NEW YORK (AP) — Broadway vs. Hollywood. Subway vs. Freeway. Judge vs. Ohtani.
New York neighbors who became cross-country rivals, the Yankees and Dodgers renew their starry struggle in the World Series for the first time in 43 years.
“When you’re playing for the Dodgers and playing for the Yankees, it better feel different,” LA 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 each other starting Friday at Dodger Stadium, the Yankees coming off their 41st American League pennant and the Dodgers their 25th National League championship. New York is seeking its 28th World Series title but first since 2009, the Dodgers their eighth and second in a five-year span.
Yankees pinstripes vs. Dodgers Pantone 294. The Bronx Bombers vs. the Dem Bums’ descendants. The granite-and-limestone of new Yankee Stadium on chilly autumn nights vs. Dodger Stadium in sunny Chavez Ravine, with the San Gabriel Mountains beyond the pavilions.
“It’s kind of what the people wanted, what we all wanted,” Dodgers star Mookie Betts said. “It’s going to be a battle of two good teams, a lot 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 Big Apple against 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 started in 1941 with one of the wackiest World Series turns.
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 at strike three from Hugh Casey. The ball bounced away from Owen and rolled toward the Dodgers dugout as Henrich reached on the dropped third strike. Joe DiMaggio singled, Charlie Keller hit a two-run double and Joe Gordon added another two-run double later in the inning as the Yankees won 7-4 and went on to win the title in five games.
Lavagetto’s two-out, pinch walk-off double in the ninth ended Bill Bevens’ no-hit bid in 1947’s Game 4 and two games later Gionfriddo robbed DiMaggio of a tying three-run homer.
New York beat the Dodgers again in 1949, 1952 and 1953, frustrating the fans in Flatbush, but Brooklyn finally won the title in 1955 when Podres pitched a Game 7 shutout at Yankee Stadium and Gil Hodges drove in both runs. Amoros preserved the lead when he made a running catch of Yogi Berra’s sixth-inning drive in the left-field corner with two on and relayed to shortstop Pee Wee Reese, who threw to Hodges at first and doubled up Gil McDougald. Those players were celebrated in Roger Kahn’s 1972 book “The Boys of Summer.”
Larsen pitched the World Series’ only perfect game in 1956’s fifth game in the Bronx, Berra jumping into his arms after the final out, and the Yankees won Game 7 behind Johnny Kucks’ three-hit shutout 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 interlocking “LA” on his cap instead of a “B" when he struck out a then-Series record 15 in the 1963 opener at Yankee Stadium. The rivalry didn’t resume until 1977 with the first of three matchups in a five-year span.
Jackson’s three home runs led the Yankees to a clinching win in 1977’s Game 6. 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 Lopes.
Los Angeles lost the first two games in the Bronx in 1981, and then won four in a row — capped by a 9-2 victory that had Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda dancing. The defeat prompted Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, his right hand bandaged after an alleged fight with Dodgers fans in a hotel elevator, to issue a written apology “to the people of New York and to the fans of the New York Yankees everywhere.”
Both teams feel the history created by their predecessors.
“You put that jersey on and those pinstripes, it just feels different,” Yankees slugger Juan Soto said.
Los Angeles took two of three when they met in a much-hyped series in June.
Roberts is reminded of the history when he approaches Dodger Stadium.
