CNN
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are on the cusp of an eighth World Series championship in franchise history and have a chance to finish it off in dominant fashion.

A 4-2 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 3, featuring an impressive performance from pitcher Walker Buehler and a record-breaking performance from Freddie Freeman, gave the Dodgers a 3-0 series lead, putting them one game away from the first sweep. in the Fall Classic since 2012, when the San Francisco Giants defeated the Detroit Tigers 4-0.

Per MLB, LA has only one best-of-seven sweep to its name, but it could bode well for the team: that came in 1968 against none other than the Yankees.

While most of the focus will be on whether LA can close things out in as few games as possible and the health of superstar Shohei Ohtani, New York will be looking to take the first step in what would be a spectacular comeback.

The two teams will meet in Game 4 at Yankee Stadium in New York, with first pitch taking place at 8:08 PM ET.

The matchup – along with any further games, if necessary – will be broadcast on Fox in the US.

The Dodgers are looking for their first title since 2020, when they defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in six games after a regular season was shortened by more than 100 games due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Their last full-season World Series championship was in 1988.

The National League champions now have the chance to secure victory on enemy territory. The rivalry between the two teams dates back to the Dodgers’ time in New York as the Brooklyn Dodgers in the first half of the 20th century.

LA took Game 3 despite an injury to design hitter Ohtani. The Japanese superstar suffered a shoulder injury in Game 2, and there was speculation that he could be forced out.

Ohtani – who made his postseason debut this year after six seasons with crosstown rivals the Los Angeles Angels – suited up for Game 3 but appeared visibly hampered by the injury. He appeared to wince in pain during multiple swings and held his jersey while on the basepaths in an apparent attempt to limit how much his shoulder moved.

He went hitless during the game, but reached base twice on a walk and a hit by a pitch. He scored on Freeman’s first-inning home run – the fifth straight home run in a World Series game for LA’s first baseman.

Ohtani said after the match that he recorded himself before the match and felt “different.” He admitted to reporters that he is currently unsure whether he will need surgery to correct the shoulder problem.

“I have not had any further discussions about the future plan,” he said through his interpreter Will Ireton, according to the team. “I think it’s something that’s going to happen after the season is over, do additional testing. But given how I feel right now, I don’t think so.”

LA will continue to look to players like Freeman to push them over the line in the series. The 35-year-old was on fire in the first three games, delivering a walk-off grand slam for the victory in Game 1.

“I couldn’t ask for a better start in these three games,” Freeman said after Game 3. “But we still have one more to go.

“I think I see the ball very well. Hopefully we can keep him going. We still have one.”

The task facing the Yankees is historically nearly insurmountable.

Teams that have gone 3-0 in the postseason have gone on to win the series 39 out of 40 times, with the only reversal coming in the 2004 American League Championship Series (ALCS), when the Boston Red Sox erased the deficit and defeated the Yankees. 4-3. The Red Sox won the World Series that year.

Only one other team has even been able to force a decisive game out of this situation – the Houston Astros tied the 2020 ALCS at 3-3 before losing Game 7 to the Rays – and no team has come close to accomplishing this performance in the World Series.

Obviously, this doesn’t bode well for New York, which is headed for a humbling defeat against one of its biggest rivals.

Despite having their backs firmly against the wall, the Yankees players and staff are focused on staging a comeback that would make history.

“We’ll try to arrange a match tomorrow, okay?” said manager Aaron Boone after Game 3. “That’s where our focus is. Hopefully we can tell this amazing story and shock the world. But right now it’s about trying to get a lead, take a game and force another one, and go from there. But we have to get one first.”

“No one said this would be easy,” added outfielder Alex Verdugo. “We understood what was expected of us and how difficult this would be. We just have to stick together and block out that noise.

“I know how good this team is, and if that team wins three in a row, why can’t we win three in a row?”