The Los Angeles Dodgers are staring at the kind of hole that has crushed nearly every team in postseason history, and the Boston Red Sox are part of the conversation whether they’re playing or not.
After the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Dodgers 6-2 in Game 3 of the NLCS on Wednesday night, Milwaukee moved within one win of the World Series. The Dodgers still have life, but the math is ugly. Only one club in big league history has ever dug out of a three-game playoff deficit: the 2004 Red Sox.
That matters here because Dodgers manager Dave Roberts lived that comeback from the inside. He appeared in 45 games for Boston during the 2004 regular season after being acquired ahead of the trade deadline for outfielder Henri Stanley. His most famous moment came on Oct. 17, 2004, in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees, when he entered as a pinch runner in the ninth inning with Boston on the brink and stole second base.
That steal changed everything. Bill Mueller followed by driving him in to tie the game at four, and the rest became part of Red Sox lore.
Now Roberts is on the other side of that kind of pressure, trying to keep the Dodgers alive in a series that has them one loss away from elimination. But he made it clear after Wednesday’s game that he does not plan to lean on that 2004 Red Sox team as a rallying point.
“I don't think so," Roberts said when asked about using the 2004 Red Sox as motivation. "I think that they have all seen the documentary. I think they know that it can happen."
The Dodgers are the kind of team that at least gives the idea a fighting chance. The talent is there on paper.
History, though, is a different beast. No other team has ever pulled off what Boston did in 2004, and until Los Angeles is eliminated, that Red Sox comeback will keep hovering over this series.
Game 4 brings the next chance to find out whether the Dodgers can turn that history into something more than a reminder.
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