“I can’t believe I’m driving up Vin Scully Way, when I go to work,” he said. “It’s overwhelming, but I try not to let my head go there too often; I just try to do my job.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
FILE - New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra (8) jumps into the arms of pitcher Don Larsen after Larsen pitched the first perfect game in World Series history, defeating the Dodgers 2-0 at New York's Yankee Stadium, Oct. 8, 1956. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - In this combo image, New York Yankees slugger Reggie Jackson hits home runs on three consecutive pitches from three different Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers in Game 6 of the World Series, Oct. 18, 1977. Here, from left, Jackson goes deep off Burt Hooton in the fourth inning. Then, he takes Elias Sosa out of the park in the fifth. And finally, he admires his eighth inning homer off Charlie Hough. (AP Photos/Ray Stubblebine, File)
FILE - Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Johnny Podres is lifted by catcher Roy Campanella (39) after the final out of the seventh and deciding game of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, Oct. 4, 1955, in New York. (AP Photo, File)
Los Angeles Dodgers memorabilia is seen near the Dodgers clubhouse, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
The Boss shines in the documentary “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band” and Billy Crystal starring in a new series for Apple TV+ called “Before” are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Halsey's fifth studio album, the return of “Special Ops: Lioness” and the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 takes us to the 1990s.
— One of the documentary standouts of the Sundance Film Festival, “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” packs an emotional wallop. The film, which won both the audience award and the directing award for documentary at Sundance, is Mats Steen, a quadriplegic Norwegian who died from a degenerative disorder at age 25. After his death, his parents discovered their son’s life was far richer than they had imagined. To a wide “World of Warcraft” community, Steen was Ibelin Redwood, a cherished virtual friend. Much of the film, directed by Benjamin Ree ( “The Painter and the Thief” ), is told through “War of Warcraft”-style animation. Streaming Friday, Oct. 25, on Netflix.
– There hasn’t been a shortage of Bruce Springsteen documentaries in recent years, but “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band” (streaming Friday, Oct. 25, on Disney+ and Hulu), is still a notable addition to the ever-expanding cottage industry of all things Bruce. The film is directed by Thom Zimny, who was also behind the docs “Western Stars” and “Springsteen on Broadway." This one candidly captures the band on their 2023-2024 tour, with archival footage mixed in.
— The M. Night Shyamalan -produced thriller “Caddo Lake” has been popular on Max lately, and the filmmaker’s own film, “Trap,” joins it Friday, Oct. 25. In “Trap,” Josh Hartnett stars as a serial killer taking his teenage daughter to an arena popstar concert. The event, though, has been fashioned as, well, a trap to catch him. In her review, AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr called it “a solidly entertaining film that’s mostly silly and sometimes unnerving.”
— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle
— In June, Halsey revealed she’d been privately battling both systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, the most common form of lupus) and a rare T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder since 2022. On Friday, she’ll release her fifth studio album, “The Great Impersonator,” written and recorded in that time, what she’s publicly referred to as “the space between life and death.” Lyrically, the album touches on those themes — and musically, it is a great return to form for Halsey, an exploration of the music she deeply loves, done in her own fashion. There’s the interpolation of Britney Spears on “Lucky,” the shoegaze-meets-nu-metal “Lonely is the Muse,” the pop-punky “Ego” and the folky “The End.”
— Also on Friday, Oct. 25, Andrea Bocelli — arguably the world’s most recognizable tenor — will release a new album of duets, simply titled “Duets,” on the 30th anniversary of his debut album, 1994’s “Il Mare Calmo della Sera.” Bocelli tackles his best known hits, now with new singing partners: Sarah Brightman on “Time to Say Goodbye,” Jennifer Lopez on “Quizás, Quizás, Quizás,” Céline Dion on “The Prayer,” and so on. It’s all A-listers here: Ed Sheeran, Gwen Stefani, Chris Stapleton, Marc Anthony, Karol G and more make an appearance.
— Country-pop star Kelsea Ballerini is in love. But her fifth studio album, “Patterns,” is no “happy-go-lucky, mushy, gushy record,” as she told The Associated Press earlier this summer. Instead, her album examines a breadth of human experience, specifically what she’s identified as “learning how to go from fighting with something or with someone, to fighting for something or for someone.” It’s a lofty goal, one she manages with ease across songs like “Sorry Mom,” a swaying, guitar-pop confessional with intergenerational appeal. Banjos and beat drops appear here, too, in equal measure.
