In the city of stars, there has been a baseball split that’s always present. Or to more accurately phrase it, in the metropolitan area that the city’s name has been attached to. One team has had long sustained success in many different eras, with championships and playoff appearances always being expectations that are met. The other team has had a bit more of a struggle through the different playoff formats in baseball history, but they have had at least two great eras of being playoff contenders and one of those eras yielded them a World Series title. For the past decade and a half, both these teams have played constantly against each other in the preseason and regular season schedules in a rivalry defined by a road built for travel along the most populated stretch of Southern California. Being in different western divisions as the “Los Angeles” teams of MLB, one team has dominated their division while the other has fallen on hard times as their division gained a fifth team and that fifth team started dominating the division. This is in the past decade and a half, when the world has changed much and so have the fortunes of these two teams facing off in the most traffic-named series in the sports world. Sure, you have the I-70 Showdown in Missouri between the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals and the Beltway Battle between the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles and the War For I-4 for the University of Central Florida Knights versus the University of South Florida Bulls. And in the past five-plus years, you have El Tráfico in the L.A area between the LA Galaxy and LAFC soccer clubs. But nothing compares to the Freeway Series between the Los Angeles(umm, Anaheim) Angels and the Los Angeles Dodgers when it comes to energy and a sense of unity and division at the same time between the fans of both teams.

It’s really one of the only rivalries in sports where you could be a fan of one team and a friend or family member could be the fan of the other team. UCLA and USC share the same dynamic of fans being united with each other in rivalry like Angels and Dodgers fans are. When it comes to a rivalry, any team can win and that’s the case in the Freeway Series. But the pendulum has been swinging, no pun intended, in the past few years in the rivalry. The Halos dominated the Freeway Series for the first 20-plus years of the regular season rivalry against the Dodgers and part of that was due to having a former Dodger great as the manager of the team. I’ll be mentioning his name a lot. But since this decade has started, the Dodgers have been doing better in Freeway Series games and have also been more successful as a franchise in achieving their gold standard more often in winning a couple World Series titles. The Angels, meanwhile, have gone in a completely opposite direction and have fallen on hard times as one of the greatest and most uniquely talented baseball players in a hundred years decided to spurn them and join the team up the road. And thus the dynamic of success on the field and off it has been more profoundly pointed in the favor of the team with the “city of Angels” letters on their hat rather than the team with the gigantic A with a halo over it who play miles south of the big city. Let me explain these dynamics and how both teams have fared so far in the past decade, regardless of their results against each other in the Freeway Series.

This series is named the Freeway Series because of the Interstate 5 freeway, which stretches itself across the Pacific coastline of the nation. Stretching from south of San Diego where the U.S border with Mexico is to the northern reaches of Washington state with the border of the Canadian province of British Columbia, the I-5 has been a massive part of life on the West Coast. Los Angeles is the biggest city that the I-5 goes through and it stretches through the heart of the L.A metro area. That includes Orange County, where a famous phrase that was said in the hippie days of road travel was “There is no life east of I-5”. Anaheim is on that stretch of the 5 freeway and it is where the Angels decided to move after sharing the then-nascent Dodger Stadium with its namesake in the Los Angeles Dodgers, who created an early dynasty of titles in L.A with World Series wins in 1959, 1962 and 1965. For thirty-five plus years, both the Angels and Dodgers never played each other in the regular season. Given the segregated state of MLB when the terms “American League” and “National League” actually meant something in terms of separation, the only times these teams played was in preseason exhibition games either in Anaheim or at Elysian Park, where Dodger Stadium was built on the bones of a former neighborhood filled mostly with Mexican-descended residents. Some say that the Big A was built on a Native American burial site for superstitious reasons, but that hasn’t been confirmed. Anyhow, the Angels played the first decade-plus of baseball in Orange County with little success, not being able to make the playoffs as the leagues decided to have LCS series when two divisions were established. The Halos finally started contending with different managers and having Gene Autry at the helm as owner in the late 1970s. In 1979, they finally broke through and won the AL West, making their first playoff appearance after 20 years of being locked out of the postseason by better teams in the division and league. That first playoff appearance ironically came after the Dodgers made three World Series appearances in the decade famous for rock-n-roll, disco and anti-war protests. The team formerly called “Dem Bums” in Brooklyn lost all three World Series, including in back-to-back years to the vaunted New York Yankees. Two years after the Halos made their first appearance in the playoffs, the Dodgers made it back to the World Series and defeated the Yankees in 1981. In a season filled with a shorter schedule due to a players strike, the Dodgers captured magic behind a young, left-handed starting pitcher by the name of Fernando Valenzuela. With FernandoMania in full effect and Tommy Lasorda as the manager, the Dodgers won their fourth title in L.A and fifth in franchise history. The next year, the Angels had another chance at success as they won the AL West again. But they were defeated in a devastating ALCS to the Milwaukee Brewers, who were in the American League only because there were too many teams in the National League. In 1986, the Halos, with their California moniker, ended up making another run to the playoffs with another division title, but with a best-of-7 format they had to win four games in the LCS to make it to the World Series. A walk-off hit by Bobby Grich in Game 4 over the Boston Red Sox should have been a series clincher in any year before 1985, but it wasn’t in this case. The very next day, the Angels suffered their most devastating loss in franchise history to that point as they were outlasted by Boston in an extra-inning loss that forced the series back to Fenway Park, where the Red Sox dominated both Games 6 and 7 to win the pennant. A crushing defeat that left a sour taste in many Halos’ fans mouths and it still does sting. But thankfully a little less since the Angels took a long path to get back to the playoffs and win the World Series.

