If there’s anyone who knows how to erase a 3-0 deficit in a league championship series, he’s sitting in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ dugout wearing the No. 30 on his back.
That’s right: Dave Roberts has been in this position before and emerged on top. As an outfielder for the Boston Red Sox in 2004, Roberts helped author four straight wins to overcome the New York Yankees’ 3-0 series lead, the only time an MLB team has completed such a feat.
In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 4, with the Red Sox trailing 4-3, Roberts pinch ran for Kevin Millar. Legendary Yankees’ closer Mariano Rivera held Roberts on first with multiple pick-off moves before throwing his first pitch to Bill Mueller. When Rivera finally motioned toward home plate, Roberts took off, barely beating the throw from Jorge Posada.
Roberts clapped his hands as the Fenway Park crowd erupted. Two pitches later, Mueller singled up the middle and Roberts scored to tie the game. Game 4 ultimately went into extra innings, extending into the 12th inning before David “Big Papi” Ortiz hit a walk-off home run.
The Red Sox rattled off wins in the next eight games to beat the Yankees and then sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. Twenty-two years later, Roberts is taking from that experience to help his Dodgers as they face a 3-0 deficit to the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS.
(Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
Roberts is applying lessons then-Red Sox manager Terry Francona taught him. He’s encouraging his players to look within themselves and rely on their teammates.
“I think trying to create a sense of urgency — our backs are against the wall — but also a little levity and have fun,” Roberts told FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. “At the end of the day, the worst that can happen is you lose and might as well try something different and loosen up and just kind of leave it all out there and play. So I’m going to try to keep guys loose and have fun, and you’ll see that in the dugout.”
Oritz, who hit that crucial walk-off home run in 2004, showed confidence in his former Red Sox teammate.
“Do I have the permission from you guys to say it?” Ortiz joked with Jeter and Rodriguez.
“First of all, [the Dodgers] have the right guy at the right moment as their manager, who is my brother Dave Roberts,” Ortiz continued. “He said something very important: ‘I’m going to try to keep them loose.’ He learned that from Tito, seeing him in that situation, because at the end of the day, the world is right here; there’s no room to go back; everything has to be moving forward.”
(Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
On the other side of this 3-0 deficit are the dominant Brewers, who have been better than the Dodgers on the mound and at the plate. Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter were in that position, on the Yankees, in 2004. They know how it feels to go up against a team with nothing to lose.
“The pressure is on the Brewers now,” Rodriguez said. “And for the Dodgers, I’m very interested to see how they react to unfamiliar territory where they’re going to be underdogs for the rest of this series. I want to see who shows up — the team that showed up the last three games, or the two-time champion that refused to lose.”
For the Dodgers to complete this almost-impossible feat, they can’t start looking ahead — although Millar famously showed confidence in the Red Sox comeback because of their potential starters for future games — they have to focus on stringing at-bats and outs.
“They have to win every single inning,” Jeter said. “You never think about winning three games in a row, or four games in a row. It’s just one day.”
That starts Thursday. Tyler Glasnow will be on the mound for the Dodgers, but basically every arm should be available in a do-or-die game. Shane Drohan will start for the Brewers in what manager Pat Murphy expects to be a “bullpen game.” Roberts moved Shohei Ohtani around again from sixth in order to lead off because he “loved his at-bats yesterday.”
Apart from startegy and adjustment, Roberts can remind his team from his own experience that they can comeback.
In fact, Ortiz shared how he’d galvanize the Dodgers if he were in Roberts’ shoes.
“Guys, this is the biggest test that this organization has ever has to deal with,” he said, mimicking a pre-game speech. “We have never been 0-3. Now, we have the talent… There’s no more time to waste.
“Everyone’s expecting us to go home. The time is now. We gonna do it. Let’s go people. Let’s get it done. That’s why we are the Los Angeles Dodgers. Back-to-back champs. Let’s go for the 3-peat.”