It’s come to this for the New York Yankees: Down 3-0 to the Houston Astros in the ALCS, they’ve turned to an old nemesis and one of the biggest disasters in team history for inspiration.
MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch reported Sunday that the Yankees have sent highlight videos of the 2004 ALCS to their players. That’s right, that’s the ALCS where the Yankees blew a 3-0 lead as their archrival Boston Red Sox won four straight.
That’s the only time in MLB postseason history a team has overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a series. That’s the almost impossible goal the Yankees hope to accomplish against the Astros. The two teams are scheduled to meet in Game 4 Sunday night, although the start time has been delayed by weather.
Chad Bohling, the Yankees’ mental skills coach, sent the highlights around to players. The team even set up a video chat with David Ortiz, star of that 2004 Red Sox team.
Aaron Boone said that Chad Bohling, the #Yankees’ mental skills coach, was sending around highlight videos of the 2004 Red Sox this morning. Eduardo Perez also FaceTimed David Ortiz into Boone’s office pregame.
— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) October 23, 2022
Many fans questioned this strategy.
“We’ve lost 4 straight in the ALCS before, we can do it again,” tweeted one fan.
“We’ve lost 4 straight in the ALCS before, we can do it again.”
— nelsazón (@SuperMcNelson) October 23, 2022
“Now if you watch carefully this is what happens when you let players grow beards and have long hair. They feel free to be themselves. And sometimes that means they win. So nobody shave tonight! And we’ll have wigs for everyone in the morning!” https://t.co/9Q2gSqgu82
— Shawn Donnan (@sdonnan) October 23, 2022
Bryan, it’s embarrassing someone in the clubhouse thought this was a good idea to make public. Unless it was a player trolling his bosses.
— Star (@j__star2) October 23, 2022
Absolutely disturbing… what motivation is it to remind us of the worst event in Yankees history.. maybe a good comparison to this years alcs as a mutual disappointment… #yankees
— DG (@DxGstunn) October 23, 2022
Backwards, alternate reality stuff.
— Adam Todd (@DigitalAdam20) October 23, 2022
They couldn’t use an NHL example? Even a NY team did it (Islanders in 1975).https://t.co/Dbt5dZsvyS
— DBA Saul Goodman, Esq. (@EsqDba) October 23, 2022
The Yankees should have considered sending some additional, more recent motivational highlights to their players. The Astros blew a 3-0 lead in the 2020 ALCS, allowing the Tampa Bay Rays to tie the series before Houston rallied to win Game 7.
