Dodgers: The Revival of the Yankees-Dodgers Rivalry

Two of the most iconic franchises in all of sports. The New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The big boys in the clubhouse when it comes to money and fan pull. It makes sense that these two powerhouses were rivals. These two teams have met in 11 World Series. But have yet to meet since 1981 in which the Dodgers came away victorious with a 4-2 series victory. This rivalry looks to be coming back from the dead, and we can once again see them duel for a title in the near future.

Since their last meeting 36 years ago the Dodgers have won just one championship and the Yankees behind future first-ballot Hall-of-Famers Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera have won five. The Bronx Bombers are constantly in the playoffs but in the past few seasons have struggled to get there as their core players aged and they had a very young farm system.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers have been perennial World Series contenders but just have not been able to get over the hump and get to the World Series since 1988. Continuing to put together great team after great team yet seem to find a way to lose before getting a spot in the fall classic. Most recently losing to in the NLCS to the Cubs who went on to win their first title in over 100 years.

With both teams having some of the best young talents in all of baseball we may be seeing a revival of this rivalry. This rivalry came in waves it came in the late 40’s, mid 50’s and most recently in the late 70’s.  It hit a null in the 60’s and has does the same since 1981 it, and this rivalry looks to be dead once again. But there are a plethora of reasons as to why this rivalry will be brought back to life.

One of these reasons is the Dodgers and Yankees will be playing more often than before. Since the Houston Astros moved to the American League which evened up the leagues to 15 in both the AL and NL, inter-league schedules have changed. Beforehand, the majority of NL teams played just 12 inter-league games, 4 of which came against their natural rivalry, for the Dodgers that would be the Angels and the Mets for the Yankees.

But now they will play 16 inter-league games against an entire division and the four against their natural rival making up a total of 20 games, which brings the probability of these two teams playing during the regular season. Seeing these two teams play each other more often may re-create that bad blood these two teams once had.

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Another reason is the young polarizing stars that both franchises will have on their teams for many years to come. The duo of Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger against Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge. These four superstars are going to be fun to watch. Sanchez would have won the AL ROY last season had he not been called up so late in the season. Corey Seager did win the award last season. This season both Judge and Bellinger look like they are locks for the award.

These stars will help add fuel to the fire of this rivalry. Fans of the teams will argue which duo is better and will create a rivalry amongst the fans. We all know how strong both fan bases are around the country, whether in Minnesota or Hawaii you will find Dodger and Yankee fans everywhere. So there will always be fans backing their duo up arguing which is better and creating a divide amongst the teams.

Now the one thing that will be a sure-fire way to revive this rivalry would be about for the Commissioner’s Trophy. This is a very real possibility not only this season but for the next couple of seasons. Both the Yankees and Dodgers are real threats to win their respective leagues.

The Yankees have arguably the deadliest 1-2 punch at the back end of their bullpen in Betances and Chapman. As many have found out the hard way, a bullpen can make or break games in October. Couple that with pitchers who have electric stuff like Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka you have a great shot at getting deep in October. And we all know about the offensive power that this team can have when they are all healthy with Judge and Sanchez leading the charge.

Your Los Angeles Dodgers are the best team in the MLB at the moment and have the best bullpen in baseball. They have the best pitcher in the world. And this season they seem to have that magic as Cesar Becerra pointed out in his piece. They are never out of a game because of their deep lineup and looked primed for a World Series run.

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These two teams can end up playing for the title this October. Nothing heats up a rivalry more than putting everything at stake. These two teams might have played bully ball by using their resources to steal players, but now they have developed a farm system filled with young talent that will be contenders for many years which will revive this rivalry that is dead at the moment.