Yankees believe returning home will improve their chances in the ALDS

Yankees Head Home Amid Challenges

The Yankees are returning home with a need to regroup. After a rough start in the ALDS, where they find themselves down 2-0, they hope to shake off the embarrassment of a significant loss and aim to continue their season beyond Game 3.

“We’re headed home, and they’re coming over to our place, so that’s a good thing,” Will Warren shared on Sunday night before their return. “We know what we need to do; we just have to take care of business at home.”

The team insists they’ve been preparing for moments like this all season long.

Throughout a challenging summer, they found ways to push through tough times, but now there’s little room for mistakes.

With their playoff hopes on the line, they needed to seize every game, especially with the Blue Jays in contention for the AL East. The Blue Jays managed to clinch the division by winning their last eight regular-season games, despite competition from the Orioles and White Sox.

Returning home comes after facing the Red Sox, where they were able to turn around a 1-0 deficit in last week’s Top 3 wildcard series.

However, defeating the Blue Jays is a different challenge altogether; the Yankees are facing a combined score of 23-8 from the first two games, the last of which saw them struggle against a tough opponent on the mound. Will those significant losses linger into Game 3? That remains to be seen.

“We’re human; we feel these things,” manager Aaron Boone remarked on Monday. “Losing hurts. Winning feels great. You try to take it all in, but then you must keep moving forward. That’s just how the regular season—and now the playoffs—works. You stay focused on the next pitch, the next game.”

The Yankees have a dismal record of 1-6 against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre this season, but have fared better at home, posting a 4-2 record at Yankee Stadium.

“Being at home definitely boosts my confidence a bit,” Cody Bellinger noted on Monday. “The reception we received in Toronto was something else, but getting back to Yankee Stadium with our fans is exciting. My postseason experience from the wild card series was amazing, and I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

Aaron Judge emphasized that the Yankees need to come out strong from the start, instead of falling behind as they did in the first two games.

In those early setbacks, the Rogers Centre roared, and the Blue Jays capitalized on their momentum.

Carlos Rodon is set to face the tough Blue Jays lineup, and the Yankees will need to score more runs than they have relied on thus far, especially against pitchers like Shane Bieber and Kevin Gausman.

Historically, teams that take a 2-0 lead in the Division Series have won 31 out of 34 times.

The one exception was the 2017 Yankees, who, after losing the first two games at Cleveland, managed to win three in a row. Judge, the only active player remaining from that roster, is leaning on that experience.