World Series: Dodgers vs Yankees

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The Dodgers and Yankees meet in the World Series for a record twelfth time, but their first meeting in 43 years. More on the World Series is after the jump.

Twelve meetings in the World Series is easily the most for any pair of league champions. Here’s the list:

12 – Dodgers/Yankees
7 – Giants/Yankees
5 – Cardinals/Yankees
4 – Braves/Yankees, Giants/Athletics, Cubs/Tigers, Cardinals/Red Sox
3 – Reds/Yankees, Cardinals/Tigers
2 – Cubs/Yankees, Phillies/Yankees, Pirates/Yankees, Cubs/Athletics, Cardinals/Athletics, Reds/Athletics, Dodgers/Athletics, Giants/Senators, Pirates/Orioles, Braves/Indians

This is the 120th World Series, comprising 57 in the pre-expansion era and 63 since expansion in 1961. Here is a breakdown of World Series matchups in the expansion era.

The Yankees hold the upper hand in their World Series matchups with the Dodgers, winning in 8 of their previous 11 meetings. However, that scoreboard stands at 2-2 in the expansion era, and 3-3 since the Dodgers’ first World Series title in 1955. Here’s a brief synopsis of their previous World Series meetings:

1941 – In a matchup of two 100+ win teams, the Yankees prevailed in 5 games to claim their 5th World Series crown in 6 seasons. The series turned in game 4, when a strikeout of Tommy Henrich apparently won the game for the Dodgers to square the series. But, catcher Mickey Owen failed to secure the strikeout pitch to Henrich who advanced to first base on the muff, thus extending the 9th inning in which the Yankees would score 4 runs to win the game and take a 3-1 series lead.
1947 – In his debut season, Jackie Robinson became the first African American to appear in the World Series, but the Yankees prevailed in 7 games. In game 4, Bill Bevens, despite walking 10 Dodgers, was one out away from a no-hit win that would give the Yankees a 3-1 series edge, but Cookie Lavagetto doubled to right field to plate a pair of Dodger runs for a 3-2 walk-off win to square the series. In game 6, with the Dodgers facing elimination, the Yankees appeared to have tied the game with a 3-run home run, but Al Gionfriddo reached over the fence in deepest LF at Yankee Stadium to snag Joe DiMaggio’s 460 foot drive and preserve the Dodger victory. Brooklyn took an early 2-0 lead in game 7, but Joe Page pitched 5 scoreless frames in relief to backstop a 5-2 victory for the Pinstripers.
1949 – The teams traded a pair of 1-0 shutout wins in the first two games, and dueled to a 1-1 tie after 8 innings of game 3. In the 9th, the Yankees got to Ralph Branca for three runs, on a pair of two out RBI singles by Johnny Mize and Jerry Coleman. But the Dodgers didn’t go quietly, with a pair of solo homers in the bottom of the frame before Joe Page secured the final out. Yankee bats came alive in the next two contests to deliver a series triumph in 5 games.
1952 – The teams traded victories over the first six games and were knotted at 2-2 after 5 innings of game 7. Mickey Mantle, who slugged .655 for the series, delivered a solo blast in the 6th and an 2-out RBI knock in the 7th. The Dodgers loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the 7th, but Bob Kuzava relieved for the Yankees and induced pop-ups by Duke Snider and Jackie Robinson to quell the threat and secure another Yankee series victory.
1953 – The home teams won each of the first four contests before the Yankees took game 5 at Ebbets field on the strength of Mickey Mantle’s grand slam home run. The Yankees were two outs away from a series triumph in game 6 before Carl Furillo tied the game with a 2-run blast off Allie Reynolds. In the bottom of the 9th, Billy Martin, who batted .500 for the series, singled to plate the winning run in walk-off fashion as the Yankees secured their 5th straight World Series title.
1955 – The home teams won the first six games to set the stage for the deciding contest pitting game 2 winner Tommy Byrne for the Yankees against game 3 winner Johnny Podres for the Dodgers. An RBI single in the 4th and a sac fly in the 6th, both by Gil Hodges, provided the margin of victory as Podres scattered 8 hits for the shutout victory and Brooklyn’s first World Series title after 6 agonizing disappointments.
1956 – The teams split the first four games before Don Larsen authored the only perfecto in World Series history in game 5. After 18 straight scoreless frames, the Dodgers finally broke through in the 10th inning of game 6 to walk-off the Yanks 1-0. New York romped 9-0 in the finale, shelling Dodger ace Don Newcombe for the second time in the series. New York’s 12 home runs stood as a new World Series record, eclipsed since only by the 2002 Giants and 2017 Astros.
1963 – In the first World Series played at Dodger Stadium, LA swept the Yankees, holding the New Yorkers to just four runs for the series against current and former Dodger aces Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Johnny Podres. Former Yankee slugger Bill Skowron, dealt to the Dodgers after the 1962 season, pummeled his former club to the tune of .385/.429/.615 for the series.
1977 – Mike Torrez’s two CG victories paced the Yankees to a series win in 6 games. In the 4th inning of the clinching contest, Reggie Jackson followed a Thurman Munson leadoff single with a home run on the next pitch to put the Yankees ahead 4-3. Jackson added two more first pitch blasts to secure an 8-4 Yankee win.
1978 – The Yankees made it to October on Bucky Dent’s home run in game 163. The home teams won the first four games of the series before Yankee bats got to game 2 winner Burt Hooton in a game 5 blowout. Reggie Jackson’s two-run blast in game 6 was the coup de gras to clinch the series for New York. The two teams combined for 120 hits, still a record for a 6 game series and equaling the total for the same combatants in 1953.
1981 – In a bifurcated, strike-marred season, the two teams emerged as the survivors of two rounds of best-of-5 league playoff series. The Yankees won the first two games at home, holding the Dodgers to only 3 runs on 9 hits for the two contests. In LA, the Dodgers won three one-run games, a marathon 147 pitch CG win by rookie ace Fernando Valenzuela in game 3, an 8-7 triumph in game 4 in which Dodger relievers provided all 27 outs, and a 2-1 CG win by Jerry Reuss in game 5 on the strength of back-to-back 7th inning homers off of Yankee ace Ron Guidry. In game 6, Yankee manager Bob Lemon elected to pinch-hit for starter Tommy John in the 4th inning of a 1-1 game, but Yankee relievers allowed 7 runs over the next two frames as the Dodgers claimed their 5th World Series title.

