The last time the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees convened at Yankee Stadium, massive amounts of champagne were sprayed in the visiting clubhouse to celebrate a World Series title.
The only celebrations this time will be one team shaking hands on the field after securing victories starting Friday night when the Dodgers visit the Yankees for the opener of a three-game series.
Neither team has announced who will be their starting pitcher as of Thursday afternoon.
The teams are meeting in New York for the first time since Oct. 30, 2024, in Game 5 of the World Series when the Dodgers scored five runs in a mistake-filled fifth inning for a 7-6 win that clinched a title. The Dodgers are coming off another World Series victory by outlasting the Toronto Blue Jays in a Game 7 last season and head to New York with an MLB-best record of 61-36.
Perhaps the only concerns recently are the condition of Shohei Ohtani’s knee and taking a three-game losing streak into the All-Star break. It is unclear if Ohtani will pitch in the series, but he will be in the lineup after getting his left knee drained.
The procedure was done to alleviate some irritation, and it led to Ohtani sitting out the All-Star game. Ohtani underwent the procedure after hitting his 22nd homer in Sunday’s 5-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The knee pain caused the Dodgers to skip his last turn on the mound.
The Dodgers are on their third three-game skid this season after dropping four straight April 28-May 2 and May 9-12. Los Angeles is 2-5 over its past seven games after getting held to three hits Sunday when it also committed a pair of errors and headed into the break with an 11 1/2-game lead in the NL West.
“We’re still battling for the best record in baseball, and we’re still battling ourselves in the sense of trying to play good baseball and continuing to play good baseball. That’s what we’re trying to really shoot for,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. “But we haven’t done that well here in the last handful of days. I think the lead, the division lead, I don’t think it’s as important as just ourselves playing better baseball.”
The Yankees headed into the break feeling better about things by winning four straight to cut their deficit in the AL East from five games to three. New York’s 3-0 loss at Tampa Bay on July 8 gave it 15 losses in 20 games but the Yankees started a four-game winning streak with a 12-4 win at Tampa Bay the following day and swept a three-game series in Washington by scoring 10 runs in the eighth inning or beyond.
New York entered the All-Star break with Sunday’s 5-3 win when Ben Rice had an eighth inning two-run triple to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead. Rice is hitting .359 with six homers and 14 RBIs this month after hitting .196 in 26 games last month without Aaron Judge hitting behind him.
Judge was scheduled to undergo imaging this week on his fractured rib and the Yankees are hoping to see some kind of progress. The Yankees are 18-19 without Judge and will play their next 22 games against teams who currently own a winning record.
“It’s the best team with the best record in the big leagues, so we’re going to have to come out ready,” New York outfielder Cody Bellinger said. “You know they’re going to come out ready – and once Friday comes, it’s right back to it.”
–Field Level Media
