If the Yankees are going to come back to win the World Series, they will have to make history. 

But on Monday, they only inched closer to being history. 

Back home for The Bronx’s first World Series game in 15 years, one that Anthony Rizzo had called a “must-win game,” the Yankees turned in another dud, falling 4-2 to the Dodgers to go down 3-0 in the series in front of a sellout crowd of 49,368. 

Alex Verdugo’s two-run homer in the ninth inning spared the Yankees from being shut out, but it was one of only five hits on the night, putting their season on life support entering Tuesday’s Game 4. 

“All it takes is one,” Aaron Judge said after going 0-for-3 with a walk and falling to 6-for-43 with 20 strikeouts this postseason. “All it takes is one swing, one at-bat, one play and everything changes for us.” 

There have been 24 teams that have fallen behind 3-0 in the World Series and none of them have come back to win it. Of course, only one team in MLB history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in any best-of-seven playoff series, and it was the Red Sox against the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS. 

“They’re one win away, we’re four wins away,” Verdugo said. “Obviously you can do the math with that. It’s going to be tough. There’s no question about it, we got an uphill fight. But it’s going to start with [Tuesday].” 

The Yankees have not been swept in the World Series since the Reds beat them in 1976. 

The Dodgers struck immediately with Freddie Freeman’s two-run homer off Clarke Schmidt in the top of the first and it did not get much better from there as the crowd lost steam with little to cheer for over the course of a chilly night. 

The Yankees did not have a hit off Walker Buehler until the fourth inning, when Giancarlo Stanton roped a one-out double to left field. But with two outs, Stanton was thrown out at home trying to score from second on Anthony Volpe’s single. It took a perfect throw from left fielder Teoscar Hernandez, whose one-hopper landed in a spot that allowed catcher Will Smith to slap a quick tag on Stanton. 

“I thought G had a pretty good jump and move around third base,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Tough when you’re behind a few there, but a perfect throw is able to get him.” 

After the Yankees wasted Gerrit Cole’s six innings of one-run ball in Game 1, they have received two clunkers from their next two starters. Carlos Rodon gave up four runs in 3 ¹/₃ innings in Game 2 before Schmidt lasted just 2 ²/₃ innings while giving up three runs in Game 3. 

Schmidt started his night off by not making Shohei Ohtani and his subluxed left shoulder swing at all in his first plate appearance, walking him on four pitches. 

One out later, the red-hot Freeman turned on a cutter at the top of the zone and crushed it to right field for a two-run homer and the 2-0 lead. Freeman, who entered the series hobbled by a sprained ankle, has homered in all three games this series and in five straight World Series games (dating to 2021 with the Braves), tying an MLB record. 

The Dodgers tacked on insurance runs in the third and sixth innings, which proved to be the difference, moving to the brink of winning the World Series. 

“Obviously coming into the series, we thought we were even or better than them,” Nestor Cortes said. “It’s definitely devastating. Going down 3-0, statistically nobody else has come back from that. We know the odds are stacked against us, but this team is too resilient. … If there’s a team that can do it, it’ll be us.” 

“Hopefully we can go be this amazing story and shock the world,” Boone said. “But right now it’s about trying to get a lead, trying to grab a game, and force another one, and then on from there.”