A couple years later, the Dodgers went on an incredible run to return to the World Series in 1988, where an improbable moment occurred in Game 1 of the series against the Oakland Athletics. Kirk Gibson, hobbled as he was, came up to bat with two outs and a man on as the go-ahead run at the plate against Dennis Eckersley, the great closer for the A’s. A long at-bat ensued that ended with a blast by Gibson into the right-field bleachers that was a game-winning home run. Due to Gibson’s injured status, Eckersley simply said “He walked off on me” and the term “walk-off” was born. The Dodgers won the series in five games and had solidified their status as one of baseball’s best teams of the latter 20th century. While the Dodgers under Lasorda were winding down, the Angels weren’t having much luck either. Having nearly missed out on playoff appearances in 1989 and 1995, the Angels had to rebuild themselves and their stadium. After the football tenant Los Angeles Rams departed the SoCal area entirely, the Big A was renovated from its old self into its current form. The Angels also changed ownership as Gene Autry sold the team to the Walt Disney Company and he passed away in 1998. The Halos had a new regional moniker of Anaheim and would eventually change their logo to the current big A with the platinum halo around it. The year that happened was 2002 and it came after finishing way behind the Seattle Mariners the year before who had won 116 games in the regular season. The Angels would go on an incredible run in the 2002 regular season that had them pitted with the Moneyball Oakland A’s for a shot to win the four-team AL West division. The Angels won 99 games, but it was not enough to win the division. But it was good enough to give them the sole Wild Card spot in the American League. In the new three-series gauntlet format in the playoffs for the first time, the Halos played in their first League Division Series against the New York Yankees, who were trying to keep their dynasty alive. The Angels won one game at old Yankee Stadium, then won both games at Edison Field(what the Big A was called for the years when Disney owned them) to win their first playoff series in franchise history. In the ALCS, they faced the Minnesota Twins, who had a rowdy crowd at their home venue in the MetroDome that they shared with my favorite football team in the Minnesota Vikings. The Angels dropped Game 1 again, but then won Game 2 of the series. The middle three games were played in Anaheim and the Halos made sure the series would not go back to Minnesota. Winning Games 3, 4 and 5, the Angels finally clinched the AL pennant and were set to play in an all-California World Series against the San Francisco Giants. The series would be epic, featuring clutch hits from a load of different Halos players that competed hard for the team name on the front of the jersey and not the name on the back of it. Tim Salmon’s clutch two-run homer in Game 2 lifted them to their first WS game victory ever. After only winning one game in San Francisco, the Angels faced elimination in Game 6. Down 5-0, they fought back in the late innings and that rally was sparked by a three-run shot by Scott Spiezio. A three run eighth inning gave the Halos the lead and Troy Percival got the save in the top of the ninth to force the series to a Game 7. On Sun. Oct 27, 2002 the Angels played a primetime game against the Giants in the biggest game in franchise history. After going down 1-0 again, the Halos reclaimed the lead as Garret Anderson hit a ball down the right-field line that cleared the bases. The rest of the game would be scoreless and Percival locked down the save with a fly out by Kenny Lofton caught by Darin Erstad that ended the series and sent the stadium into a frenzy of happiness and joy. The Anaheim Angels were the champions of baseball. An incredible feat accomplished with a great coaching staff led by Mike Scioscia, who had won two World Series as a catcher with the Dodgers in the 80s. A lot of those coaches, such as Joe Maddon(bench coach), Bud Black(pitching coach) and Ron Roenicke(third base coach) would go on to be managers elsewhere. The Angels were on top of the world and they were just getting started in the first decade of the 21st century.

While the Halos succeeded and started winning division titles, the Dodgers were facing some rough waters in the NL West. They had to compete with good teams that made the playoffs and even went to World Series themselves. The Arizona Diamondbacks had turned themselves into a successful expansion franchise with a WS title in 2001, the San Diego Padres were making playoff appearances as well, the Giants were doing their best to compete in Barry Bonds’ latter years and the Colorado Rockies(even the Rockies) made a World Series appearance in 2007. The Dodgers, meanwhile, were looking to rebuild with prospects and finding the right manager. They found some luck with Joe Torre coming over from the Yankees to manage for a few years, leading the Dodgers to division titles and at least one NLCS appearance. By the time the 2000s decade had ended, the Angels had accumulated more success than the Dodgers had in the decade of flip phones, new-era pop songs and a faulty search engine. But things started changing in the next decade as the Halos looked to retool with the biggest prospect they had ever drafted in Mike Trout, who was a young teenage guy with a buzz cut hairstyle when he made his big league debut in 2011. The Halos would start falling short of the playoffs in the AL West, which expanded to five teams in 2013 with the placement of the Houston Astros in the division. The Dodgers had some rough luck competing with the even-year dynasty that their rivals to the north in the Giants had forged, but they were contending for the playoffs still. In 2014, the Angels made the playoffs for the first time with Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and a few other players. With the best record in baseball that year at 98-64, the Angels would await the winner of the AL Wild Card game. That team was the Kansas City Royals, who hadn’t made the playoffs since winning the World Series in 1985. Kansas City had built up their teams with prospects and some free agent signings and they were hungry for success. They defeated Oakland in the Wild Card game, then came to California with winning on their mind. The Royals won Game 1 at the Big A, then gave the Angels another devastating playoff home defeat in Game 2 of the ALDS, a game that I attended as my first(and only) Angels playoff game to date. The game went to extra innings and Mike Moustakas hit a two-run shot that gave KC the lead. The Halos were unable to respond and the last out of the game was a Mike Trout strikeout. Up 2-0, the Royals wasted no time finishing the Angels off in Game 3, when they completed the sweep and won their first playoff series in nearly 30 years. The Halos were defeated, but surely they would be back next year, right? Wrong!

