Walker Buehler pitches another crucial game for the Dodgers

The Dodgers find themselves in dire need of a win Friday, trailing 2-0 in the World Series to a really good Red Sox team. It goes without saying that Game 3 will be the next closest thing to a must-win game.

Going down 3-0 in a best-of-seven is near impossible to overcome. Certainly Dodger manager Dave Roberts understands how difficult it is, playing a part in Boston’s well-publicized defeat of the Yankees in 2004. That was the only time a team has come back to win under the circumstances.

“There was just a momentum and a feeling,” Roberts told media Thursday. “It just didn’t really matter who we were playing, where we were playing. We were just all kind of synced up.”

“Right now on the other side as far as manager and being down 2-0, I think tomorrow obviously is an important game. We’re at home to stop the momentum.”

Roberts will turn to Walker Buehler who is coming off a pressure-filled NLCS Game 7. Buehler came within one out of five brilliant innings Saturday in Milwaukee, striking out seven against no walks. A Christian Yelich solo homer was the only blemish.

The 24-year-old is not one to shy away from the spotlight and it couldn’t be brighter come Friday night. Outside of one inning in Atlanta when he couldn't find the strike zone, Buehler has pitched well this postseason, striking out at least seven in all three starts.

“To be in a hostile, really boisterous crowd in Milwaukee and for him to keep his composure and to execute pitches speaks a lot to him, not only to compete but to eliminate kind of the outside noise and still stay within a game plan,” Roberts said about Buehler’s Game 7 performance. “So it just shows a lot of moxie.”

Buehler will need all the confidence he can muster.

Teams that take a 2-0 lead in the World Series have gone on to win about 80 percent of the time (43 of 54). Interestingly enough, the Dodgers make up three of those 11 times a team has made the comeback. They won in 1955 over the Yankees, 1965 over the Twins and 1981 over the Yankees again.

Winning four of five games can be an overwhelming thought, but the Dodgers know it all starts with one.

“Baseball is baseball,” Roberts said. “You’ve still got to go out there and pitch it, catch it and hit it. And we’ve got to do that better than them.”

“But for us right now, it’s a game that we really need to win.”

World Series Game 3 TV & streaming info

• Location: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
• Time: 5:09 p.m. PT
• TV: FOX
• Streaming: fuboTV