After a crushing Game 1 loss and a missing opportunity to take advantage when the bases were loaded and no outs in the sixth, Aaron Judge said, “We’ve got to keep getting those opportunities and, you know, we’re gonna come through when we need to.” The Yankees captain was confident that their powerful offense and their ace, Max Fried, who was nearly untouchable heading into the playoffs with 19 wins, would carry them.

The Blue Jays shattered that belief in Game 2 with a 13-7 blowout. Toronto’s offense attacked Fried and threw him out of the game after just three innings and seven earned runs. They built a massive 12-0 lead before the Yankees even recorded their first hit. The promise of coming through transformed into a postseason nightmare that set the stage for a legendary rival to twist the knife.

On the FOX Sports postgame show, the Boston Red Sox icon David Ortiz watched the collapse beside his old rivals, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. And he made a sarcastic remark.

“They[Yankees] can bring Jesus back, and they’re still going to Cancun. It’s over. It’s a wrap.” After a few more comments, he continued with a smile, “The only chance the Yankees have is if you[Jeter], [Mariano Rivera], Andy [Pettitte], and AROD come back and play.”

The “Cancun” joke started in 1998 with NBA player Nick Van Exel of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Facing elimination, he broke a tense team huddle by saying, “1, 2, 3, Cancun!” instead of “1, 2, 3, Lakers!” That implied their season was over, and vacation was next. His teammate, Shaquille O’Neal, later made the phrase famous on Inside the NBA, where it became the official send-off for eliminated teams.

The irony of Ortiz’s comment is almost too perfect because he, of all people, knows that a series is never truly over.

Ortiz’s Red Sox were down 0-3 to these same New York Yankees in the 2004 ALCS. Everyone had written them off, but Big Papi led the single greatest comeback in sports history, hitting walk-off winners in two straight games and winning four straight games, and then became the hero who broke the “Curse of the Bambino.”

But is it really impossible for the Yankees to come back now?

History says no. In fact, ten teams in MLB history have come back from a 0-2 deficit to win a five-game series, and the Yankees themselves have done it multiple times.

They rallied against Cleveland in the 2017 ALDS and also did it against the Oakland A’s, a series famously remembered for Derek Jeter’s “flip play” in Game 3. And this team certainly hasn’t given up hope yet.

Despite the brutal losses, Manager Aaron Boone said, “Obviously, it feels like the world’s caving in around you, you lose two games like that in their building where it doesn’t go right. But all of a sudden, you go out there and win a ballgame on Tuesday, the needle can change.”

But belief alone can’t win a playoff series. The Yankees must find answers to the problems that have plagued them in Toronto.

The biggest story from Game 2 was a pitcher most fans hadn’t heard of. The Blue Jays’ rookie Trey Yesavage pitched 5.1 innings without giving up a single hit and set his team’s playoff record with 11 strikeouts in his postseason debut. Manager Aaron Boone admitted after the game, “We just didn’t have an answer for the split [from Yesavage].”

Now, the Yankees face a simple task: Win three straight games or go home. New York will send left-hander Carlos Rodon to the mound to save their season, and thankfully, the series shifts to Yankee Stadium for Game 3. The Yankees will expect a deep start from Rodon to rest their overworked bullpen, which they didn’t get in their first two games.

As Derek Jeter noted after Game 1, “For the Yankees to be successful, their starters need to go deep”.

It’s a tall order, but this team has already done that before. To even get to this series, the Yankees had to win a dramatic Wild Card series against the Boston Red Sox after losing Game 1 at home. They battled back to win two straight and advanced. That back-to-back win proved this team has resilience. Now, they’ll need every ounce of it to avoid a trip to Cancun.