Meanwhile, the Dodgers had a good foundation with good players such as Matt Kemp, Andre Either, James Loney, Adrian Gonzalez and others offensively. As for their pitching staff, it was spearheaded by a young prospect that they drafted in the mid-2000s and who made his debut in 2008. Clayton Kershaw was the definition of a sure thing as a starting pitcher and he would start putting up dominating numbers in successful seasons for himself and his team. For the bullpen, L.A had a young hurler with a sick cutter from the isle of Curaçao by the name of Kenley Jansen, who got saves with incredible efficiency and he would walk out onto the Dodger Stadium field to the tune of “California Love” playing over the loudspeakers. The Dodgers continued their success under Don Mattingly as manager, but he wasn’t able to lead them to enough playoff success. Another former player took over as manager for the Dodgers in 2016 and his name is Dave Roberts. Famous for sparking a rally via a stolen base that brought the Boston Red Sox back from the brink down 3-0 to the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS, Roberts had a good career as a utility man for different teams. In 2016, Roberts’ first year managing, the Dodgers made it back to the playoffs with a second straight NL West title and they would be defeated in the NLCS by the Chicago Cubs, who went on to win their first World Series title in 108 years. In 2017, the Dodgers won another division title and then made it to the World Series after defeating the Cubs this time, but they were defeated by the Houston Astros on their home field in Game 7. The Dodgers would again have another 100-plus win season in 2018 that had them tango with the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS, but they won in 7 games to return to the Fall Classic, where they were beaten by Boston in five games on their home field. In 2019, they won 106 games, but that didn’t matter as they were taken out by the Washington Nationals in the NLDS. And again, the Dodgers lost on their home field in the deciding game of the series. While this string of failures was occurring for those in Dodger Blue, Halos fans were graced with incredible feats accomplished by Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and another special player that had chosen to sign with them.

In the offseason of 2017, after another mediocre season that failed to yield a playoff appearance, the Angels had seemingly hit the lottery when they signed a uniquely talented superstar who decided to come to the United States after competing professionally for over five years in his home nation of Japan, a country that worships baseball just as much(or even more) than the U.S does. Coming from a team called the Nippon-Ham Fighters, the young 23-year old two-way superstar by the name of Shohei Ohtani had signed with the Halos. Having the ability to pitch as a starter and hit from the left side of the plate, Ohtani was definitely worth the bargain. But it was a risk because Shohei could be exposed to health issues due to the long nature of the MLB season. He had to be managed carefully and was treated with kid gloves in his first season playing stateside. Ohtani didn’t need to be the superstar he was meant to be yet, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols were shouldering the load of superstardom with the Halos. Albert had just achieved his 600th career homer the year before and would get his 3,000th hit within a month of this season. Meanwhile, Trout was dominating offensively and defensively with big numbers and the one stat that people were starting to use with him was WAR, or Wins Above Replacement. Simply put, Trout was playing way better than any player brought in to replace him. And Ohtani started dazzling in his limited role. Pitching on every sixth day with a six-man rotation and getting a day off before and after every start he made, Shohei was a great designated hitter who used his bat with great precision. Unfortunately, Ohtani had an issue with his throwing arm and had to undergo a miniature version of Tommy John Surgery that prohibited him from pitching for the next couple years. But as a batter alone, he was incredible. Winning the Rookie of the Year Award for the American League, Ohtani San was on his way to great things. Sadly, the Angels were not.

Mike Scioscia stepped down as manager after nearly 20 years of being in the role and Arte Moreno naturally installed the assistant general manager to Billy Eppler in Brad Ausmus, who had managerial experience with the Detroit Tigers for a few years beforehand, as the new manager. The Halos endured a rough 2019 that featured the tragic passing of Tyler Skaggs to an overdose of fentanyl laced in painkillers and they finished with their worst record in roughly 20 years at 72-90. Then, the world was hit with the coronavirus pandemic and the season would be shortened in 2020. Momentum was paused after an offseason of positive news for Angels Baseball. The front office signed World Series hero for the Washington Nationals in Anthony Rendon, who helped take down the Dodgers in that 2019 playoff run, to a massive free agency deal. Along with the signing of Rendon off his best season ever, the Angels had struck a deal with the city of Anaheim to purchase the land that Angel Stadium stands on and were already planning on building a new ballpark district on the parking lot of the stadium as part of the Platinum Triangle Project that had just begun across the freeway with the building of a new train station. Things were looking bright and rosy for the Halos entering a new decade, one which has been defined by horrible things in the baseball world and the real world(read my article on the Big A stadium dilemma to learn how things have fallen apart when it came to the grand vision that Arte Moreno had).