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Richard Chester

24 days ago

For the 1949 WS you could have mentioned that in game1 Tommy Henrich hit the first WS walk-off home run.

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Doug

24 days ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Thanks, Richard. An indicator, perhaps, of the relative lack of prominence of the home run then vs. now, is that it took so long (the 46th World Series) for an event that has now happened 18 times in the World Series.

no statistician but

24 days ago

Reply to Doug

Prior to 1949, the only 1-0 Series win that came via a home run involved Henrich’s manager, the mighty Casey. Stengel was almost as good playing in the post-season as managing in it, with BAs of .364, .400, and .417.

Paul E

23 days ago

Reply to no statistician but

https://www.ebay.com/itm/314618576524

too cool…if it comes thru

Bob Eno

23 days ago

One of the things about the ’55 Series that was widely noted at the time was that it was the first time a team had won the initial two games of a 7-game Series and wound up losing. What a comeback by the Bums!! What fortitude! But look at ’56. Aughh! The Yankees did the same thing! What rotten luck! US Steel always gets the breaks! (Vide Joe E. Lewis) In fact, both Series followed the exact same pattern throughout: the home teams won the first six games and the visiting team captured the flag in the end. And this… Read more »

Bob Eno

23 days ago

Reply to Bob Eno

. . . So much for omens.

Doug

22 days ago

Reply to Bob Eno

Bob, you were no doubt pleased that during game 3 on Fox, Joe Davis mentioned the Amoros catch as a key moment in the 1955 series (just to bring that discussion over to this thread).

