NEW YORK (AP) — Broadway vs. Hollywood. Subway vs. Freeway. Aaron Judge vs. Shohei Ohtani. The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers renew their stellar rivalry as the most popular teams in baseball with their first World Series matchup since 1981. A highly anticipated showdown for sports fans in the United States and baseball fans around the globe.
Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said at Yankee Stadium last June during a regular season matchup, "When you play for the Dodgers and you play for the Yankees, it's better to feel different.
The great rivalry between Yankees and Dodgers
Two of the most successful baseball teams will face off starting on Friday at Dodger Stadium. The Yankees are coming off their 41st American League pennant and the Dodgers off their 25th National League championship.
New York is seeking its 28th World Series title, but its first since 2009, while the Dodgers are aiming for their eighth in franchise history, and second in a span of five years.
The granite and limestone of the new Yankee Stadium on cold autumn nights facing the Dodger Stadium in sunny Chavez Ravine, with the San Gabriel mountains in the background.
New York has an 8-3 record against the Dodgers in the most frequent matchup of the World Series, including 6-1 against Brooklyn and 2-2 since the team relocated to Los Angeles in the late 1950s.
Mickey Owen, Al Gionfriddo, Cookie Lavagetto, Sandy Amorós, Johnny Podres, Don Larsen, Sandy Koufax, and Reggie Jackson created unforgettable moments in the showdown, which began in 1941 with one of the most extravagant twists in the World Series.
With a 2-1 disadvantage in the series, Brooklyn was winning 4-3 with two outs in the ninth inning at Ebbets Field when Tommy Henrich swung and missed at Hugh Casey's third strike. The ball bounced far from Owen and rolled towards the Dodgers' dugout, allowing Henrich to reach base on the third strike. Joe DiMaggio hit a single, Charlie Keller a two-run double, and Joe Gordon added a two-run double later in the inning for the Yankees to win 7-4 and the title in five games.
A double by Lavagetto with two outs in the ninth inning ended Bill Bevens' no-hit bid in Game 4 of 1947, and two games later, Gionfriddo robbed DiMaggio of a three-run home run that would have tied the game.
New York once again defeated the Dodgers in 1949, 1952, and 1953, frustrating fans in Flatbush. However, Brooklyn finally won the title in 1955 when Johnny Podres pitched a shutout in the deciding game at Yankee Stadium and Gil Hodges drove in both runs. Sandy Amorós preserved the lead by catching a hit by Yogi Berra in the left field corner with two men on base, then throwing to shortstop Pee Wee Reese, who relayed to Hodges at first to put out Gil McDougald. These players were honored in Roger Kahn's 1972 book "The Boys of Summer." It was the first and only Major League title for Jackie Robinson, the first African American in the Major Leagues.
Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in World Series history in the fifth game of 1956 in the Bronx. Yogi Berra jumped into his arms after the final out, and the Yankees went on to win Game 7 behind Johnny Kucks' three-hit shutout in what turned out to be the last game of the World Series at the legendary Ebbets Field stadium.
A new era with the Dodgers in Los Angeles
Walter O'Malley moved the Dodgers to California after the 1957 season, and Koufax began wearing a cap with an "LA" instead of a "B" when he struck out 15, a World Series record, in the first game of 1963 at Yankee Stadium. The rivalry did not resume until 1977 with the first of three encounters in a span of five years.
Reggie Jackson's three home runs led the Yankees to a decisive victory in the sixth game of 1977. New York won another six-game series the following year, with standout catches by third baseman Graig Nettles and hits by Reggie Smith, Steve Garvey, and Davey Lopes.
The Los Angeles team lost the first two games in the Bronx in 1981, and then won four in a row, culminating in a 9-2 victory that made Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda dance. A standout in that matchup was Mexican rookie Fernando Valenzuela. The defeat led the Yankees owner, George Steinbrenner, with his right hand bandaged after an alleged fight with Dodgers fans in a hotel elevator, to issue a written apology “to the people of New York and Yankees fans everywhere.”