The Dodgers–Yankees rivalry is a Major League Baseball (MLB) rivalry between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees. The Dodgers are a member club of the National League (NL) West division, and the Yankees are a member club of the American League (AL) East division. The rivalry between the Dodgers and Yankees is one of the most well-known rivalries in Major League Baseball. The two teams have met 11 times in the World Series, more times than any other pair of teams from the American and National leagues. The initial significance was embodied in the two teams' proximity in New York City, when the Dodgers initially played in Brooklyn while the Yankees played in the Bronx. After the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in , the rivalry retained its significance as the two teams represented the dominant cities on each coast of the United States, and since the 1980s, the two largest cities in the United States. The Yankees currently lead the regular season series 9–8. Although the rivalry's significance arose from the two teams' numerous World Series meetings, the Yankees and Dodgers have not met in the World Series since . They would not play each other in a non-exhibition game until 2004, when they played a 3-game interleague series. Nevertheless, games between the two teams have drawn sellout crowds.
World Series matchups
A new team in town, new stadiums built, Subway Series established
At the dawn of the 20th century, the American League was in its infancy, and one of its charter franchises (which would eventually become the Yankees) was the original Baltimore Orioles. The league, however, recognized that it required a presence in New York City, the country's largest market, in order to survive. Hence, it moved the Orioles to New York, which was already the home of two National League franchises, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants. The new team was eventually called the New York Highlanders due to their home field being Hilltop Park from 1903 to 1912.
After the Highlanders allowed the Giants to play at Hilltop Park when the latter's home stadium, the Polo Grounds, was undergoing reconstruction from a fire, the Giants invited the Highlanders to share the Polo Grounds with them. Since the Highlanders were no longer playing at higher elevations, they changed their name to the New York Yankees. The Dodgers also opened up their new field, Ebbets Field, in Brooklyn. Their opening game at the stadium was an exhibition game against the Highlanders on April 5, where future Yankee manager Casey Stengel had the game-winning hit for the Dodgers. The Highlanders would officially be called the Yankees later that year.
In 1920, the Giants notified the Yankees that they would have to find a new stadium of their own for the 1921 season. The Giants rescinded that eviction notice and allowed the Yankees to stay until the end of the 1922 season, when the Giants renovated the Polo Grounds and increased seating capacity from 38,000 to 50,000. Before that however, the 1921 World Series between the Giants and Yankees became the first Subway Series, as match-ups between the Dodgers and the Giants were not referred to as Subway Series. After losing to the Giants in that World Series and again the following year, the Yankees moved across the Harlem River to the original Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, where they captured their first World Series from the Giants in 1923.
1941: First meeting between the Bronx Bombers and "Dem Bums"
The Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers first met in the 1941 World Series. In Game 4, with the Yankees leading the series two games to one, the Dodgers led by one going to the top of the ninth inning and, with two outs, just barely missed getting the third out and wound up losing the game. With two outs, the Yankees' Tommy Henrich swung and missed with two strikes, but reached on a passed ball, as Dodger catcher Mickey Owen failed to hold on to the pitch. Henrich reached first base on the play. Owen recalled the incident:
Joe DiMaggio followed Henrich's at bat with a single before Charlie Keller hit a double to drive in both Henrich and DiMaggio and give the Yankees a 5–4 lead. After Bill Dickey walked, he and Keller scored on a Joe Gordon double to make the final score 7–4. The next day, the Yankees clinched the first series match-up between the two teams in the start of what would become a long-lasting rivalry.
1947–53: "Wait 'til next year!"