Fifteen years! For Yankees fans, it feels like an eternity. But after last appearing in the World Series in 2009, defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2, the Yankees are back. They will begin their quest for the franchise’s 28th championship tomorrow (8:08 p.m. FOX) in Los Angeles facing the Dodgers in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series. The Yankees current 27 titles are the most among all franchises in the four major American sports leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL).
The Yankees arrived at this point by defeating the Kansas City Royals 3-1 in the divisional round, then taking down the Cleveland Guardians 4-1 in the American League Championship Series. The Dodgers bested the San Diego Padres 3-2 before ending the Mets’ season in the National League Championship Series 4-2.
The Yankees and Dodgers have a storied history in the World Series. They have met 11 times with the Yankees winning eight of them. Many great Yankees, including Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Reggie Jackson, and Dodgers icons Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella and Duke Snider participated in the battles. The Dodgers won their first World Series in 1955 versus the Yankees and in 1956 New York’s Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in World Series history in Game 5 versus the then Brooklyn Dodgers, which left Ebbets Field and began playing in L.A. in 1958.
Reggie Jackson’s memorable three home run game in 1977 against the Dodgers in Game 6, all coming on the first pitch of his at-bats, closed out the series win for the Yanks. Four years later, in 1981, the Dodgers rode Fernandomania, named after the remarkable season-long performance of lefty Hall of Famer Fernando Valenzuela, to a 4-2 victory over New York.
This World Series features a matchup of the two best teams in the NL and AL respectively during the regular season. The Dodgers were 98-64 and the Yankees 94-68. It also will boast the likely AL and NL most valuable players in two generational talents — the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani. The last three AL MVP awards have gone to both Judge (2022) and Ohtani (2021 and 2023), the latter who was with the Los Angeles Angels. It will also be the seventh time in series history that the home run champ of each league will square off. Judge led the AL and all of baseball with 58 while Ohtani topped the NL with 54. Ohtani also led the NL in stolen bases with 59 and became the first player to ever reach the 50-50 plateau in MLB.
Besides Ohtani, Mookie Betts is also there for the Dodgers. A former AL MVP, he’s hitting .295 with four home runs and 12 runs batted this postseason. The Yankees will need a return to form by Judge, who has just a .161 playoff average. It’s also going to be important for the Yankee bullpen to remain solid as it showed a couple of cracks during the Cleveland series.
The Dodgers have a dangerous lineup as they have averaged over six runs per game in the playoffs and their pitching staff tied a postseason record, throwing 33 consecutive scoreless innings in the divisional and NLCS rounds combined. They also have the home-field advantage as Game 2 will be in L.A. on Saturday as well. Games 3 (Monday) and 4 (Tuesday) will be in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees have their work cut out for them. They’ll now face a team that expects to be champions as much as they do.