3-0 comebacks: Dave Roberts doesn't want history to repeat itself

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts will be forever remembered for helping the 2004 Red Sox come back from a three-games-to-none deficit against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, en route to the franchise’s first World Series title in 86 years. Roberts’ crucial steal against Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning of Game 4 changed the course of history, setting the stage for the first and only 3-0 postseason series comeback MLB has seen.

But with the Dodgers now on the other side of the coin against the Yankees in this year’s World Series, Boston’s unprecedented triumph 20 years ago is the last thing Roberts wants to think about.

“Don’t talk about that,” Roberts said after Game 3 on Monday when a reporter mentioned the Red Sox’s comeback. “Wrong guy. Way too early.”

After their 4-2 win in Game 3, the Dodgers will be going for the sweep on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. Los Angeles became the 41st team to go up three games to none in a best-of-seven postseason series. Of the previous 40 clubs to do it, 31 swept the series and five won in five games. Only four teams have pushed the series to a sixth game after falling behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven series, and two of those teams -- the 2004 Red Sox and the 2020 Astros -- forced a Game 7.

In World Series history, 24 teams prior to 2024 went up three games to none, and 21 of them completed the sweep with a win in Game 4. The last team to force a Game 5 when down 3-0 in the World Series was the Reds in 1970 against the Orioles.

In other words, things are looking pretty grim for the Yankees. However, Roberts knows all too well that the series isn’t over until it’s over.

“From the other side -- I don't want to divulge any secrets, but from the other side, I just think that we have got to stay focused, stay urgent,” Roberts said. “I think offensively, to be quite honest, we left a lot of runs out there tonight. Still found a way to win a ballgame.

“There's just got to be urgency. I just don't want to let these guys up for air.”

Still, Roberts doesn’t plan on providing his team with frequent reminders of what happened in 2004.

“No, I won't. I won't," Roberts said. "I think that they're very familiar with 20 years ago and what can happen. I mean, anything's possible. Our guys are very heady, very hungry for a championship, a parade. So nothing is going to get in the way of that, nothing.”