Aaron Judge only player left from 2017 Yankees, who came back from 0-2 deficit
The task ahead of the Yankees is daunting, to say the least. Toronto has a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five AL Division Series after winning the first two games at home by a combined score of 23-8.
MLB teams that have gone up 2-0 in a best-of-five have advanced 80 of 90 times. Teams that won the first two ALDS games at home have won the series 31 of 34 times.
The last team that didn’t win a five-game series after winning the first two was Cleveland in the 2017 ALDS. The team that came back from 0-2 down was the Yankees.
Aaron Judge is the only player left from that squad, which lost the first two games in Cleveland (Game 2 was a devastating 9-8, 13-inning defeat), then won two games in the Bronx before taking Game 5 in Cleveland.
How did they do it?
“It was one of those things — it wasn’t easy,” YES Network analyst Todd Frazier, a Yankee in 2017 after a midseason trade from the White Sox, told Newsday on Monday evening in a telephone interview. “We know that. It was kind of what we felt it we could get that first win in Game 3, any way, anyhow, we had an opportunity.”
The Yankees went into Game 3 in 2017 with Masahiro Tanaka, Luis Severino and CC Sabathia lined up for the final three.
In Game 3 at Yankee Stadium, Tanaka pitched seven shutout innings, but Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco and reliever Andrew Miller combined for six shutout innings of their own.
In the bottom of the seventh, lefthanded-hitting Greg Bird homered off a tough lefthander in Miller for the only run of the game. David Robertson and Aroldis Chapman (12 ⁄3 innings) combined for the final six outs of the Yankees’ 1-0 victory.
The Yankees were still alive.
“Greg Bird hit that home run in the seventh inning to go up 1-0,” Frazier said. “I had a perfect view of it. I was the on-deck batter. And we ended up winning that game and took care of business Game 4.”
In Game 4, the Yankees pounced on Cleveland starter Trevor Bauer with four runs in the second inning and cruised to a 7-3 victory behind seven strong innings from Severino, who allowed three runs.
The Yankees were even. Next up: Game 5 in Cleveland with Sabathia against Corey Kluber.
“We said to ourselves, with CC on the mound, we always had an opportunity with our veteran and [future] Hall of Famer,” Frazier said. “It worked out really well.”
Again, the Yankees made it easier on their starter by scoring one run in the first and two in the third for a 3-0 lead. Didi Gregorius homered in both innings.
But Cleveland knocked out Sabathia in a two-run fifth. The game stayed 3-2 until the ninth, when Brett Gardner hit an RBI single. An error on the play brought home Frazier, who had walked, and the Yankees had a 5-2 lead.
That would be the final score as Robertson threw 2 2⁄3 innings for the win and Chapman pitched the final two innings for the save.
The Yankees also came back from 0-2 down in the 2001 ALDS against Oakland. That series included Derek Jeter’s famous “flip”’ play in Game 3.
So coming back from 0-2 down has happened before. It just doesn’t happen often, although Frazier had it happen to him one other time.
Frazier was on the Reds in 2012 when they lost a 2-0 lead to the Giants in the NLDS. Making matters worse was that Cincinnati won the first two games on the road and lost the final three at home (that was the format that season).
“I’ve been on the end of both of it,” Frazier said. “It seemed like [the Giants] had the momentum after they won that third game because it puts the pressure back on the other team knowing, shoot, if we lose Game 4, we’re in some trouble just because of the momentum swing.”
Judge was a rookie in 2017 (he went on to be named AL Rookie of the Year). After Game 2 on Sunday in Toronto, the now-Yankees captain expressed confidence in his squad, saying, “We’ve been here before.”
Judge has been. Almost exactly here. It’s not where he or the Yankees want to be. But Frazier said Judge didn’t panic in 2017 and won’t panic this time.
“He was a quiet leader,” Frazier said. “He went about his business the right way. Nothing shook him.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
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