The Los Angeles Dodgers will battle the New York Yankees in this year’s World Series, marking another showdown between the two iconic MLB franchises.

In what will be another showdown in the East Coast-West Coast rivalry, the teams will add to their own storied competitive history of competing against each other 12 times in the Fall Classic.

How did they get here?

Each team advanced to October baseball by fending off stiff competition within their divisions, as the Dodgers successfully outlasted the pesky San Diego Padres and the Yankees pulled away from the rising Baltimore Orioles.

While the Dodgers’ grip on first place in the NL West never really slipped all season, the Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks both inched dangerously close to stealing the division from the Boys in Blue, who have won 11 of the last 12 division titles . They finished the year with a league-leading 98 wins, which is somehow their lowest total since 2018 (excluding the shortened 2020 season).

Despite this, their journey to this point this season has been far from easy. Every Dodgers starting pitcher has been on the injured list at one point or another, with the likes of Dustin May, River Ryan, Gavin Stone, Tony Gonsolin, Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glasnow all forced to miss the playoffs with various ailments .

While Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts was often preoccupied with the constant obstacle course of figuring out who could pitch and when, he never really had to worry about the offense, which thrived with two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani leading the way. He put together one of the greatest seasons the game has ever seen, becoming the first-ever member of the club with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases, which will certainly be his third MVP season, and the first since hitting his record-breaking 10- signed records. year, $700 million contract with Los Angeles.

With the added firepower joining a team that already had two former MVPs in Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, the Dodgers finished in the top five in nearly every major statistical category, including home runs, on-base percentage, batting average and runs scored .

Joining them in the upper ranks of those same categories were the Yankees, who finished with an American League-best record of 94-68 and earned their first berth in the World Series since 2009.

Team captain and perennial slugger Aaron Judge put together what is sure to be another award-winning season, driving a personal best and league-leading 144 RBIs while hitting 58 home runs, which also led all of MLB.

One notable difference between this season and those of the past was the addition of star outfielder Juan Soto, who complemented Judge in a way that no Yankee player has been able to do thus far in his career. He added 41 home runs and 109 RBIs of his own as the Bronx Bombers claimed their third AL East title in five years.

The Yankee pitching has been strong all season, and despite losing top prospect Gerrit Cole to an elbow injury for several months, they were able to hold opposing hitters to a paltry .235 batting average. The emergence of Luis Gil, who at one point looked set to become a finalist for the Cy Young Award, and the return of Carlos Rodon after an atrocious 6.85 ERA last season both helped the team make it through the summer months.

A fierce season-long back-and-forth with the Orioles ended in the Yankees’ favor, with all the pieces seeming to fall into place just as playoff baseball began to approach. Cole’s return from the injured list and trade deadline addition. Jazz Chisholm’s flashy arrival has played a major role in their success in recent months and the play-offs thus far.

Postseason so far

The two teams took fairly different routes to reach the World Series, as New York seemingly cruised past their opponents, recording a 3-1 win in the ALDS over the Kansas City Royals and a 4-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians in the ALCS .

Key moments from players like Alex Verdugo and Gleyber Torres were key to their victory over Kansas City, combined with a dominant Game 4 performance from Cole, who played seven near-perfect innings to keep the Yankees in the next round of play.

They’ve gotten timely hits in October, led by Giancarlo Stanton’s five home runs and 11 RBIs in their nine games so far, earning him the ALCS MVP in a series that’s been more competitive than what it looks like on paper.

An unlikely sight emerged as a lights out option for the Yankees in the playoffs, with Luke Weaver’s bullpen brilliance coming in the form of four saves – three of which required more than three outs to safely to set. In 10 1/3 inning, he struckout 12 batters, allowing only three runs in that period.

On the other hand, the Dodgers fought themselves out of the hole, once again finding themselves on the brink of an early exit from postseason play. They were down 2-1 in the NLDS against their bitter rival in the Padres, but thanks to an incredible pitching performance, they shutout their opponents in the final two games, completely turning the tide in a series that seemed to be going inevitably happen in the San Diego league. favor.

The NLCS showdown, with the Dodgers playing the other New York team in the Mets, was a high-scoring affair that was as back-and-forth as any playoff series in recent years.

Each game was separated by at least four points, with both teams scoring double figures at least twice. Despite the notable difference in scoring on a game-to-game basis, the Dodgers were able to win the series in six games.

A slew of impressive offensive performances, highlighted by stellar performances from Ohtani, Betts, Kiké Hernández and virtually every other player in the lineup, leads them to the World Series as the highest-scoring playoff team to date. Additionally, Max Muncy set a postseason record by getting on base twelve consecutive times, showing how every facet of the Dodgers lineup played a role in their success.

A brief history of the rivalry between the Dodgers and the Yankees

For as long as professional baseball has existed, the Dodgers and Yankees have been fierce rivals, and this year’s matchup will certainly continue to add to the long history surrounding the duo.

It will be the twelfth time they meet in the World Series, with history largely in New York’s favor with eight wins to Los Angeles’ three. However, the last time the pair met was in 1981, when the Dodgers won the series 4-2.

Although their paths have often crossed when the games matter most, their history began more than a century ago when the then-Brooklyn Bridegrooms joined the MLB in 1890, followed shortly by the Yankees in 1903.

Even with the Dodgers’ departure to Los Angeles in 1958, the rivalry continued, as each team represented large factions of fans on each coast of the United States, and even without a regularly scheduled annual meeting, the competitive nature persisted for decades.

A history of games featuring baseball legends like Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax and many more will soon have a new chapter, adding names like Judge, Betts, Ohtani and Cole to the long history.

What to expect

A highly anticipated regular season game – in what many rightly predicted would be a preview of the World Series – saw plenty of fireworks and if they are any indication of what baseball fans can expect, it will deliver as exciting a match as any in recent history. .

The Dodgers won the series 2-1, defeating the Bombers 17-9, thanks in large part to an incredible run from outfielder Teoscar Hernández, who hit five extra base hits and drove in nine runs.

Although two of the games were separated by multiple runs, the intervening game on Saturday night proved to be a classic, with all three runs scored in an electric 11th inning after 10 runs of scoreless baseball.

Similar seasonal trajectories and equally powerful schedules make for a showdown where any prediction could be correct. It all starts on Friday evening at Dodger Stadium. After two games in California, the series moves to the Bronx for three games before returning to Los Angeles via the US if necessary.