How many teams have come back from 0-2? Guardians face daunting Division Series history

A pair of ALDS Game 2s on Monday night has put a pair of World Series hopefuls with their backs against the wall. The Cleveland Guardians now must head to Chicago down 0-2 in their ALDS against the White Sox after their bats went cold yet again. The New York Yankees, meanwhile, authored yet another historically awful defensive performance in a postseason game, handing a 2-0 lead to the Tampa Bay Rays on a platter.

Both teams have no more margin for error: Win three games in a row, or head home for the winter. Such a task is obviously far easier said than done, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. In fact, we’ve seen several teams rally from a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-five series to survive and advance, and some have even won the World Series. Here’s what you need to know.

How often do MLB teams come back from a 2-0 deficit in the League Division Series?

Before going any further, we need to provide some additional context. Although Major League Baseball formally implemented the League Division Series ahead of the 1994 season, that wasn’t the first time the sport had a best-of-five Divisional Round. 

A players strike separated the 1981 season into two halves, so any team that won their division in the first half had a playoff spot locked up by the time regular-season games resumed on Aug. 10. Major League Baseball returned to the traditional best-of-five League Championship Series (more on that later) in 1982, and we didn’t officially see another LDS until 1995; another strike resulted in the 1994 postseason being canceled. 

With that history out of the way, let’s start with the American League:

*best-of-five ALCS

The good news is that this has happened eight times before. The bad news for the Guardians is that no American League team won the World Series after rallying from a 2-0 deficit in the ALDS. (The 2001 Yankees all won the pennant but lost in the Fall Classic.)

Now let’s turn our attention to the National League:

Unlike the American League, we’ve seen two teams — the 1981 Dodgers and 2012 Giants — win the World Series following their NLDS comebacks.

Which teams overcame a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-five League Championship Series?

Time for another history lesson! The League Championship Series operated on a best-of-five format from 1969 through 1984, and we saw multiple instances of a team coming back from a 2-0 deficit.

Neither of those teams went on to win the World Series. The Brewers fell short to the Cardinals in seven games, while the Padres lost to the Tigers in five games.

What the Yankees need to fix to recapture 2017 magic against the Rays

New York can at least try to take solace in the fact that they’re the last team to pull off this trick, erasing an 0-2 deficit against Cleveland in the 2017 ALDS. Jake Bird’s solo homer off of Andrew Miller broke a scoreless tie in Game 3, and from there, the Yankees busted out the big bats in Game 4 before toughing out a win on the road against Corey Kluber in Game 5.

Of course, that was nearly a decade ago, and beloved veterans like Masahiro Tanaka and Brett Gardner — not to mention Aaron Judge — aren’t walking through that door. Having Max Fried and Carlos Rodon on the mound for Games 3 and 4 will certainly help, but this lineup is all kinds of lost right now, and that’s before we even get to the fact that Aaron Boone’s team apparently can’t be trusted to field even routine balls cleanly.

If the Yankees don’t beat themselves, both in terms of defensive fundamentals and patience at the plate, they’re absolutely capable of ripping off three wins in a row. We’ll have to actually see them do those things to believe it, though.

Why the Guardians are still alive despite 0-2 ALDS deficit

Put simply: starting pitching. Cleveland can throw each of Parker Messick and Gavin Williams one more time in this series, with all hands on deck for Game 3 in Chicago with their season on the line. Of course, the White Sox built their lead by beating each of the Guardians’ aces, which doesn’t bode well. But Stephen Vogt’s team can feel competent that its pitching will at least keep it in every game for th rest of the way.

Can they score enough? That’s a different question entirely. It would help if big names like Jose Ramirez finally lived up to their billing, though so far Cleveland’s postseason offense in 2026 has looked a lot like previous versions (derogatory). Get some traffic on the bases, though, give your pitching a chance and see how Chicago responds to the pressure, and who knows?