15-year wait to get back to the World Series — their most recent Fall Classic had been the 1981 loss to the Dodgers. When they went down 2-0 to Atlanta, the resurgence began with David Cone outdueling Tom Glavine in Game 3.

“Joe Torre always talked about, the biggest game is Game 3,” said Joe Girardi, the catcher on that club, on the YES Network. “It either puts you back in the series or you’re eliminated from the series, almost.”

Only 15 teams in 92 tries have won a best-of-seven postseason series in which they dropped the first two games — the 2001 Yankees were one club that could not recover, despite the dramatics of that October-into-November.

Said Anthony Rizzo: “The biggest thing is, we win that game Monday, the pressure goes to the other side and we’ll make this a series.”

That is the task ahead of Clarke Schmidt, who will be on the mound for his first career World Series start. The 28-year-old cannot match Cone’s experience at that time, but he arguably brims with just as much confidence and swagger.

“We have a lot of bulldogs on this team,” Schmidt said. “I would say, everybody in this clubhouse, we’ve been down at some point of our lives. We’ll just continue to keep fighting.”

And that could certainly happen. These Dodgers hardly have the starting pitching trifecta of Maddux, Glavine and John Smoltz (though Smoltz is in the park for television duties). Jack Flaherty and Yoshinobu Yamamoto have been excellent in the first two games, but the rest of Los Angeles’ pitching plans are murky.

There is also great uncertainty about Shohei Ohtani’s availability after sustaining a left shoulder subluxation, at least for Game 3 and potentially deeper into the Series.

Later in that ’96 Series, the Yankees punched back with timely hits (including Jim Leyritz’s game-tying homer in Game 4), brilliant pitching (Andy Pettitte in Game 5) and memorable defensive plays (Paul O’Neill slamming into the wall in Atlanta). That would all need to start in Game 3.

“It absolutely is a must-win,” Rizzo said. “You don’t go home if you don’t win Monday, but the odds are against you.”

Pointing to positives, Soto said the Yankees “were dominating” Game 1 before “one pitch literally just changed the thing,” referring to the walk-off grand slam Freddie Freeman hit off Nestor Cortes. Soto added that he was encouraged by the ninth inning of Game 2, in which the Yanks produced a run by making “really good contact. We took good at-bats after good at-bats.”

“This Series could easily be 2-0 us,” Stanton said. “That’s what happens when you’re an extremely good ballclub on the other side. It could go any way.”

One aspect potentially working in the Yanks’ favor, as compared to ’96, is that they now will have the home crowd on their side for the heart of the Series.

“They’ll bring the noise,” Stanton said. “They understand what’s at stake right now.”

But the Dodgers have played better on both sides of the ball, and that is a narrative the Yankees must correct when they take the field in the Bronx. Their season depends on it.

“It’s not over until it’s over,” Rizzo said, nearly channeling another great Yankee of the past. “This is a seven-game series. We’ve gone on a four-game winning streak plenty of times. We’ve gone 4-1 plenty of times. When it comes down to it, it’s just winning one ballgame.”