The Dodgers made a big move themselves before COVID-19 hit, as they made a trade with the Boston Red Sox to acquire a guy who had just beaten them in the World Series in 2018. The Dodgers traded away outfielder Alex Verdugo and a couple of young prospects to Boston in exchange for Mookie Betts and David Price. Betts was instrumental in providing the Red Sox with their fourth World Series title in 15 years, having the ability to do clutch things offensively with the bat and defensively with the glove. Betts was a right fielder by trade and someone who could join their team filled with veteran and young stars alike. The Dodgers had Cody Bellinger in their outfield as a center fielder, so Betts was a right field option that they had been looking for since Andre Either retired. Along with Bellinger, who was an MVP winner in 2019, the Dodgers had Corey Seager at shortstop, Justin Turner at third base, and Will Smith(not the actor) at catcher. Along with a constantly-shifting to other teams utility man in Enrique “Kiké” Hernandez, the Dodgers were set offensively. For their pitching staff, they had Kershaw paired with a bunch of young arms with Walker Buehler, Julio Urías, Ross Stripling and others in their starting staff. Kenley Jansen was still manning the bullpen and the one thing that had deterred the Dodgers from winning a championship was poor bullpen pitching from the other relievers. One thing that was sour for them in the 2020 spring training that was shortened due to the virus was that they found out that the Astros had used a sign-stealing tactic of banging on trash cans to let the hitters know what kind of pitch was coming from the opposing pitcher in 2017. The scandal would come with no consequences for the players who participated in it who were still playing in MLB(the big five were Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, George Springer, Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel), but A.J Finch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were both fired from their positions and Finch was suspended for the 2020 season. So, that was interesting.

The season started in late July and was 60 games long with an expanded playoff format allowing for eight teams from each league to make it in. This was a golden chance for the Angels to make it to the playoffs and under a new manager. Joe Maddon was hired from his position of managing the Chicago Cubs to that World Series title in 2016 and he was back where he belonged in the Angels organization. Maddon would now be managing a team that had Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Anthony Rendon and a hitting-only Shohei Ohtani. This team was meant to go into the playoffs. Sadly, with pitching woes and injury woes being the same bugaboos along with having a schedule that was tailored only towards facing their “regional” opponents, the Angels barely fell short of the 2020 playoffs. They went 26-34 and six of those losses were to… the Dodgers. The Freeway Series with no fans featured a six-game sweep by the team in blue and the last series of the regular season was at Dodger Stadium. The Halos still had a chance to sneak into one of those extra Wild Card spots for the two best teams that didn’t finish in the top-two spots of a division, but they barely fell short. The Dodgers, meanwhile, secured the top seed in the National League playoffs and they played a best-of-3 Wild Card series against Milwaukee in front of no fans on their home field. They easily dispatched the Brewers, then played a neutral site NLDS against their division rival San Diego Padres at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The newest MLB ballpark played host to one NLDS, while Houston’s Minute Maid Park hosted the other one. The ALDS and ALCS would be played in empty stands in California at Petco Park and Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers defeated the Padres in the NLDS, then faced the Braves in the NLCS, where some fans were permitted to attend the series. The Braves had a 3-1 series lead, but they choked it as the Dodgers came from behind to win in seven games. Back in the World Series for the third time in four years, the premier baseball club in southern California looked to win it all this time around. The Tampa Bay Rays were their opponent as they had run the gauntlet to make it to this point. Tampa Bay had a bunch of young stars, including outfielder Randy Arozarena, who was on a tear in the 2020 playoffs. The Dodgers would be in a relatively close series with Tampa Bay, who won a couple games in the neutral site World Series including an incredible walk-off win that had Brett Phillips doing the airplane celebration across the field after they had won. With the series tied at 2, the Dodgers would not mess around as they won Game 5 and then Game 6 was defined by a questionable move by Rays manager Kevin Cash in taking his star ace Blake Snell out of the game relatively early. The Dodgers would take advantage of that and they took the lead, which they did not surrender. Julio Urias came in the game in the bottom of the ninth to secure the title for the Dodgers and he was able to do so. L.A was back on top of the baseball world as the boys in blue won their first World Series title in over 30 years. Obviously, it was done in a weird format in a shortened season, but the accomplishment was still very sweet for the Dodgers. Especially considering that a couple famous figures from their golden years in Tinseltown would pass away in the next couple years. Tommy Lasorda died in early 2021 at 93 years old and Vin Scully, the famous radio broadcast announcer who spent 67 seasons behind the microphone calling Dodgers games for generations of fans to hear, passed away in 2022 at 94 years of age. The Dodgers would not have a championship parade, but they joined the Lakers in winning titles in “bubble” formats in the month of October 2020. An incredible accomplishment nonetheless.

