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NEW YORK – The Los Angeles Dodgers are nine innings away from a fourth and final champagne party – and the eighth World Series championship in franchise history.

They lead the New York Yankees 3-0 in Game 4 on Tuesday night, a lead that has proven insurmountable over the 120 years of the Fall Classic. In fact, 21 of 24 teams that took a 3-0 lead have finished the game with a sweep, most recently the 2012 San Francisco Giants.

The question is how proud the Yankees are.

They were hitless in the first three games, scoring just seven runs, and were shut out for the first 8 ⅔ innings of Game 3 before a two-run home run by Alex Verdugo gave way to a 4-2 loss. In Game 4, they face a Dodgers bullpen with reliable rookie Luis Gil.

That approach ended the Dodgers' last streak, a six-game sweep of the New York Mets in the NL Championship Series. When the Dodgers' pitching gets back on track, they'll leave a champagne-soaked carpet in the Bronx and pack a shiny, flag-adorned trophy for the trip home.

– Gabe Lacques

Follow us for live updates from Game 4 on Tuesday:

NEW YORK – If a bullpen game is anything like a house of cards, it finally collapsed in the third inning of World Series Game 4.

And Anthony Volpe brought the New York Yankees back to life.

Reliever Daniel Hudson loaded the bases on a walk, hit a batter and singled, and nearly escaped. But Volpe punished him by smashing a first-pitch slider 390 feet to left field for a grand slam and a 5-2 Yankees lead.

It's New York's first lead since the 10th inning of Game 1, and it came just as the Dodgers entered the danger zone of their bullpen. Starter Ben Casparius handed the 2-1 lead to Hudson, who in turn passed it on to the longer man, Landon Knack.

But Hudson was wild, dropping Aaron Judge and nearly hitting Giancarlo Stanton before leading him on. Anthony Rizzo came up short, but Volpe made sure they didn't strand the bases loaded, giving them a powerful hit that could very well lead to Game 5 on Wednesday.

As Volpe walked back to his seat, the sold-out crowd chanted his name until he acknowledged their greeting.

Alex Verdugo and the New York Yankees cut the lead in half with a fielder's choice in the bottom of the second of Game 4 of the World Series. And Los Angeles Dodgers rookie starter Ben Casparius did exactly what was expected of him: He kept the game close and let the bullpen take the lead. Daniel Hudson takes the mound for the Dodgers in the third inning.

NEW YORK – No matter how expensive World Series tickets are, it doesn't give fans the right to encroach on the field.

Also not taking the ball away from Mookie Betts.

Two New York Yankees fans were escorted from their seats along the right field line after one of them was charged with fan interference for a foul pop fly off the bat of New York Yankees leadoff batter Gleyber Torres in Game 4 of the World Series was called on Tuesday evening.

Right field umpire Mark Carlson immediately signaled fan interference. But that wasn't the end.

A fan sitting next to the one who called for the interference tried to pull the ball out of Betts' glove with a sheepish grin on his face. The other fan seemed to complain that the ball was inside the seating area, making it a fair game.

He neither got a baseball nor won the argument. They were quickly escorted from their seats by stadium security.

NEW YORK – Freddie Freeman isn't single-handedly leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to the World Series title. But that's as close as you can get.

Freeman hit a home run for the fourth straight time on Tuesday and hit a two-run home run in the first inning for the second straight time to quiet the Yankee Stadium crowd before it could even calm down.

This time it was a 343-foot rocket into the right field off right-hander Luis Gil's slider, one strike after Mookie Betts' double, and it gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.

It was also the record-breaking sixth consecutive World Series game in which Freeman scored, dating to the 2021 World Series with Atlanta.

Now the Dodgers are actually just 27 outs away from a championship.

Five-time World Series champion Paul O'Neill threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 4. But the former All-Star outfielder airmailed former Yankees pitcher AJ Burnett behind the plate.

He asked for a repeat.

The second bounced to Burnett.

Play ball!

The Yankees are in a big hole, losing the World Series to the Dodgers by three games to zero.

Only one team has ever managed a comeback from a three-games-to-nil deficit in a best-of-seven playoff series – the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 American League Championship Series against the Yankees. And yes, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had a huge stolen base for the Red Sox in the ninth inning of Game 4 that changed the course of history.

But don't ask him for advice.

