Game 3 Takeaway: The Dodgers take a 3-0 World Series lead over the Yankees

Moving to Yankee Stadium for Game 3 of the 2024 World Series hasn't slowed down the Los Angeles Dodgers one bit.

Freddie Freeman homered for a third game in LA, and Walker Buehler and the Dodgers' bullpen combined to silence the New York Yankees' offense again.

How did the Dodgers push the Yankees to the brink of elimination, and what hope is there for the home team in Game 4? We've got everything covered, from game updates and analysis to what's next for each team after the final pitch.

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Takeaways

Los Angeles Dodgers 4, New York Yankees 2

Dodgers: The Yankees were supposed to have the starting pitching advantage in this series. The Dodgers completely destroyed it. Walker Buehler pitched five scoreless innings in Game 3 on Monday night — after Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed just one run in 6⅓ innings in Game 2 and Jack Flaherty allowed two runs in 5⅓ innings in Game 1. The trio combined for a 1.62 ERA, the lowest among a team's first three starters in a World Series since Cleveland in 2016.

Of the three, Bueller was perhaps the most uncertain. He returned from second Tommy John surgery midway through the year, struggled through a 5.38 ERA in 16 regular-season starts and appeared to have lost his overwhelming fastball.

But he found an effective curveball against the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series and finally got his lively fastball back on Monday night. The Dodgers are now one win away from their first championship in four years and their first full-season title since 1988. In the most critical of times, starting pitching has gone from the Dodgers' biggest uncertainty to their biggest strength. And their biggest concern, the overall health of first baseman and No. 3 hitter Freddie Freeman, doesn't appear to be one anymore. –Alden Gonzalez

Yankees: The Yankees face a 3-0 series deficit as their offense, led by their presumptive American League MVP, is missing. On Monday, New York produced four hits, five walks and boos from the home crowd. Giancarlo Stanton went 2-for-4; The rest of the team finished 3 for 27. Aaron Judge went 0-for-3 with a strikeout and a walk, running his streak to 1-for-12 with seven strikeouts. Stanton's double in the fourth inning Monday was New York's only extra-base hit. The Yankees went 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base. Their rally ended with a questionable send-off (Stanton throwing out home in the fourth inning) and a questionable strike three call (Gleyber Torres taking a pitch above the strike zone with two runners on in the seventh inning). It's certain: The Yankees, who have scored seven runs in the series, are in for another quiet night. — Jorge Castillo

The big question for Game 4: Is this really going to be a sweep? Although the oddsmakers favored the Dodgers in this series, it was by a small margin, and evaluators saw it as close to a coin flip. Through three games, the Dodgers have shut down Yankees hitters so thoroughly that the crown in Los Angeles seems like an inevitability.

Entering this series, MLB teams have taken a 3-0 series lead 40 times. Thirty-one of them ended in sweeps. The Yankees can only hope that Lewis Gill shows up and Carlos Rodon and Clark Schmidt pitch better than they did in Games 2 and 3. And yet, given how New York's offense has performed this series, the prospect of Los Angeles going with an all-bullpen heading into Tuesday's game doesn't seem all that dire.

The only baseball team to trail 3-0 in a best-of-seven series is the 2004 Boston Red Sox — against the Yankees. Right now New York needs a miracle. The way the Yankees are playing, it's hard to imagine what that looks like. –Jeff Passan

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