The frenetic pace of a five-game Division Series can be either a blessing or a curse — depending on the eye of the beholder. A team can either move on quickly or find itself backed into a corner before really having a chance to settle in.
It’s something the Cubs, Phillies and Yankees can keep in mind as they look to rally back from an 0-2 hole in the LDS. The Bronx Bombers were actually the last team to pull off such a comeback — back in 2017, New York won three straight after dropping the first two games of the ALDS against Cleveland.
Below, you’ll find all 10 teams that bucked the odds and rallied from a two-games-to-none deficit to prevail in a five-game postseason series. (Of those 10 comeback teams, six completed the feat at home in Game 5, while four did so on the road.)
Note: MLB’s current format for five-game Division Series is a 2-2-1, with one team hosting Games 1, 2 and 5 and the other hosting the middle two contests. But that has not always been the case; the Division Series used a 2-3 format from 1995-97, and also in 2012. The League Championship Series used a 2-3 format before expanding to a best-of-seven game series in 1985. (The 2020 LDS did use the 2-2-1 format to determine who was designated as the home team, although all games were played at neutral sites).
2017 ALDS, Yankees over Cleveland
2-2-1 format; CLE had home-field advantage
Cleveland was fresh off a record 22-game win streak in September and seemed poised to keep rolling when Trevor Bauer dominated the Yankees in Game 1 and clutch homers by Francisco Lindor and Jay Bruce spearheaded a five-run comeback in Game 2. But New York stormed back in the Bronx behind strong outings from Masahiro Tanaka and Luis Severino, with the offense figuring out Bauer in Game 4. Didi Gregorius homered twice off American League Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber in Game 5, and the