“Don’t talk about it,” Roberts said after the Dodgers’ 4-0 win in Game 3. “Wrong guy. Way too soon.”

In World Series history prior to this season, 24 teams have won three games to nil, and 21 of them finished with a win in Game 4. The last team to force a Game 5 was when they finished 0 in the World Series The Cincinnati Reds were :3 behind in 1970 against the Baltimore Orioles.

What time is the World Series game tonight?

The first pitch is planned 8:08 p.m. ET on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.

  • Location: Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York
  • Date: Tuesday, October 29th
  • Time: 8:08 p.m. ET

Tonight on the World Series television network

  1. Shohei Ohtani (left) DH
  2. Mookie Betts (R) RF
  3. Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
  4. Teoscar Hernández (R) LF
  5. Max Muncy (L) 3B
  6. Enrique Hernández (R) CF
  7. Gavin Lux (L) 2B
  8. Will Smith (R) C
  9. Tommy Edman (S) SS
  1. Gleyber Torres (R) 2B
  2. Juan Soto (left) RF
  3. Aaron Judge (R) CF
  4. Jazz Chisholm Jr. (L) 3B
  5. Giancarlo Stanton (R) DH
  6. Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B
  7. Anthony Volpe (R) SS
  8. Austin Wells (left) C
  9. Alex Verdugo (L) LF

NEW YORK – They're playing a baseball game between the lines, but staging an assault on the senses between every pitch, every inning and every sustained pause in the action of this World Series.

From celebrity pleas for more noise from Ken Jeong in Los Angeles to Flavor Flav in the Bronx to blaring sirens and pounding organs, Yankee Stadium and its Dodger counterpart are turning the volume up to 11, ostensibly to engage the masses and fill the gaps a game that can offer many of these.

But on Monday night, in Game 3 of the World Series, the Yankees' continued futility triggered another, very different aural sensation: silence.

After a 15-year wait, the World Series baseball game returned to Yankee Stadium, and 49,368 fans packed the ballpark, eager for an electrifying moment that led to an average price of nearly $2,000 on the resale market.

But the Yankees once again proved unable to provide juice on their own, their high-priced lineup was reduced to a series of hits and misses – and now this World Series is about to end almost as quickly as it began.

– Gabe Lacques

NEW YORK – Freddie Freeman, who requires nearly five hours of treatment each day for his severely sprained ankle, may not have the luxury of ice when he arrives Tuesday night for Game 4 of the World Series. The Dodgers will need all that ice to ensure they keep the hundreds of bottles of champagne and cans of beer cool for the raucous celebration they are planning.

The Dodgers are poised to clinch the World Series title after defeating the New York Yankees again, 4-2, on Monday in front of a subdued crowd at Yankee Stadium. A sweep gives them more time to prepare for their first World Series parade since 1988. “We want that parade,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We never had the opportunity to celebrate with the city of Los Angeles. That’s an incentive.” .

“But beyond that you have the opportunity to become world champion. So, we're right there. That’s more than enough incentive and motivation.”

Freeman doesn't need motivation. What he does now, night after night, homer after homer on baseball's biggest stage, cements a legacy that may never be forgotten in Dodgers history.

– Bob Nightengale

NEW YORK – Aaron Boone has tinkered with his lineup a bit, but probably not in the way Yankees Universe envisioned.

Ahead of a potential World Series 4 elimination game against the Dodgers on Tuesday night, Yankees manager ousted Giancarlo Stanton.

Stanton is in fifth place, while left-hander Jazz Chisholm Jr. moved to No. 4 after the struggling Aaron Judge – just 1 of 12 in the series, with a single and seven strikeouts. Left-hander Austin Wells is back in the catching lineup in place of Jose Trevino as the Dodgers plan a bullpen game to clinch the World Series at Yankee Stadium.

“I wanted to do it (in Game 3),” Boone said of moving Stanton down one spot. “But since (Game 4) is a bullpen day, I just wanted to create as much balance as possible. And that’s more in line with the lineup I had all year,” Boone said. “We live with what brought us here.”

As for other lineup changes, Boone said he thought about moving Judge to the leadership spot, “but then I move Gleyber (Torres) out of there (and he's been our catalyst all postseason).

“At the end of the day, it’s Aaron Judge, and I trust his greatness will shine through,” No. 3 Boone said.

– Pete Caldera, NorthJersey.com

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