Broadway vs. Hollywood. Metro vs. Highway. Judge vs. Ohtani. The Yankees and the Dodgers They renew their stellar fight in the World Series for the first time in 43 years.
“When you play for the Dodgers and you play for the Yankeesit’s better to feel different,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said at the Yankee Stadium last June.
Two of the most successful teams in baseball They face each other starting Friday in the Dodger Stadiumthe Yankees They come from winning their 41st pennant in the American League and the Dodgers his number 25 in the National League. New York seeks his 28th title World Seriesbut the first since 2009, while the Dodgers the eighth in its history, and second in a period of five years.
The granite and limestone of the new Yankee Stadium on cold autumn nights in front of the Dodger Stadium in sunny Chavez Ravine, with the San Gabriel Mountains in the background.
New York He has an 8-3 record against the Dodgers in the most frequent confrontation of the World Seriesincluding 6-1 against Brooklyn and 2-2 since the rivalry became the Big Apple against Tinseltown.
Mickey Owen, Al Gionfriddo, Cookie Lavagetto, Sandy Amorós, Johnny Podres, Don Larsen, Sandy Koufax and Reggie Jackson created indelible images in the confrontation, which began in 1941 with one of the most extravagant turns of the World Series.
Down 2-1 in the series, Brooklyn led 4-3 with two outs in the ninth inning at Ebbets Field when Tommy Henrich swung and missed on Hugh Casey’s third strike. The ball bounced away from Owen and rolled toward the team dugout. Dodgers for Henrich to reach base on the third strike. Joe DiMaggio singled, Charlie Keller a two-run double and Joe Gordon added a two-run double later in the inning to give the Yankees They will win 7-4 and the title in five games.
Lavagetto’s two-out double in the ninth inning ended Bill Bevens’ no-hit attempt in Game 4 of 1947, and two games later, Gionfriddo robbed DiMaggio of a three-run homer that would tie the game.
New York He once again beat the Dodgers in 1949, 1952 and 1953, frustrating fans in Flatbush, but Brooklyn finally won the title in 1955 when Johnny Podres pitched a shutout in the deciding game in the Yankee Stadium and Gil Hodges drove in both runs. Sandy Amorós preserved the lead when he caught Yogi Berra’s drive in the left field corner with two on base and sent it to shortstop Pee Wee Reese, who threw Hodges at first and threw out Gil McDougald. Those players were honored in Roger Kahn’s 1972 book, “The Boys of Summer.”
Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game of the World Series In the fifth game of 1956 in the Bronx, Berra jumped into his arms after the last out, and the Yankees they won the seventh with Johnny Kucks’ three-hit shutout, in what turned out to be the last game of the World Series at Ebbets Field.
Walter O’Malley moved the Dodgers to California after the 1957 season, and Koufax wore a cap with an “LA” instead of a “B” when he struck out 15, a league record. World Seriesin the first game of 1963 in the Yankee Stadium. The rivalry did not resume until 1977 with the first of three confrontations in a five-year span.
Jackson’s three home runs led the Yankees to a decisive victory in the sixth game of 1977. The Yankees they won another six-game series the following year, highlighted by third baseman Graig Nettles’ catches off hits by Reggie Smith, Steve Garvey and Davey Lopes.
Los Angeles lost the first two games in the Bronx in 1981, then won four in a row, capped by a 9-2 victory that made the Los Angeles manager dance. Dodgers Tommy Lasorda. The defeat caused the owner of the Yankees George Steinbrenner, with his right hand bandaged after an alleged fight with fans of the Dodgers in a Hotel elevator, issued a written apology “to the people of New York and to the fans of the Yankees everywhere”.
Both teams feel the history created by their predecessors. “You put on that striped jersey, and it just feels different,” said Juan Soto, the Dominican slugger for the Yankees.
Los Angeles took two of three when they met in a highly publicized series in June. Roberts remembers the story as he approaches the Dodger Stadium.
“I can’t believe I drive past Vin Scully Way on my way to work,” he said. “It’s overwhelming, but I try not to let my head go there too often. I just try to do my job.”
