New York Yankees: Yanks utterly embarrassed themselves, but history is on their side

The New York Yankees completely and utterly embarrassed themselves in Game 3 of the ALDS. But, as awful as things look, they are not out and history is on their side.

One of the most underrated aspects to the New York Yankees‘ rivalry with the Boston Red Sox is not the longevity of it or the infrequent violent side to it. Rather, the most interesting part to it is the comeback aspect to it.

Whether it be the infamous 2004 Red Sox or the 1978 Yankees comeback when they came back from down double-digit games back of the Red Sox to eventually beat them in a playoff and the World Series, comebacks are not often hard to come by.

The best part is, things could be even worse for the New York Yankees. Pretty astonishing to say considering the fact they just lost 16-1 and saw a backup catcher pitched actual pitches.

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The Yankees fans and players were promptly humbled by the Red Sox in their first home game of the Division Series. The Yankees also lost the home-field advantage they stole from the Red Sox in Game 2.

But, the Yankees are down from Game 3, but not the whole series. The Red Sox still need one more win to advance on and knock the Yankees out. They also have one more date in the House that Jeter built.

What is not helpful for the Yankees is the starting pitching. Only time will tell what C.C. Sabathia will do in Game 4. And only time will tell if the Yankees can get more than one run this time after dominating on offense all year.

But, what is ideal for the Yankees are a few things.

Remember the 1999 ALCS?

If not, that saw these two rivals square up against each other with a date to the World Series on the line.

Well in that series, the Yankees ended up winning it 4-1. The Red Sox only won one game in that series.

The catch is, however, in their one win that series, they scored 13 runs.  The only time the Red Sox scored more than that was this year’s Game 3.

But, the Red Sox lost the series that year, it was also the only time that a Sox-Yanks playoff series didn’t go the distance.

What also helps the Yankees, is the what happened the next time these two teams met up in the ALCS.

That time, it was 2003 and the Yankees and Red Sox went back and forth, much like this year, and the Yanks even came back from down 4-0 then 5-2 to win Game 7 and the pennant.

That game is likely one of the reasons Aaron Boone has his job, for he the iconic walk-off.

In addition to those comebacks and the previously mentioned 1978 comeback, the Red Sox have some of their own.

In 2004, the Red Sox came back in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS then won out to win the series in seven after trailing 3-0.

So, the point is to never read the writing on the wall whenever these two teams play, let alone in the playoffs.

This series is already wacky because they are playing in the ALDS, not the ALCS.

But, at the end of the day, never expect the expected. The Yankees never stood a chance during Game 3 so that was a predictable outcome, but other than that, there is no way of knowing what will happen next.

The Yankees, so far in this series, have a win in the bank. If they were going to drop an absolute stinker and send New York City into shock, it was this game.

Now, the Yankees still have a life. As the cliché goes, they are down but not out.

There are no excuses for what the Yankees did on Monday. It was a travesty from the bottom up. Poor pitching, poor managing, no spark on offense, mediocre defense, and the wrong confident attitude.

But, these teams are still close to each other in many ways and the series is not wide-open, but still not decided.

So, as terrifying as Game 3 was and will always be, there will still be a Game 4. For as ugly as the Yankees looked in Game 3, Game 4 will be played on a different day.

There is no guarantee that the Yankees will win this series or even the next game.

What there is a guarantee of is us finding out if history repeats itself or finding out that the Red Sox are just an amazing team and the Yankees couldn’t win in spite of their flaws like the Sox could.

Either way, the series is not over and the Yankees have history on their side. Last time they suffered a loss this bad, they won the series.

Last time a team was facing an elimination game in this playoff rivalry, they ran the table and advanced.

So, no matter what happens in Game 4, or 5, or whatever, be open-minded. The Red Sox still need 27 outs to advance and both of these teams have historically come back from a lot worse.