How close to down 0-3 in a seven-game series is an AL-worst 32-46 record through 78 games with the majors’ fewest runs, an interim manager, and the most vociferous fan base in the sport in hate with your roster, head of baseball operations and owner?

That is the Red Sox squad the Yankees were set to face in a four-game series at Fenway Park beginning June 25. Had the Yankees won even a single game, much less split, would they have left Boston in the 2026 scrapheap heading toward being trade deadline sellers?

Instead, in a 2004 ALCS redux, the Red Sox won four straight to defibrillate their season. That launched them toward a 32-5 stretch through Friday — the best 37-game span in a team history dating to 1901.

Blowing that three-games-to-zero lead was arguably the worst period in Yankees history and certainly is within The Rivalry. The best was surging from 14 games down on July 19, 1978, to win the AL East in a one-game, Bucky “Bleeping” Dent playoff at Fenway.