NEW YORK – Another summer day. For every team that gets an early exit in the World Series, that's the vision: another day of summer to play with your friends. Winter must come to you soon enough.

On Tuesday afternoon, under steel-gray skies in the steel-gray fortress of Yankee Stadium, Anthony Rizzo expressed the thoughts of all his teammates.

“Today might be our last trip to the ballpark,” said Rizzo, the veteran first baseman. “Today could be the last time this team is ever together.”

The everyday rhythms are part of baseball's charm, the routine a source of comfort in such a capricious game. The New York Yankees didn't think they had played particularly badly in this World Series, but they had lost the first three games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the last half century, no team had suffered this deficit and won another game.

“We were down 2-0 and said, 'Hey, this isn't going to be easy, but this is what we're built for,'” said third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. “We lost Game 3 and said, 'Hey, who doesn't want to Make history?' I know I love writing history. I love writing my name in the history books and being a part of it. So let’s do it.”

After beating the Dodgers 11-4, these Yankees still have work to do before they can make history as the only team to win the World Series after losing the first three games.

But what was heard in their clubhouse after Game 4 was the sound of hope, of a plausible scenario for a unique performance. On Wednesday, Rizzo said, the Yankees will face Jack Flaherty and the Dodgers' star relievers. They've seen them all before and they'll be ready.

“The flight to LA will be very special if we can do it,” Rizzo said.

Eight years ago, Rizzo played another Game 5 with the Chicago Cubs on Halloween eve, needing a win to extend the World Series. The Cubs relied on a top starter, Jon Lester, and a rested closer, Aroldis Chapman, for a win that gave a tight group its final road trip. The Cubs would return from Cleveland as champions.

Now the Yankees can use their best starter, Gerrit Cole, to start Game 5, with reliever Luke Weaver relatively fresh after throwing just 21 pitches on Tuesday. The Yankees' five-run rally in the eighth extended their lead and saved Weaver from another inning.

Gleyber Torres' three-run home run was the big blow at the time, but the previous hitting attack had the Yankees in turmoil. With one out and runners on second and third, Alex Verdugo wore down Brent Honeywell Jr. for 11 pitches. His rebound to second hit Anthony Volpe and provided the ensuing explosion.

“I know he probably didn’t put up the numbers he wanted to in the regular season,” Aaron Judge, who was 1-for-3, said of Verdugo. “But all year long he just said, 'Get me to the postseason and I'll do something special.' And that’s what we’ve seen throughout the postseason so far.”

Verdugo wasn't really Reggie Jackson; he's hitting .200/.280/.311 in October, even worse than his regular season numbers (.233/.291/.356). But his only home run this month came with two ons and two outs in the ninth inning of Game 3 – a confidence boost for a slumbering offense.

The Dodgers started Game 4 the same way they did the night before, with a two-run home run by Freddie Freeman in the top of the first. But even though it was the same type of hit, this one had less punch. The Yankees were too impressed to be discouraged.

“My first thought is: This guy is superhuman,” Weaver said. “You sit there and marvel at what he does. So you have to give him all the respect and appreciation for what he does on the biggest stage. But I mean, if you look at it, it's still early, right? You don't think, 'Oh, this is a repeat.'”

It was an all-new episode with a mostly fresh cast of Dodgers pitchers. Three of them were new to this World Series and covered seven innings. The pitcher the Yankees had already seen, Daniel Hudson, allowed Volpe's go-ahead grand slam in the third.

“It really just takes one big hit, and I feel like that was Volpe’s big hit there,” said catcher Austin Wells, who like Volpe had a double and a home run. “It allowed everyone to just take a deep breath and have fun. I think even in the situation we were in, we just had to say, ‘Screw it,’ and try it and have fun, because some guys might never get back to the World Series.”

Volpe definitely had fun; By the end, his muddy uniform was so brown you'd think he played for the San Diego Padres. He lived out the fantasy of every New York-born kid of his generation: a shortstop in pinstripes playing in the World Series. He could get used to this extra month of work.

“It's my first playoffs, but these were probably the craziest things I've ever been a part of,” Volpe said. “So it’s always just a matter of stepping on the gas.”

The Yankees stalled for three games. Now the engine purrs. They're still following a narrow path on the edge of a cliff, trying to do what no team has ever managed to do: not just win the World Series after losing the first three games, but simply force a Game 6 .

Maybe they will make history. Maybe – probably – they won't. But they're still playing, and that's the best they can do right now.

“I feel like today is a reminder to show you why we're in the World Series, why we've come this far,” Chisholm said, “and why we don't expect to be done.”

(Top photo of the Yankees' bench celebrating Gleyber Torres' home run in Game 4: Elsa/Getty Images)