— ’N Sync’s J.C. Chasez first new album in 20 years, “Playing With Fire” alongside collaborator Jimmy Harry, is a musical theater concept album inspired by Mary Shelly’s 1818 novel, “Frankenstein.” It’s an unusual mad lib, but it appears to center on grief and ambition – following a conversation between a dying Frankenstein and his monster at his wife’s grave site. Musically, it marries Chasez’s familiar falsetto, pop music and classical compositions.
— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman
— Another popular video game is getting the live-action treatment. “Like a Dragon: Yakuza,” is based on a Sega game released in 2005. It follows a powerful gangster named Kazuma Kiryu, (Ryoma Takeuchi), who has a good heart and strong moral conviction — despite his ties to the mob. Kiryu’s story unfolds in two timelines, 1995 when he first gets drawn into the yakuza and in 2005 as a made man. The series debuts on Prime Video on Thursday with both subtitles and dubbed versions.
— Social media star Nadia Caterina Munno, a chef known as The Pasta Queen, now has her own travel food show with the same name. Munno takes viewers on a tour of Italy and then into the kitchen where she demonstrates how to make authentic Italian dishes with fresh ingredients. She knows her stuff. Munno comes from a family of pasta makers that goes back generations and the series also features members of her famiglia. “The Pasta Queen” drops Thursday on Prime Video.
— Billy Crystal stars in a new series for Apple TV+ called “Before,” about a man grieving the death of his wife. A child therapist, Crystal’s character Eli, finds himself drawn to a young boy (played by Jacobi Jupe) whom he realizes may carry past trauma that could help his own. The show also stars Judith Light and Rosie Perez. It premieres Oct. 25 on the streamer.
— The Peabody Award-winning “Somebody Somewhere” starring Bridget Everett returns for its third and final season Sunday, Oct. 27 on HBO and Max. Everett plays Sam, a single woman who has found her people in a group of misfits in the Midwestern town of Manhattan, Kansas.
— Taylor Sheridan’s CIA show called “Special Ops: Lioness” returns for its second season Sunday, Oct. 27 on Paramount+. Zoe Saldaña plays a CIA operative named Joe who recruits young females to infiltrate terrorist organizations in a secret program called Lioness. Nicole Kidman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Kelly, Dave Annable and Laysla De Oliveira all are back for season two.
— Alicia Rancilio
— Activision’s venerable Call of Duty franchise has, for the most part, offered a rah-rah attitude about U.S. military might. Things get weirder in the Black Ops spinoffs, which have presented a loopy, paranoid history of geopolitical shenanigans from the Cold War to 2065. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 takes us to the 1990s. The Gulf War is breaking out, but Marine vet Frank Woods and his team have a bigger problem: The CIA has been taken over by a shadowy cabal that wants them dead. There are 16 new maps for multiplayer skirmishes, and once again you can team up with friends to blast through hordes of zombies. Answer the call Friday, Oct. 25, on Xbox X/S/One, PlayStation 5/4 or PC.
— Lou Kesten
This combination of images shows promotional art for the documentary "The Remarkable Life of Ibelin,” left, the series "Somebody, Somewhere," center, and the new series "Before." (Netflix/Max/Apple TV+ via AP)
This combination of album cover images shows "Duets" by Andrea Bocelli, from left, “Playing With Fire” by J.C. Chasez and Jimmy Harry, and “The Great Impersonator” by Halsey. (Decca-Sugar Music/Center Stage/Columbia via AP)
This album cover image shows "Duets" by Andrea Bocelli. (Decca-Sugar Music via AP)
This album cover image shows “Playing With Fire” by J.C. Chasez and Jimmy Harry. (Center Stage via AP)
This album cover image shows “The Great Impersonator” by Halsey. (Columbia via AP)
This cover image released by Black River Entertainment shows "Patterns" by Kelsea Ballerini. (Black River Entertainment via AP)