The Halos, meanwhile, were set to welcome Shohei Ohtani back into their starting rotation. After a failed attempt in 2020 to get him some innings, Shohei returned to the mound and started dominating the game from both sides. This occurred with him still being a DH, but he did some special stuff in spite of the Angels looking to keep his bat in the lineup by moving him to play in the outfield in the late innings. Because of how great Ohtani did(and with little restrictions from Maddon), he won his first MVP title and in the wake of the lockout that occurred in the 2021 offseason, as part of a new CBA between the league office and players union Ohtani also got his own special rule pertaining to him. Shohei could now stay in the game as a DH on days where he was pitching. Due to the DH now being fully universal(with the National League ballparks now incorporating it), Shohei no longer had to worry about his availability for playing in interleague games occurring at NL ballparks. Ohtani’s numbers offensively and pitching-wise were off the charts. He hit 46 HRs and 100 RBIs in 2021 while snagging 26 stolen bases and having eight triples. Pitching wise in 2021, he went 9-2 with 156 strikeouts recorded and a 3.18 ERA and a WHIP of 1.09. Definitely deserving to win the MVP. Sadly, the Angels did not make the playoffs and only managed 77 wins in that season. A big reason why the Halos struggled to win with Ohtani at his peak were the injury woes to the other two big stars of Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon. In 2021, Trout suffered a season-ending hamstring tear in mid-May and Rendon had leg issues that prevented him from playing beyond the 4th of July. In 2022, Trout and Rendon were hampered as well and the Angels had a franchise-record 14-game losing streak that shrunk them from 10 games over .500 to four games under. Joe Maddon was fired, Phil Nevin was tabbed as the interim and the team finished 73-89. The same record occurred in 2023, when Ohtani, Trout and Rendon all missed significant amounts of time. Ohtani played his last game as an Angel on Sept. 3, 2023 in Oakland as he suffered a hamstring tear in batting practice at the Big A on Labor Day. He already suffered a debilitating injury on the mound that required him to go under the mend again after his time as a hitter was finished. Shohei hit 34 home runs in 2022 and had 44 home runs in 2023. He could have gotten to 50 if he had played the final few weeks of his last year in Halo Red. Shohei still won the AL MVP award, something he didn’t win in 2022 when he had his best pitching year yet with a 15-win season, 2.33 ERA and 219 strikeouts for the year. The pitching stats weren’t as good in 2023, but he still managed 10 wins and 167 strikeouts across four and a half months of mound action. Simply put, the Angels were running out of time to convince Shohei to stay in Anaheim. Firing Phil Nevin didn’t help matters as they had to find a new manager. They did so right around the time Ohtani was announced as MVP, as Ron Washington was hired away from the Atlanta Braves to be the fourth manager that the Halos had hired since Mike Scioscia stepped down after the 2018 season. But things were about to change in a massive, seismic way in the baseball lexicon in Southern California and they already were before the 2023-24 offseason.

In the seasons after their Covid championship, the Dodgers started putting up triple-digit win totals again. Having signed Mookie Betts to a long contract extension upon acquiring him, the Dodgers looked to build around him by deciding who to keep on their roster and who to let go in free agency. In 2021, they made a run for a repeat by acquiring Trae Turner and Max Scherzer from the Nationals, but they would not win the NL West. The San Francisco Giants did, by finishing with 107 wins ahead of Los Angeles’ 106 wins. The Dodgers played in the final NL Wild Card Game, which they won at home and then took on the Giants in the NLDS. They defeated San Francisco in five games, then proceeded to be the road team in an NLCS where an under-90 win Atlanta Braves team had home-field advantage. The Braves got revenge over the Dodgers for the NLCS defeat in the Arlington bubble and ousted L.A in six games, going on to defeat the Astros in the World Series in as many games. Having to wait on free agency while it was paused due to the lockout, the Dodgers’ front office under Andrew Friedman did their homework on acquiring another centerpiece player in free agency. They knew that their payroll could stretch out, but they couldn’t pay money to all their “star” players. So, they decided to let Corey Seager, Trae Turner and Max Scherzer walk in free agency once it resumed and they acquired their white whale in the star player who defeated them in the NLCS the year before. The Dodgers signed SoCal(and Orange County native) Freddie Freeman to a massive contract of six years and $162 million. This was a big gamble for the Dodgers, who had finally picked up their big first baseman while letting two great shortstops and an aging ace walk. Freeman was 32 years old when he signed the deal to come play ball at Elysian Park and the Dodgers were hoping it would be worth the price. But there was another rising power in the NL West way down south near the border. Down I-5, the San Diego Padres were starting to build up as a legitimate threat to the Dodgers dominance in the division and they wanted to “slay the dragon” up the I-5. They were building up to do so with Fernando Tatis Jr, Manny Machado, Jake Cronenworth and other key players. In the summer of 2022, San Diego made the big trade for Juan Soto from the Washington Nationals. Soto was acquired for a load of prospects and he was looking to cash in with a big money deal after being a world champion in his rookie season in 2019. Soto’s presence only fueled the fire between the two rivals in the same division and as fate would have it, they met up in the NLDS after the Padres won their first Wild Card best-of-3 series. San Diego would face the Dodger dragon and slay it in four games. The Dodgers were defeated in another playoff chokejob under Dave Roberts, who was becoming known for his bad decisions regarding the bullpen usage and a lack of strong experience among his starting pitchers in the playoffs. In 2023, the Dodgers tried to run it back after laying off Cody Bellinger and Justin Turner, two of their previous stars in the earlier years of Roberts’ reign, and relying on young prospects to fill the gaps between Betts, Freeman, Will Smith and Max Muncy. They won the NL West again, but were defeated by another divisional opponent in the NLDS. The Arizona Diamondbacks showed no mercy to the Dodgers and swept them in three games, winning two big games at Dodger Stadium and then closing them out at Chase Field in Phoenix. The D-Backs went to the World Series and were beaten by the Texas Rangers in five games. The Dodgers knew that they needed a missing piece to fill the puzzle and them having the universal DH in the National League now was a perfect chance for them to acquire the biggest star available on the open market in a very long time. And they did just that, by winning the league-wide sweepstakes for one Shohei Ohtani.

