Yankees and Dodgers face each other in the World Series for the 12th time in a showdown between Broadway and Hollywood

NEW YORK (AP) – Broadway x Hollywood. Subway x highway. Judge vs. Ohtani.

New York neighbors turned cross-country rivals, the Yankees and Dodgers renew their star-studded fight in the World Series for the first time in 43 years.

“When you’re playing for the Dodgers and the Yankees, it better be different,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said at Yankee Stadium last June. “If not, you better do something different for a profession.”

Two of baseball’s most successful teams face off starting Friday at Dodger Stadium, the Yankees coming off their 41st American League pennant and the Dodgers coming off their 25th National League championship. New York is seeking its 28th World Series title but its first since 2009, the Dodgers their eighth and their second in five years.

Yankees pinstripes vs. Dodgers Pantone 294. The Bronx Bombers vs. the descendants of the Dem Bums. The granite and limestone of the new Yankee Stadium on cool fall nights versus Dodger Stadium in sunny Chavez Ravine, with the San Gabriel Mountains beyond the pavilions.

“It’s kind of what people wanted, what we all wanted,” said Dodgers star Mookie Betts. “It will be a battle between two good teams, lots of long flights across the country.”

New York is 8-3 against the Dodgers in the most frequent World Series matchup, including 6-1 against Brooklyn and 2-2 since the rivalry became the Big Apple versus Tinseltown.

Mickey Owen, Al Gionfriddo, Cookie Lavagetto, Sandy Amoros, Johnny Podres, Don Larsen, Sandy Koufax and Reggie Jackson created indelible images in the matchup, which began in 1941 with one of the World Series’ wildest comebacks.

Trailing 2-1 in the Series, Brooklyn led 4-3 with two outs in the ninth inning at Ebbets Field when Tommy Henrich swung and missed on Hugh Casey’s third strike. The ball bounced away from Owen and rolled toward the Dodgers’ dugout as Henrich reached for strike three. Joe DiMaggio singled, Charlie Keller hit a two-run double, and Joe Gordon added another two-run double in the bottom of the inning as the Yankees won 7-4 and clinched the title in five games.

Lavagetto’s double in the ninth ended Bill Bevens’ no-hit effort in Game 4 of 1947 and two games later, Gionfriddo robbed DiMaggio of a game-tying three-run homer.

New York beat the Dodgers again in 1949, 1952 and 1953, frustrating fans in Flatbush, but Brooklyn finally won the title in 1955 when Podres homered in Game 7 at Yankee Stadium and Gil Hodges drove in both runs. Amoros preserved the lead when he hit Yogi Berra’s sixth-inning shot into the left field corner with two scored and relayed it to shortstop Pee Wee Reese, who threw to Hodges at first and doubled off Gil McDougald. These players were celebrated in Roger Kahn’s 1972 book “The Boys of Summer.”

Larsen pitched the only perfect game of the World Series in the fifth game of 1956 in the Bronx, Berra jumping into his arms after the final out, and the Yankees won Game 7 behind Johnny Kucks’ three hits in what turned out to be the last World Series game. at Ebbets Field.

Walter O’Malley moved the Dodgers to California after the 1957 season, and Koufax had an “LA” woven into his cap instead of a “B” when he hit a Series-record 15 in the 1963 opener at Yankee Stadium. the rivalry did not resume until 1977, with the first of three clashes in a five-year period.

Jackson’s three home runs led the Yankees to a decisive victory in Game 6 of 1977. The Yankees won another six-game series the following year, highlighted by third baseman Graig Nettles’ diving stops on Reggie Smith, Steve Garvey and Davey Lopez.

Los Angeles lost the first two games in the Bronx in 1981 and then won four straight games – culminating in a 9-2 victory that made Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda dance. The loss prompted Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, his right hand bandaged after an alleged altercation with Dodgers fans in a hotel elevator, to issue a written apology “to the people of New York and the fans of New York Yankees everywhere.”

Both teams feel the history created by their predecessors.

“You wear that jersey and those stripes, you look different,” Yankees slugger Juan Soto said.

Los Angeles took two of the three when they met on a much-hyped series in June.

Roberts remembers the story as he approaches Dodger Stadium.

“I can’t believe I’m driving down Vin Scully Way when I go to work,” he said. “It’s impressive, but I try not to let my head stay there too often; I just try to do my job.”

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