NEW YORK − Start spreading the news, this World Series is over.
The Los Angeles Dodgers once again cruised past the New York Yankees, 4-2, on Monday night in front of a subdued crowd at Yankee Stadium, and can finish off a four-game sweep with a victory Tuesday night.
The Dodgers have a 3-games-to-0 lead in the World Series, with one baseball team in postseason history who has ever overcome a 3-0 deficit.
And the Yankees aren’t the ’04 Boston Red Sox.
Not even close.
Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.
The Dodgers know this, and besides ordering champagne, have already tentatively scheduled a parade in downtown Los Angeles on Friday.
The Yankee have been outmatched in virtually every facet of the game, with Freddie Freeman looking like Reggie Jackson and Aaron Judge looking like George Costanza at the plate.
Freeman homered once again, a two-run shot in the first inning, tying a World Series record by homering in five consecutive games, while Judge’s postseason struggles continue.
Freeman is hitting .333 (4-for-12) with three homers and seven RBI, while Judge is hitting .083 (1-for-12) with seven strikeouts.
Judge’s struggles, according to several scouts, can be attributed to being drilled in the ribcage in Game 5 of the ALCS by a 96-mph fastball by Cleveland Guardians starter Tanner Bibee.
Judge hasn’t been the same since, going 1-for-16 with nine strikeouts, and a mere single. It’s almost as if Judge is so conscious of the fastball now that he struggles to even make contact on off-speed pitches. Certainly, the hit-by-pitch has triggered bad mechanics. They haven’t seen him even trying to hit the ball the opposite way to right field, showing how out of whack he is at the plate.
Really, the Yankees entire team is out of synch, with the Dodgers barely breaking a sweat.
The Dodgers don’t need heroics, or even a hit out of Shohei Ohtani to win this series. He wore a sling during the pregame introductions, ran gingerly with his partially dislocated left shoulder, didn’t get a hit, but it hasn’t mattered in the least.
The only real drama was whether Ohtani would even be in the lineup after suffering a subluxation in the seventh inning in Game 2, but he made it a complete non-issue, telling the Dodgers he was playing before they even boarded the flight to New York.
“He was very adamant that he was going to play,’’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think there was more uncertainty in all of our minds, but in his mind from day one, from Saturday evening, he was going to play. …
“Not that there was ever any doubt that he was going to post, but he’s a competitor, he wasn’t going to not be in there.’’
Yet, even if Ohtani could swing one-handed, just his presence alone, Roberts said, can play a factor.
“I think it’s certainly an edge to us having him in the batter’s box,’’ Roberts said. “Regardless of what limitations a pitcher might think he might or might not have, not many guys are willing to take that chance. I’m just expecting him to control the strike zone, let the at-bats come to him, and swing and fire when the ball is in a hitting zone.
“We’re just very grateful that he’s in the lineup.’’
If Ohtani needs any inspiration, he needs to look no further than Freeman.
Freeman severely sprained his right ankle on Sept 26, an injury that doctors told him would take six weeks to fully heal. Freeman, undaunted, came in for treatment 4 ½ hours before each day, and has turned into the most feared hitter in the postseason.
Freeman, who hit the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history in Game 1, hit a home run in the third inning of Game 2, didn’t waste time thus night, homering on the fourth pitch he saw, drilling Clarke Schmidt’s 93-mph fastball into the right-field bleachers.
“He looks pretty close to normal,’’ Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. “It’s been pretty special. You’re talking about a six-week injury that he came back from in essentially four or five days.
“He obviously wasn’t himself (early in the postseason), but when you’re talking about a name like Freddie Freeman in the lineup, that does a lot. Just having certain guys in the lineup does a lot because the other team doesn’t ever know how a certain guy is feeling.
“For example, you might try to have a lefty come in and face him, and he hits a grand slam.’’
Ah, nothing like a little shade, with Muncy referring to Freeman’s slam off left-hander Nestor Cortes.
The Yankees’ biggest advantage this series was supposed to be the starting rotation, but they’ve yet to out-pitch the Dodgers in any of the three games. While Schmidt lasted just 2 ⅔ innings this night, Walker Buehler, who hasn’t pitched in 12 days, pitched five shutout innings, giving up just two hits.
The Yankees are getting out-pitched, out-hit, out-played, out-managed, and even out-performed in pre-game ceremonies with Ice Cube easily out-singing Fat Joe in a battle of rappers.
It has been a complete team effort that has methodically dismantled the Yankees, bringing back memories of Roberts’ team speech back in spring training at Camelback Ranch in Phoenix.
“I believe his exact words are ‘you need to want to be the guy,’’’ Muncy said. “That’s why we’re all here. We all want to be in this situation. We all want to be the guy in that moment. …
“That’s definitely something that sticks out to you when your manager calls you out like that in spring training saying, ‘Hey, you guys all need to want to be the guy in that situation. You can’t leave it up to someone else.’
“It’s proven true already how many guys have come through in big moments for us.’’
Now, one more game, one more victory, one more hero, and the Dodgers can get ready to party like it’s 1988.
Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