Bob Eno

22 days ago

Reply to Doug

Not as much as nsb was, I imagine. Remember, it was he who brought that subject to the last string, along with a series of other interesting Dodger-Yankee historical moments. And now you and Tom are picking up the theme.

Tom

23 days ago

RIP Fernando Valenzuela. He died one day before the 43rd anniversary of his gutsy performance on 10/23/81.

Fernando did not have his good stuff that day. WS Game 3 was his 5th start in 18 days. In his previous 4 starts, he went 31.2 innings, including 8.2 on 10/19.

He gave up 4 run on 2 HRs, 6 hits and 4 walks in 2.2 innings. With the team already down 2 games to 0, Fernando dug deep and shut out the Yankees the rest of the way, despite giving up 3 more hits and 3 more walks.

Doug

23 days ago

Reply to Tom

Thanks for the insight, Tom.

As events unfolded, sticking with Valenzuela in game 3 probably also helped the Dodgers win game 4, when a rested bullpen was called upon to cover 27 outs.

Tom

23 days ago

In 1981 Game 5, Ron Cey got beaned by a Goose Gossage fastball. At first there was real concern that Cey was seriously hurt, or worse. He lied unconscious for over 5 minutes. He had to be helped off the field. After the game, he went to the hospital and was diagnosed with a concussion.

Two days later, Cey was in the lineup. In the 5th inning, he hit a single to center that drove in the go-ahead run. LA never gave up the lead, as LA won 9-2, to win the Series.

Doug

23 days ago

Reply to Tom

I had forgotten all about Cey’s beaning, but the memory has returned now that you mentioned it. Yes, he did lie unconscious for what seemed the longest time.

Doug

22 days ago

Seems this year’s series could be over sooner than we’d like. As related on the game 3 telecast, this is the 25th Series in which a team has led 3-0. That turned into a sweep on 21 of the previous 24 occasions, and a 5 game series the other three times.

Last edited 22 days ago by Doug

Richard Chester

21 days ago

In yesterday’s Yankees-Dodgers game, game 4, of the World Series, Anthony Volpe hit a GS for his first WS HR.Only other Yankees to do that are Gil McDougald, Tino Martinez, Joe Pepitone and Bobby Richardson.

no statistician but

20 days ago

Whoever anticipated a contest of domination between the two presumptive MVPs was surely disappointed. Judge finally came alive in games four and five, but Ohtani’s big play was getting caught stealing and injuring himself in game two. BA for the Series, .056. Freeman, overshadowed all season by Ohtani (and Betts, early on until he was injured), carried the load with telling RBIs in every game.

Paul E

20 days ago

Reply to no statistician but

Max Muncy? 0 hits in 20 PA’s….. these small sample sizes kill some guys If you add up all of Mr. October’s post-season numbers (77 games IIRC) and multiply x2, he basically equals his 162 game regular season averages. Same with Mr. November in 159 (IIRC) career post-season games – literally the equivalent of his regular season body of work. Carlos Beltran always seemed to play well in the post-season but, nobody seemed to step up their game like Dykstra in his 32 post season games. I have to believe Betts, Kershaw, and Ohtani are all destined for Cooperstown. Is… Read more »

Bob Eno

20 days ago

Reply to Paul E

As for Muncy, it will be hard for him to claim a Dodger superlative in light of Gil Hodges’ 1952 record of 0 for 26 PA (21 AB) in a 7-game Series. And Muncy still got to make good postseason contributions vs. the Padres & Mets–in the two days between the end of the regular season and his Series bust in 1952, Hodges’ MLB record is indistinguishable from that of a Fuller Brush salesman. But thank you, Paul, for pointing out Dykstra’s terrific record. I wasn’t aware of how consistently good he’d been in the postseason, though I suppose the… Read more »

Richard Chester

20 days ago

Reply to no statistician but

Something similar occurred in the 1946 WS between the Red Sox and the Cardinals. Ted Williams batted .200 with 0 HR and 1 RBI. Stan Musial wasn’t much better with a.222 BA, 0 HR and 4 RBI.

