Looking at the pale, stunned expression on the faces of Joe Torre and Brian Cashman, you wonder if this is how it felt for the Yankees of 1982, the last Yankees team to fall so unexpectedly. The phrase “must-win” is overused, but as the Yankees get set to face the Red Sox for three games beginning today, they find themselves in a mustwin position, needing a sweep if they want to maintain any hope of not ending up like their Reaganera forebears.

Like the current Yankees, the 1982 squad was an experienced, successful club. They were the defending American League champions, the continuation of a run of highly competitive teams going back to 1974. George Steinbrenner had gone crazy stocking up on players in the off-season, trading for pitchers Doyle Alexander and Shane Rawley, shortstop Roy Smalley, and outfielder Ken Griffey, and signing free agent outfielder Dave Collins. By May, he had also added catcher Butch Wynegar and first baseman John Mayberry in trades.

The Yankees were a deep club, far deeper than the 2007 edition, with two players for every position (and none of them happy about it). The starting rotation had three lefty aces in Ron Guidry, Tommy John, and the 1981 Rookie of the Year Dave Righetti. The righthanded Alexander was a solid, league-average fourth starter. The closer was Goose Gossage. Yet the Yankees fell out of the race early. A weak opening month found them five games behind the Red Sox. They didn’t gain any ground in May. A losing June dropped them to 9.5 games out, and the season was over.

Thrashing wildly to avoid what would ultimately be a fifth-place, 79–83 finish, the Yankees went through three managers, three hitting coaches, five pitching coaches, and 47 players. The disruption was so thorough, the effect on Yankees’ decision-makers so pervasive, that the team would not return to the postseason until 1995. If these Yankees don’t show some life against the Red Sox, the main task remaining for Joe Torre and Brian Cashman (perhaps just ahead of cleaning out their desks) will be to wind things down in an orderly fashion so that this season does not mark the end of an era the way the 1982 season did.

The Yankees trail the Bostonians by double-digits. Even a sweep will hardly threaten the Red Sox. Still, cutting their deficit to less than 10 games would at least breathe some life into the division competition. This is essential if the rest of the season is to mean anything, because unlike recent seasons, in which the position of the Yankees and Red Sox were reversed, the Yankees almost certainly do not have the option of making the postseason by winning the wild card.

The Yankees are nearly as far behind the wild card leaders as they are behind the Red Sox. The Indians and Tigers, currently in a virtual tie for both the AL Central lead and the wild card, are playing .600 baseball. Both are very good teams and are likely to keep strong records throughout the season. Even if one of the two does collapse, there are six other teams ahead of the Yankees.

The Yankees will also have limited opportunities to make headway in a wild card race in which they have relatively few games with the leaders. Having already played three games against the Indians (and, in better days, sweeping), the Yankees have just three games remaining against the Tribe. In August they will play eight games in 12 days against Detroit — immediately followed by three more games against the Red Sox.

Mike Mussina, Chien-Ming Wang, and Andy Pettitte will pitch against the back end of Boston’s rotation. The Sox open the series with Tim Wakefield and Julian Tavarez before concluding with Curt Schilling. One hesitates to call this an advantage for New York; Wakefield has pitched wonderfully all season — his 2.41 ERA ranks second in the American League — and Tavarez has pitched well of late, with two quality starts in three chances this month. Besides, even if the pitching matchups are favorable to New York, it’s no cinch that the bats would make good on the edge.

The 1982 Yankees were a misconceived team. Apparently infatuated with Whitey Herzog, the Boss piled on speed at the expense of production and the team failed to hit. As much as they’ve been unlucky with injuries, the 2007 Yankees were also misconceived. Brian Cashman did a superlative job adding pitching depth (all of which has been needed) but neglected to acquire alternatives to any position players that might get hurt or simply fail to hit, and took for granted elementary baseball concepts like having a hitter at first base. The players will have to bail him out, starting with this series, or face a very long road to October, when they’ll likely go home.

Mr. Goldman writes the Pinstriped Bible for yesnetwork.comand is the author of “Forging Genius,” a biography of Casey Stengel.