For the fourth time in nine interleague series between the Dodgers and Yankees, both teams are in first place in their respective divisions.
The Dodgers playing the Yankees always feels like a big deal, no matter how the teams are doing at the time. But this weekend at Dodger Stadium has special significance given that it's the first time since interleague play began that they are both coming off a World Series appearance.
Interleague play began in 1997, but the first five years of its existence featured only teams against their same regional division. National League West teams only played American League West teams until 2002, when MLB began to cycle through playing other divisions.
Eight previous times the Dodgers and Yankees have played a regular season series over seven seasons, as 2013 saw a pair of two-game series in both New York and Los Angeles.
This weekend will be the fourth time in nine Dodgers-Yankees tilts with both teams in first place entering the series. The Dodgers are up two games on the Padres in the NL West, and the Yankees lead the Rays by 6½ games in the AL East. Three of the four first-place duels have been in the last four meetings, dating back to 2019.
The two teams have split 22 games against one another in interleague play, with no sweeps in any of the matchups. The teams split both two-game series in 2013, but in the last five three-game series, the road team has won two of three. The only time the home team won a Dodgers-Yankees series was in 2004, the first time they ever played one another in the regular season, with Los Angeles taking two of three games at Dodger Stadium.
