NEW YORK (AP) — Regardless of Shohei Ohtani’s condition, Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees need to start hitting if they want to start mounting a comeback in this World Series.
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New York has scored five runs in 19 innings in two agonizing road losses against the Los Angeles Dodgers, hitting .143 with runners in scoring position (2-14), and leaving 17 runners on base in total.
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Perhaps a return home will unleash the overshadowed Judge and the rest of the Bronx Bombers when the best-of-seven series moves to the Big Apple, where the Yankees went 3-1 during the playoffs in the American League.
"We have been through several tough moments this year. So I think we've been there already," said Dominican Juan Soto. "We know how to take a couple of punches in the face and keep fighting and keep moving forward. We can go home and do our thing."
With a home run from Freddie Freeman in each game, the Dodgers have a 2-0 lead with the World Series returning to Yankee Stadium on Monday for the first time since November 4, 2009.
Hideki Matsui hit a home run and drove in six runs that night to secure the honors as the Most Valuable Player of the Series, with New York clinching their 27th championship in a 7-3 victory over Philadelphia.
This time, the Yankees aim to stage a comeback that at least sends the highly anticipated showdown back to Los Angeles for a potential sixth game.
"The Bronx is a special place. They have our backs. They inject us. They put pressure on the other teams," said first baseman Anthony Rizzo. "When that stadium is lit up, we feel it. We need to receive that energy when we go on Monday and get everything going."
Mookie Betts and the Dodgers are two wins away from their second World Series title in five years, and the eighth in the history of the franchise.
After a scare with an injury, it seems that Ohtani will be in the lineup for the third game. The superstar batter partially dislocated his left shoulder while sliding into second base when he was caught attempting to steal to end the seventh inning of the 4-2 victory on Saturday night in the second game of the series played at Dodger Stadium.
However, manager Dave Roberts indicated to ESPN in a text message that Ohtani passed the review and will play on Monday night.
"He is the best baseball player, and seeing him on the ground in pain, surely is not a good feeling," said his teammate Tommy Edman on Saturday night. "We trust that he will recover quickly."
Roberts and the Dodgers have scheduled a free daytime training session under the lights of Yankee Stadium - just as they did 12 days ago on the other side of the city at Citi Field before Game 3 of the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets.