The Yankees want to make history, inspired by the Red Sox's 2004 comeback

NEW YORK – The electronic board in the New York Yankees' clubhouse revealed their strategy in this World Series for everyone to see on Tuesday night.

“Win Tomorrow Fly Thursday.”

The Yankees plan to fly to Los Angeles after an 11-4 win over the Dodgers and stay alive in the World Series, with their players repeating the mantra made famous by Kevin Millar of the Boston Red Sox in 2004.

“Let’s not win tonight.”

It was the year the Red Sox became the first and only baseball team in postseason history to go down 3 games to 0, come back and win the series against the Yankees in the ALCS, leading to their first World Series title since 1918.

The documentary of this historic comeback has just been released on Netflix.

“I’d like to do another one,” grinned Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo.

Given their bitter history, who would have ever thought that the Yankees would use the Red Sox as inspiration and try to go where no World Series team has gone before?

“The one thing about us,” said Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm, “is that we love history. We love making history. So we’re trying to do something that’s never been done before.”

“I want my name in that history book.”

The first chapter was written with the Yankees finally looking like the Bronx Bombers, hitting three home runs with three different Dodger pitchers, surviving another historic home run from Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, and finally exuding confidence from their clubhouse in the process.

“I feel like we’re starting to get going,” Chisholm said. “We’re starting to swing the bats well. That's what we tried to do throughout the playoffs, but that wasn't the case. “It was like three or four people started and now the whole team is involved.”

The Yankees' offense was convincing in every respect: they hit three home runs, including Anthony Volpe's grand slam, stole five bases, hit three doubles and scored eleven runs. According to OptaSTATS, this is a feat no team has achieved since at least 1898.

“We know we're a really good team, and today is a reminder of why we've come this far and why we're in the World Series,” said Chisholm, who had a single, a walk and a stolen base. “We still laugh and say, 'We got this, bro.'

“It won’t be easy, but we’re made for this. … If anyone can do it, this is the team that can do it.”

There have been 25 teams in World Series history that have been down three games to 0. The teams were defeated 21 times. Three teams forced a Game 5. No team down 3-0 has ever forced a Game 6.

Now it's 3-1, with Rizzo being the last team to beat Cleveland in 2016 with the Chicago Cubs.

“We just reminded ourselves a lot that we won three games in a row this year,” Rizzo said. “So we can do it again. And that's what we did.''

The Yankees looked like they would sink again when Freeman silenced the sellout crowd before they could grab their popcorn by hitting a two-run home run off starter Luis Gil in the first inning. It was his fourth home run of the Series and the sixth consecutive World Series game he homered in since 2021, an all-time record.

But instead of becoming demoralized, the Yankees shrugged their shoulders.

“This has happened in every game,” Chisholm said. “So I don’t feel like it’s going to hurt us in any way. It's becoming routine for him, right? But at the same time, two runs is never a lot for us.

“This is a team that only needs two batters to get it done, and I feel like anyone can do it, one through nine.”

The guy who managed to revive the Yankees' season happened to be the 23-year-old kid who grew up a Yankee fan in New Jersey while idolizing Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter. He still has pictures of himself as an eight-year-old at the Yankees' 2009 World Series parade.

That night, he etched his name into Yankee folklore by becoming the first player to hit a grand slam while his team was facing elimination. He also joined Hall of Famer Eddie Collins in 1910 as the only players to have at least two extra base hits and two stolen bases in a World Series game.

The Yankees, who had been abysmal all series, going 4 of 23 with runners in scoring position, were trailing 2-1 when Volpe came to the plate with two outs in the third inning. Dodgers veteran Daniel Hudson started Volpe with an 89-mph slider. Volpe sent it to the seats in left midfield. The sold-out crowd absolutely erupted.

“It’s like you finally got to see the tip blow out of Yankee Stadium,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone, “in a World Series game.”

As fans danced in their seats, Chisholm jumped into the air, the Yankees hugged in the dugout and Volpe momentarily lost consciousness.

“I think I pretty much fainted when I saw it fly over the fence,” Volpe said. “I think everyone in the lineup had confidence that someone was going to make it big. “We had such good shots and could swing the ball so well that we felt like it was just a matter of time.”

When the game ended, with Volpe hitting a double, stealing two bases and making an impressive defensive play in the ninth inning, the sellout crowd of 49,354 stood on its feet chanting his name.

He was asked if this was one of the greatest experiences of his life.

“Number one,” he said. “Definitely number one.”

Really, Volpe says, the very idea of him even playing for the Yankees in a World Series at Yankee Stadium is almost unimaginable.

It still hasn't sunk in to him that he's living the same dream he's imagined every night of his life: not only becoming a World Series hero, but being joined by his idol Derek Jeter on the FOX set after the game interviewed.

“It’s pretty crazy to think about,” Volpe said. “It's my dream, but it was all my friends' dreams, all my cousins' dreams, probably my sister's dream too. But winning the World Series was by far the most important thing. “Nothing else compares.”

Volpe's home run was like an instant magic elixir that had the entire Yankee team exhaling. Before the Yankees knew it, everyone was recovering from their slump. MVP Aaron Judge, who hit .140 with 20 strikeouts this postseason, went 1-for-3 and reached base three times without a strikeout. Catcher Austin Wells, in a 4:43 loss, hit a double and a home run. Second baseman Gleyber Torres hit a three-run home run.

But the star of the show was Volpe, who took a Hollywood cue and turned a Yankee fan into a true Yankee hero with all his friends and family in the stands.

“I honestly can’t even imagine that,” Wells said. “Just his whole family, who are long-time Yankee fans again, he was in the 2009 parade, grew up a Yankees fan, is now a shortstop and hit a grand slam in the World in a must-win game Series has beaten.

“I mean, it doesn’t get any better than that. “That’s pretty cool.”

Now the Yankees hope to bring their newfound offense back to Los Angeles, with ace Gerrit Cole on the mound for Game 5 on Wednesday. He gave up just one run in six innings in Game 1 before Freeman hit his historic walkoff grand slam in the 10th inning^Th Inning. They will also have their closer, Luke Weaver, available as the Yankees were able to shut him out after the eighth inning when they scored five runs.

“For us to get Weaver out of the game and have him available,” Rizzo said, “hopefully there will be a big storyline.”

As far as the Yankees are concerned, they are now past the hardest part of their quest for history.

They won their first game.

“I heard Kevin Millar speak a lot,” Rizzo said. “We plan to take advantage of this momentum and take the flight to LA and it will be special.

“I can barely wait for it.”

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