Doug

20 days ago

Congrats to the Dodgers! A clinching game that will not soon be forgotten. Yankees beat themselves badly, but LA came up with two key two out hits to take full advantage of the opportunity afforded them. Was game 5 the first time the Yankees have allowed 5+ runs in an inning when holding a multi-run lead in a WS elimination game. Actually, no! The same thing happened in game 7 in 1960. No errors in that inning, but a bad hop on an easy double play ball turned two out nobody on into two on nobody out. I have criticized… Read more »

Last edited 20 days ago by Doug

Bob Eno

20 days ago

Reply to Doug

Nice post, and I particularly like the nod to the Pirates’ 5-run 8th in ’60 and the remarkable management of the Dodgers’ decimated pitching staff. But I’m here to complain, as grumpy old men do! I really object to the “most X in a clincher” stat when the game is not a sudden-death situation, or at least when applied to a team that is guaranteed a rematch if they lose. When the “clincher” is the 7th game, every member of both teams goes into that game knowing it’s the clincher, and that their play that day will determine the Series… Read more »

no statistician but

20 days ago

In the last eight years the Dodgers and Astros have each appeared in the Series four times. Eight other teams have each appeared once.

The Dodgers have made the playoffs in each of the last twelve years, the Astros in each of the last eight. In the last thirty years, the Yankees have seen post-season action twenty-five time, with a string of 13 consecutive years beginning in 1995.

no statistician but

18 days ago

Here is a listing of dueling NL and AL MVPs who’s teams vied against each other in the World Series. Without citing numbers—but you can look it up—I’ll just report that, with exceptions, their performances fell below regular season level. Mantle, for example, had three excellent Series, but 1956 and ’57 were just run of the mill. None of DiMaggio’s post-seasons matched his usual performance level. The best matchup by far came in 1980 between Mike Schmidt and George Brett, which is fitting, since they were paired in their time the way Mays and Mantle were (or Campanella and Berra,… Read more »

Bob Eno

18 days ago

Reply to no statistician but

Thanks for this list, nsb. I expect it took some work. It’s interesting to see how expansion has impacted this sort of match-up. Until 1931 the MVP was a sometimes thing–none before 1911 and only four years in the 1910s and six in the 1920s where both leagues even had MVPs. But once regularized these WS match-ups occurred 4-6 times each decade through the ’60s, then 2-3 times, then zilch for 24 years–that’s what happens as talent is dispersed among an increasing number of contenders. And, of course, in recent decades the impact of enhanced stats has made MVP voting… Read more »

Doug

15 days ago

Reply to no statistician but

Nice list, nsb. You mentioned the disappointment of the 1942 matchup of Cooper and Gordon. In fairness to Cooper, his inflated ERA is mainly due to one bad inning in game 4, when he allowed the first six batters to reach in the 4th inning before being relieved. He had pitched okay in game 1, with 3 ER allowed over 7.2 IP, but was victimized by a dropped fly ball by Enos Slaughter that allowed two more to score. Cooper’s main heroics were in getting the Cardinals to the post-season in the first place. St. Louis finished 38-6, erasing an… Read more »

Paul E

14 days ago

Reply to Doug

Doug,
Gotta ask: “Has any team gone 38-6 in any stretch previously or since, let alone in the final 44 games of a major league season?”

Tom

14 days ago

Reply to Paul E

The 1906 Cubs had 6 losses in their last 54 games.

Paul E

14 days ago

Reply to Tom

Wow!! and they lost the WS 🙁
Thanks!!

Richard Chester

14 days ago

Reply to Paul E

It’s been done several times by the Cubs, Pirates, Giants, Yankees, A’s and Cards, most recently by the Yankees in 1939.

Paul E

14 days ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Thanks!

