Baseball

Dodgers, Yankees World Series Steeped in History

Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images, David Richard-Imagn Images
Right: Oct 20, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) reacts after striking out during the second inning against the New York Mets during game six of the NLCS for the 2024 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium.
Left: Oct 19, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (99) reacts after striking out during the third inning against the Cleveland Guardians during game five of the ALCS for the 2024 MLB playoffs at Progressive Field.

Reuters

13:43 JST, October 23, 2024

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Hollywood razzle-dazzle faces button-up pinstripe blue as the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees marks a thrilling new chapter in a bitter bicoastal rivalry that goes back decades.

The two teams will meet in the Fall Classic beginning on Friday for the first time since 1981, when the Dodgers clinched the title in Game 6, a tantalizing series with star-studded rosters boasting hot MVP favorites Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge in the two largest U.S. sports markets.

But while professional sport is rife with bitter enmity – from the NBA’s Celtics and Lakers to the NFL’s Patriots and Jets – the New York-Los Angeles rivalry cuts through culture, with each city insisting it is America’s best.

“When you’re playing New Yorkers against Angelenos – I mean, you’ve got people who’ve left New York and Los Angeles who live all over the country,” said baseball historian Peter Golenbock.

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo
Jun 8, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees left fielder Alex Verdugo (24) dives safely in to second base beating the tag by Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) during the fifth inning at Yankee Stadium.

The author of “Whispers of the Gods: Tales from Baseball’s Golden Age, Told by the Men Who Played It” compared the series favorably to last year’s, when the Texas Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in a battle between two comparatively smaller markets.

“The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers had no history. Did anybody care who won that World Series aside from the people in Texas and Arizona? I suspect not,” he told Reuters.

Ticket prices for Friday’s Game 1 at Dodger Stadium started at more than $1,300 on resale platform StubHub on Tuesday as fans scramble to see the Dodgers’ Ohtani and Yankees’ Judge, the only two players to have more than 50 home runs this season, face off.

It will be the 12th time the two teams have met in the World Series, with their first clash in the championship in 1941, when the cross-country rivals were cross-town foes, with the Dodgers playing in Brooklyn until their 1958 Los Angeles debut.

“The two media capitals – that’s a big part of it. There’s the historical aspect of it – going all the way back to Brooklyn,” said John Thorn, official historian of baseball for MLB.

“The whole history of baseball in New York and California is embraced in this series.”

The World Series begins on Friday at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.