| 1981 World Series | ||||||||||
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| Dates | October 20–28 | |||||||||
| Venue(s) | Yankee Stadium (New York) Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles) | |||||||||
| MVP | Ron Cey, Pedro Guerrero, and Steve Yeager (Los Angeles) | |||||||||
| Umpires | Larry Barnett (AL), Nick Colosi (NL), Terry Cooney (AL), Doug Harvey (NL), Rich Garcia (AL), Dick Stello (NL) | |||||||||
| Hall of Famers | Umpire: Doug Harvey Dodgers: Tommy Lasorda (manager). Yankees: Goose Gossage Reggie Jackson Bob Lemon (manager) Dave Winfield | |||||||||
| Broadcast | ||||||||||
| Television | ABC | |||||||||
| TV announcers | Keith Jackson (in New York) Al Michaels (in Los Angeles) Howard Cosell and Jim Palmer | |||||||||
| Radio | CBS | |||||||||
| Radio announcers | Vin Scully and Sparky Anderson | |||||||||
| Streaming | ||||||||||
| ALCS | New York Yankees over Oakland Athletics (3–0) | |||||||||
| NLCS | Los Angeles Dodgers over Montreal Expos (3–2) | |||||||||
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The 1981 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1981 season. The 78th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion New York Yankees and the National League (NL) champion Los Angeles Dodgers. It marked their third Series meeting in five years and was their 11th overall Series meeting. The Dodgers won the Series in six games, as the Yankees had done in the teams' prior two Series meetings, in 1977 and 1978. This was the Dodgers' first title since 1965, their first victory over the Yankees since 1963, and third overall Series win over the Yankees.
This is the most recent World Series that a team won after losing the first two games on the road, the next previous instance being the Yankees' victory over the Dodgers in the 1978 World Series. This was the last meeting between teams from New York City and Los Angeles for a major professional sports championship until the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers reached the NHL's 2014 Stanley Cup Finals,[1][2] as well as the last meeting between the Dodgers and the Yankees in the World Series until 2024. The Dodgers-Yankees matchup has been the most frequent pairing in World Series history.[3]
- ^ Branch, John (June 5, 2014). "New York vs. Los Angeles: Rivalry Revived". The New York Times. p. B11.
- ^ Barnes, Mike (June 1, 2014). "Stanley Cup Final: Kings vs. Rangers in L.A.-New York Championship Duel". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
- ^ Corcoran, Cliff (June 18, 2013). "Fall Classics: The 11 World Series showdowns between the Yankees and Dodgers". si.com. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
The Yankees have traveled to Dodger Stadium twice for an interleague matchup, once in 2004 and once in 2010. Prior to that, they had only met in the World Series, where they have squared off a record 11 times (next on the list: Yankees-Giants, seven times, and Yankees-Cardinals, five) for a total of 66 games, including some of the most famous in baseball history.