On a fateful Saturday in December, the news broke that the mighty slugger and tantalizing hurler had signed a 10-year deal with the Dodgers worth $700 million. Shohei had spurned the Angels, who had failed to win with him in spite of injury woes to Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon, and had signed up the road with the daunting Dodgers, who would now wield a big 3 of Ohtani, Betts and Freeman. The craziest part of the whole ordeal is that Shohei decided to defer a lot of the money on his contract to the end of its span so that the Dodgers could go out and sign even more star players. They did so by adding starting pitchers Tyler Glasnow(fresh off a Tommy John surgery that cost him a couple seasons of his career) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto(a fellow Japanese star like Ohtani). Big deals for both of those starters along with Ohtani’s deal was a sign that L.A was going all-in for 2024 along with signing a good veteran outfielder in Teoscar Hernandez, who had previously played for the Blue Jays and Mariners. This was really Dave Roberts’ last chance to prove that he could lead a team with an elite roster to the highest level and onto the big stage. Unsurprisingly, the Dodgers would win the NL West again, but with only 98 wins. The National League was more competitive and balanced in 2024 than any previous season. As the Dodgers rose, the Angels fell into disrepair as Mike Trout suffered a season-ending injury on Ron Washington’s 72nd birthday in late April and Anthony Rendon continued to prove that he was the biggest free agency bust in modern MLB history with his injury woes and inefficient play when healthy. The Halos relied on young stars such as Zach Neto, Logan O’Hoppe, Nolan Schanuel and Jo Adell to carry the flag for them along with a few veteran knockoffs like Kevin Pillar, who filled in admirably for Trout. Ironically, in their first matchups in regular season play against the Dodgers in June of 2024, Shohei Ohtani hit a home run in both games of a two-game series at Dodger Stadium to deliver cruelty onto Halos fans everywhere. Salt in the wound indeed. But the Angels had a pretty good month of June and some hope was brewing that they could contend in an otherwise mediocre AL West division. But those hopes faded away with mini losing streaks dominating July and the rest of the season. The front office in Anaheim sold off some key bullpen relievers in order to acquire some more prospects to supplant a weak farm system depleted of prospects who were too good to stay in the minors and had to be called up sooner rather than later. The Angels finished 2024 with their worst record in franchise history, nearly missing eclipsing the 100-loss mark for the first time ever. At 63-99, the Halos had fallen to a new low and had missed the playoffs for a 10th straight year. And with the Detroit Tigers making the playoffs, the Angels were now all alone in having the longest active playoff drought in all of baseball(unless you want to count the 2020 season where they almost made it, they actually have the second-longest active drought in full seasons only a year shorter than the Cincinnati Reds). A reset was needed as the starting pitching staff had to be rebuilt and the bullpen as well. New one-year veteran deals would occur in the offseason and Perry Minasian was awarded a slight extension for his bold work as a general manager for getting first-round draft picks up to the big leagues at a faster rate than any other team had ever attempted. While the Angels prepared for free agency, the Dodgers attempted another playoff run, one that would end in golden success.

