Dodgers vs Yanks 2024

Old Foes L.A. Dodgers and New York Yankees Meet Again 

By David A. Avila

In this age of wild card playoffs, the favorites seldom make it to the World Series. This year is an exception.

When the New York Yankees meet the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series on Friday Oct. 25, the two powerhouses finally meet like old friends, or foes. Not since the 1981 World Series have the historic franchises met on the field.

The Dodgers and Yanks have played each other in the Series a record 11 times, on Friday makes a dozen. The team from L.A. and Brooklyn, has managed to win three times with the last coming in 1981 led by Dodger great Fernando Valenzuela. Before that it was 1963 behind another southpaw named Sandy Koufax. In 1955 the Brooklyn team beat the Yanks for the first time.

All the other World Series meetings between the two teams have been won by the Bronx Bombers.

Those Yankee teams of the past were loaded with some of the greatest baseball talent ever assembled. Names such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Lefty Gomez and Whitey Ford were accustomed to reaching the World Series and expected to win.

During the late 1940s and 1950s, led by Jackie Robinson the Dodgers began to rack up NL Pennants, but they only managed to capture one World Series in 1955. Moving to Los Angeles the Dodgers quickly won World Series in 1959, 1963 and 1965 with a mixture of speed and pitching.

Names like Maury Wills, Jim Gilliam, Don Drysdale, Larry Sherry and Koufax enabled the Dodgers to establish a winning culture quickly despite moving from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

But once Koufax retired after the 1966 season the Dodgers did not make it to the World Series until 1974. They also made it in 1977 and 1978, but did not win until 1981 and then again in 1988. They won both World Series though not favored.

Meanwhile the Yankees dominated from 1996 to 2009 capturing World Series championships in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2009 behind great players such as Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.

During the 1990s until 2016 the Dodgers were good but not good enough to reach the World Series until 2017 and 2018. Though they lost both years, many say the Dodgers were cheated by nefarious means in both those years against first the Houston Astros, and then Boston Red Sox.

The Boston series is debatable, but the team was led by the same coach, Alex Cora, who had a hand in the Houston scandal. Ironically, an ex-Dodger. That’s all history now.

In 2020 the Dodgers defeated Tampa Bay to win their first World Series in 32 years. Now they are locked in to vie for yet another and this time against the powerhouse Yankees led by Aaron Judge.

Both teams are loaded.

Comparisons

Los Angeles Dodgers hit a team .781 OPS to lead all of baseball and scored 842 runs. Their pitching staff allowed 686 runs.  

New York Yankees hit .762 OPS to lead the American League and scored 815 runs. They allowed 668 runs.

The Yanks belted 237 homers and stole 88 bases.

The Dodgers smacked 233 homers and stole 136 bases.

Both teams are very similar with the Yankees having a strong starting pitching staff such as ace Gerrit Cole and crafty Nestor Cortes. They also have Carlos Rodon and Marcus Stroman. Their top reliever is Luke Weaver.

The Dodgers have Jack Flaherty as their ace but Walker Buehler and Yoshinobu Yamamoto managed to rev up after injury-laden seasons. The Dodger bullpen remains a strength and is filled with closers like Evan Phillips, Michael Kopech and Daniel Hudson. They also have a wild card in Joe Kelly.

On paper, they seem to match up perfectly like two prizefighters vying for a heavyweight world title.

But often, it’s the little guy who ends up making the difference.

Dodger Tommy Edman recently won MVP for the 2024 NLCS against the NY Mets. No one predicted he would be the player to knock in 11 runs on his own.

The Yanks have Giancarlo Stanton as their MVP of the ALCS.

Offensively, the Yanks and Dodgers have two of the better hitters in baseball with Aaron Judge leading the Bronx Bombers and Shohei Ohtani leading the Dodgers. Both led their respective league in home runs and RBIs and were in the running for winning a triple crown.

The difference between the two was Judge played outfield for New York while Ohtani was a designated hitter. Ohtani also led the NL in stolen bases with 59. No other player in history ever stole 50 or more bases while hitting 50 or more homers.

Who will be the hero of the 2024 World Series?

You just never know.