Dodgers and Yankees meet in World Series in 43 years

The New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers of the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB) will meet on the World Series stage (the winner must earn four wins out of seven) for the first time in 43 years. The Yankees, representing the Eastern region of the United States, and the Dodgers, representing the Western region, will face each other for the 12th time in the World Series alone, the largest number of rounds in history.

The Dodgers of the National League (NL) won 10-5 in Game 6 of the Championship Series (CS, four wins out of seven) against the New York Mets on Monday, winning a ticket to the World Series with a series record of 4 wins and two losses. The Yankees of the American League (AL) defeated Cleveland with four wins and one loss in the series on Oct 20. It has been four years since the Dodgers reached the World Series in 2020, when they won their 7th championship, while it has been 15 years since the Yankees won their 27th championship in 2009. The Yankees have the most World Series wins, while the Dodgers have the most runner-up finishes (14 times).

The World Series between the Yankees and Dodgers is attracting attention because the two teams have played against each other most frequently in the Series. The two teams faced off a total of 11 times over 40 years, starting with the World Series in 1941 and ending in 1981. The Dodgers’ home base was Brooklyn, New York, where the Yankees were based before moving to LA in 1958.

In the past 11 matches, the Yankees have won the World Series championship eight times. In the most recent matchup, in 1981, the Dodgers came out on top with four wins and two losses. The two teams, however, did not play against each other for 43 years. This will be the first match in the World Series in the 21st century.

The batting match between the Yankees' Aaron Judge (pictured), a home run hitter ranked priority zero as the two leagues' Most Valuable Player (MVP), and the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani is also gaining attention. Judge hit 58 and 54 home runs, respectively, this season, winning the league home run title. It will be the World Series debut for both players. Ohtani, who transferred from the Los Angeles Angels to the Dodgers ahead of this season, will be playing in the World Series for his first game in the fall season. “The World Series is the stage I have dreamed of my whole life. Now that I’m finally on this stage, my next goal is to win,” said Ohtani after game 6 of CS on Monday. Ohtani has scored three home runs, while Judge has two home runs for the season.


Hong-Gu Kang windup@donga.com