Having a good enough record to reward themselves with another “first-round bye”, the Dodgers would await their opponent in the NLDS. It turned out to be the San Diego Padres again. The Pads had recovered from a mediocre season in 2023 where they had traded Juan Soto afterwards to the New York Yankees for a good package of players and rebounded under new manager Mike Shildt to win 93 games and finish five games back of the L.A dragon in the NL West. After making quick work of the Braves in the Wild Card round at Petco Park, the Padres looked to take down their rivals again in the playoffs. Game 1 was at Dodger Stadium and it was Shohei Ohtani’s playoff debut. In his second at-bat with two runners on base and two outs with the Dodgers trailing 3-0 early on, Shohei hit a four-seam fastball thrown by Dylan Cease deep to the right-field bleachers. It was a three-run shot for Ohtani San’s first ever playoff hit and home run. The Dodgers rallied to eventually take the lead for good in the bottom of the 4th and won the game 7-5. A good start to a massively important playoff run for the guys in blue. But they ran into a roadblock in Game 2 when the Padres bats came to life and a load of home runs were teed off by the opposing batters. The Dodgers fans were so ticked off that they started throwing trash and other objects towards San Diego left fielder Jurickson Profar. A horribly embarrassing moment in a blowout loss by the Dodgers, who were beaten 10-2 and the series was tied up heading down south. In Game 3, Los Angeles saw an early lead erased by a six-run second inning by the Padres, who held on to a tight lead after a grand slam hit by Teoscar Hernandez put the road team within one run. San Diego won Game 3 and was one win away from clinching another division series win against the dragon Dodgers. It was safe to say that everything was on the line the night of Wed. Oct 9, 2024 for the Dodgers, who needed to win in the worst possible way to force the series back home to L.A. In Game 4, the Dodgers started dominating both offensively and defensively. An early 5-0 lead was held onto by the great pitching performance that the pitchers for Los Angeles put on. Holding the Padres scoreless, the Dodgers secured a 8-0 win to force a series-deciding Game 5 in Tinseltown. The series deciding game on Fri. Oct 11, 2024 was a pitching duel between two Japanese starting pitchers in Yu Darvish for San Diego and Yoshinobu Yamamoto for Los Angeles. Darvish gave up a mistake in a solo home run by Kike Hernandez and the Padres would not put up any resistance. The visiting team was held to two hits all game as Yamamoto put on a great performance to lift the Dodgers to their first playoff series win in three years. They were going back to the NLCS, where they continued their fantastic pitching against the New York Mets in Game 1. The Dodgers pitching staff had accomplished the unthinkable in having 33 consecutive scoreless innings pitched across four playoff games and their offense provided more than enough support as Ohtani and others were hitting clutch with runners on base. A 9-0 win to open up the series was good for L.A, but the Mets answered back and finally ended the Dodgers’ scoreless innings streak in Game 2 as they won against the home team, which employed a bullpen game strategy due to their lack of starting pitchers(Ohtani was not available to pitch and Clayton Kershaw had suffered a season-ending toe injury in August). The Dodgers were defeated 7-3 as the next three games would be played in front of a raucous crowd in Queens. In Game 3, the Dodgers brought the fight with them to New York City as they ambushed Luis Severino and the other Mets pitchers with a load of runs. The pitching staff resumed its dominant run as they shut out the Mets. Ohtani hit a three-run shot in the eighth inning to put the game out of reach as the Dodgers won 8-0. In Game 4, they continued their torrent run as Shohei hit a lead-off homer to set the tone. The Mets tried fighting back, but the OMG magic was starting to fade for them as the boys in blue scored 7 runs beyond the third inning and held the home team at Citi Field scoreless for the rest of the game. The Dodgers had successfully taken a 3-1 series lead and they were in position to clinch the pennant with one more win. They were not able to do so in Game 5 as the Mets exploded offensively and doubled up Los Angeles 12-6. But Game 6 would be glorious at Dodger Stadium as they would score a load of runs and kept the Mets at arms length in a bullpen game. The Dodgers had won the NLCS in front of their home fans for the first time in a long time and they were going back to the World Series for the fourth time in eight seasons.