Bob Eno

13 days ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Richard, I’m not seeing a comparable stretch with the Yankees in ’39, though I can get them to 37-7 in a 44-game stretch (5/6 to 6/24).

I think the Tigers’ 35-5 start in 1984 is a more recent example in the same class, although it was “only” a 40-game stretch at .875 (vs. the ’42 Cards at .864).

If you put together the Giants’ two huge win-streaks in 1916 you get to 43-0 (17-0 + 26-0). Unfortunately, the rest of their season produced an equal number of wins: 43-66. (I know: not the same sort of thing . . .)

Richard Chester

13 days ago

Reply to Bob Eno

I re-ran my Stathead search and saw that the Yankees streak was in 1941, not 1939. I also saw that the Dodgers and the Guardians did it in 2017.

Bob Eno

12 days ago

Reply to Richard Chester

I see it, Richard. Quite a season for the Yankees. They were in 4th place before the streak started on June 10 and wound up taking the pennant by 17 games. I never paid attention to that season before. Cleveland in 2017 has something a little shorter, but higher pct., 33-4, but it ends the season and so resembles the Cards in ’42. (It earned them the best record in the AL, but not the pennant–curse the postseason!) I’d completely forgotten the Dodgers stretch in that year–they went 52-9 and 56-11–they almost looked like the 1906 Cubs, with a .717… Read more »

Doug

13 days ago

Reply to Paul E

Over a longer stretch, the Miracle Braves finished the 1914 season 61-16.

Bob Eno

12 days ago

Reply to Doug

The Miracle Braves of 1914 had many parallels with the Miracle Mets of 1969. When I was young the thing we all knew about the Braves was that they had been in last place on July 4 and won the pennant. But in 1914 what people knew was that the Braves deserved to be in last place because they were a perennial last place team (as they were 1909-12, losing 100 every year) who had just emerged in 1913 as ordinarily bad, escaping the cellar with a 69-82 .457 record. Moreover, on July 4 the world was as it was… Read more »

Doug

12 days ago

Reply to Bob Eno

The fates of the 1942 Dodgers and 1969 Cubs would appear to bear some resemblance. -In 1942, the Dodgers were up 9 on Aug 14, then lost a pair to the Cards on Sep 11-12 to fall into a tie with them. -In 1969, the Cubs were up 9 on Aug 12, then lost a pair to the Mets on Sep 8-9 to lead by just half a game. But, appearances can be deceiving. The ’42 Dodgers lost the pennant despite playing well down the stretch, just not well enough to keep pace with the Cards. Their 9 game lead… Read more »

Last edited 12 days ago by Doug

Bob Eno

11 days ago

Reply to Doug

There is, however, a common link between the ’42 Dodgers and the ’69 Cubs, Doug. Their manager, Durocher. And we haven’t mentioned the ’51 Giants, whose 37-7 stretch run to close the season brought them into a playoff with the Dodgers, which they won (so 39-8 altogether). Also Durocher, though this time on the winning side of the race. Durocher transformed teams. When he was made manager of the Bums in ’39 they flipped from perennial losers to a strong winning season and took the pennant two years later. 1942 was actually their best record since 1899, even though they… Read more »

Bob Eno

11 days ago

Reply to Bob Eno

Replying to myself here. I said Durocher “protected” Reiser. Not the right word: he didn’t protect him at all, he boosted him (and thereby exposed him to the repeated injuries that tanked his career). Huggins had shielded Leo from players pissed off at his mouthy character, like Ruth and Gehrig, and started him despite his limited talents. Leo rushed Reiser along–Reiser was reckless and self-confident–and coddled Mays like an indulgent father when Mays was in the dumps. He wrecked Reiser but helped make Mays one of the best, if not the best position player ever.

