The New York Yankees entered Game 3 of their ALDS series against the Toronto Blue Jays on life support, and one of their oldest nemeses gave them absolutely no chance of pulling off an improbable comeback.
The Yankees returned to their home stadium on Tuesday night for Game 3 of the ALDS after the Blue Jays outscored them, 23-8, through the first two games in Toronto. Following New York's loss in Game 2, Ortiz told fellow Fox analyst and Baseball Hall of Famer Derek Jeter than the only way the Yankees can come back in the series is if Jeter and several other franchise legends rescue their former team.
Ortiz had not changed his stance one bit hours before the first pitch of Game 3 on Tuesday night. During the MLB on Fox pregame show, reporter Ken Rosenthal reminded Ortiz that his own Boston Red Sox were written off in 2004 before they came back from down 0-3 in the ALCS to beat the Yankees.
Big Papi said there are some big differences between his 2004 Red Sox and the 2025 Yankees.
"That will never happen again," Ortiz said. "Am I playing for the Yankees now? Do the Yankees have Manny (Ramirez)? Do the Yankees have (Curt) Schilling? ... Case closed."
“Am I playing for the Yankees now? Do the Yankees have Manny?” @davidortiz and @Ken_Rosenthal have some fun talking about if the Yankees can overcome their 2-0 deficit to the Blue Jays pic.twitter.com/iofDt4ax9M
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 7, 2025
Only 10 teams in MLB history have come back to win a five-game playoff series after losing the first two games. The 2017 Yankees were one of those teams, as they lost Game 1 and Game 2 to Cleveland on the road before winning three straight to take the series.
Ortiz is smart enough to know that it is possible for a team to come back from a 0-2 deficit, but he clearly has no faith in the Yankees after the way they played in the first two games against Toronto. New York has already used ace Max Fried in the series, and he gave up eight hits and seven earned runs in a 13-7 loss in Game 2.
Yankees pitchers have simply had no answers for Toronto's potent lineup, and Ortiz is not expecting that to change.
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