no statistician but

11 days ago

Reply to Bob Eno

It’s funny how there are some players whose careers were curtailed by injury, ailment, or even death, but they nevertheless have ultimately, if not immediately, been recognized as HOF worthy, while others with equal or better credentials are passed over. Reiser is the extreme case of the latter group in terms of career WAR, but he lost three full seasons to WWII, which makes his case exceptional. Reiser, Thurman Munson, Nomar Garciaparra, Al Rosen, Charley Keller, for Pete’s sake, Eric Davis, Mattingly, Ray Chapman, Albert Belle, and if you take into account psychological debilities, Chuck Knoblauch, plus probably some I’ve… Read more »

Richard Chester

11 days ago

Reply to no statistician but

Among Yankee players with at least 2000 PA Keller’s lifetime OPS+ of 153 puts him behind only Ruth, Gehrig, Judge, Mantle and DiMaggio.

Richard Chester

11 days ago

Reply to no statistician but

Among Yankee players with 2000+ PA Keller’s OPS+ of 153 puts him behind only behind Ruth, Gehrig, Judge, Mantle and DiMaggio,

Bob Eno

11 days ago

Reply to no statistician but

It would be interesting to go case by case on these, nsb. But I don’t feel the argument, “If X is in, Y should be” is valid. In my view Bains is a real error, but that shouldn’t mean anyone above his low bar should be in the Hall. I do begrudge the elevation of Youngs–I didn’t think his case was strong and we know his “election” was the product of Frankie Frisch’s campaign to enshrine all of his friends. It discredited the Veterans Committee. (He’s not in a class with Puckett; George Sisler is.) I think Keller’s worth the… Read more »

Doug

11 days ago

Reply to Bob Eno

I see that the Hall of Fame has streamlined its four “era” committees down to just two, the “Classic” era (pre-1980) and the “Contemporary” era (1980 to the present). Hopefully, that will prevent too many more mistakes like Baines.

Here’s hoping that the Classic committee gets to work on electing Dick Allen and Bobby Grich, and the Contemporary committee does the same for Lou Whitaker (they being among the more notable snubs, to my mind).

no statistician but

11 days ago

Reply to Bob Eno

Bob: I said I don’t begrudge Youngs and Puckett, but I didn’t say that I think they should be in the Hall. I think Puckett’s elevation was more of an emotional catharsis for the voters, not based at all on his record, and Youngs might or might not have had a career through his mid thirties that matched what he achieved through his age 27 season, but there’s no telling. And that really is my point. With the exceptions of Munson and Keller, who I feel have real cases to support them, I put the other names forth merely to… Read more »

Bob Eno

10 days ago

Reply to no statistician but

We’re actually in agreement, nsb. Certainly, consistency would be welcome; I just don’t think we should let past inconsistency determine what future consistency should be. I think a Wing of If-Only added to the Hall of Fame is nice in concept. And I didn’t mean Puckett was as good as Sisler or like Sisler, only that their cases are in one class and that Youngs’s is in another. Youngs, like Sisler, had seven productive seasons (4303 PA) but he only produced about 31 WAR in them compared to Sisler’s 47 (in 4280 PA). Puckett produced at a rate like Youngs… Read more »

Bob Eno

4 days ago

Has it been widely noted that the Dodgers, who have now defeated the Yankees in four World Series (never mind losing eight!), have beaten the Yankees in 7 games (1955), 6 games (1981), 5 games (2024), and 4 games (1963)? I believe no other team has defeated a single opponent in each of the four possible Series outcomes. (If the answer to my question is yes it will show how embarrassingly out of touch I’ve become.)

Doug

3 days ago

Reply to Bob Eno

Only two other instances of a team beating one opponent in the WS four or more times.
-Yankees over Dodgers: in 5, 6 and 7 games, but never a sweep
-Yankees over Giants: in 5, 6 and 7 games, but never a sweep

Only a few more instances of teams facing each other in the WS four or more times, showing series won.
-Cardinals (3) vs Yankees (2)
-Yankees (3) vs Braves (1)
-Athletics (3) vs Giants (1)
-Cardinals (2) vs Red Sox (2)
-Cubs (2) vs Tigers (2)

Last edited 3 days ago by Doug