The Dodgers would be facing the other team from the Big Apple in the 2024 World Series in the New York Yankees, who were making their first Fall Classic appearance in 15 years. With big stars such as Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Giancarlo Stanton and Gerrit Cole on their roster, the Yanks were looking for their 28th World Series title. This series was 40-plus years in the making, as these two teams used to play in the same city many ages ago. The Dodgers had faced the Yankees four previous times in the World Series since moving to Los Angeles and they had won two and the Bronx Bombers had won two in their head-to-head matchups. This matchup was only made more profound when one of the guys who participated in their previous WS matchup in 1981 suddenly passed away. Fernando Valenzuela died on Tues. Oct 22, 2024 from complications of liver cancer. Three days later, the World Series began and the Dodgers held a moment of silence for arguably the most famous Mexican-born baseball player ever to step foot on a ball field. The game was a pitchers duel between Gerrit Cole and Jack Flaherty(a native Angeleno who had been acquired in the trade deadline from Detroit), who only gave up minimal runs in their outings. A two-run shot by Giancarlo Stanton gave the Yankees their first lead of the series and the Dodgers would have a pair of sac flies make up their scoring through nine innings. The game was tied and had to go to extra innings. In the top of the 10th, New York scored on a fielder’s choice after good baserunning by another trade deadline acquisition in Jazz Chisholm Jr, who scored on the RBI grounder from shortstop Anthony Volpe. The Yankees were up 3-2 heading into the bottom of the 10th, when the Dodgers attempted a rally with a one-out walk by Gavin Lux and an infield single by Tommy Edman put the tying and winning runs on base. Aaron Boone would go to the bullpen and bring in his lefty ace in Nestor Cortes, who was looking to escape from the jam that he inherited. Shohei came up with a chance to be a walk-off hero for L.A but he would fly out in foul territory for the second out of the inning. But that foul out was in deep left field and it allowed both pinch-runner Chris Taylor and Edman to each advance a base ahead. Now with runners at second base & third base, all the Dodgers needed was a simple base hit into the outfield to tie and potentially win the game. With first base open, Boone decided to intentionally walk Mookie Betts in order to set up a lefty vs. lefty matchup between Cortes and Freddie Freeman. Boone made this decision knowing that Freeman had suffered a foot injury earlier in the postseason in the series against the Padres and that continued to hamper him. Boone was betting on Cortes getting some kind of out in order to end the game and he was betting on it being a force out. But the very first pitch Cortes threw would show a different ending. Freeman hit the four-seam fastball out to deep right field and the ball was gone! Freeman had hit a walk-off grand slam and the ball landed in almost the same spot where Kirk Gibson’s famous two-run shot had landed in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Freeman would be serenaded by his teammates as he had repeated history that had occurred 36 years prior. A big win for Los Angeles and the fans at Dodger Stadium were going nuts. It was a tough loss by New York to say the least and yet again history would repeat itself in this series. In Game 2 the next night, the Dodgers used three early home runs by Edman, Teoscar Hernandez and(fittingly enough) Freeman to build a 4-1 lead. The pitching continued to be superb for the team once upon a time known as the “Superbas” as they shut down the Yankee bats. A late rally in the top of the 9th was quelled and the Dodgers won 4-2 to take a 2-0 series lead with them to the Bronx. Game 3 would end with the same score and the same team on top, as Freeman hit a two-run shot in the first inning to set the tone at Yankee Stadium that night. A couple of RBI singles helped build the lead for L.A, who continued to get good starting pitching from Walker Buehler. The Yankees were nearly shut out if not for a vain two-run shot hit by former Dodger Alex Verdugo in the bottom of the 9th. The Dodgers won 4-2 and had built a commanding 3-0 series lead. Now it wasn’t a matter of if they would win the World Series but when. It would not be on the night of Tues. Oct 29, 2024, when the Yankees exploded for an offensive barrage of 11 runs and held the Dodgers to four for the third straight game. This time it resulted in a win, but the New York groove was overshadowed by a controversial play where two fans sitting in seats down the right field line attempted to snatch a ball out of Mookie Betts’ glove that he clearly caught. That moment gave Yankees fans a bad name and those two bad characters were handed a lifetime ban from MLB ballparks. Game 5 would decide whether this series would end in the Bronx or in Elysian Park. The pressure was on the Dodgers to end the series on that Wednesday night before Halloween and they would actually trail early on with five runs scored in the first three innings by the Pinstripers. The boys in blue finally broke through against Gerrit Cole when they scored five runs in the top of the fifth to tie the game up. The Yankees responded with a sac fly in the bottom of the sixth to reclaim the lead, but it proved not to be big enough. A fielding error by Aaron Judge in center field was what sparked the five-run 5th inning rally by L.A and in the top of the eighth they had another rally against Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle, who gave up a couple singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs. Luke Weaver came in to limit the damage as a sac fly hit by Gavin Lux tied the game. With runners on the corners, Shohei Ohtani came up to try and give the Dodgers the lead. Ohtani would actually reach base via catcher’s interference with Austin Wells’ glove and all Mookie Betts needed to do was hit another fly ball for a sac fly to give the Dodgers the lead back. Freddie Freeman struck out as L.A was unable to add on. But they did not need any more runs as Blake Treinen got through a jam in the bottom of the 8th and Walker Buehler came in to close out the series with a perfect 1-2-3 inning. The Dodgers were the champions of the baseball world yet again. For the first time since 1988, they won a title after a full season of baseball games had been played. Los Angeles had achieved its seventh title as a SoCal team and eighth in franchise history. Half of the titles in Dodgers history have occurred against the Yankees, who could have 30 or more titles to their name if not for Dem Bums who they used to beat all the time in the Fall Classic when they played in Brooklyn. Thus, the 2024 season ended and the offseason was in full pursuit.

Both “Los Angeles” teams were active early on in free agency. The day after the season ended, the Angels front office started making moves as they acquired Jorge Soler from the Atlanta Braves. Sending former star prospect Griffin Canning away, the Angels acquired a good batter in Soler, who is a right fielder that can also platoon as a designated hitter. The Halos also signed a couple of key veteran arms to help supplant their starting staff as Yusei Kikuchi and Kyle Hendricks were signed to multi-year deals. Arte Moreno doesn’t usually pay premiums for pitching, but this was a rare exception. Still not breaking the bank, but it’s better than one-year knockoff deals. Meanwhile, the Dodgers looked to continue their streak of signing key free agents and they did so by adding Blake Snell to their starting staff and signing a couple of international free agents. They signed another star pitcher from Japan, this one a little younger than Ohtani and Yamamoto. Rōki Sasaki was signed to a big deal after pitching for a few outstanding years in the Nippon Professional Baseball league and was actually slated to start in the minor leagues as the Dodgers had returning arms in Tyler Glasnow(who was unable to pitch in the postseason due to a forearm injury), Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin, all of whom were returning from missing time(the latter two back from Tommy John surgery). They bid adieu to Walker Buehler and were still waiting on Clayton Kershaw, who was set to enter his 18th season. The other international star that Los Angeles signed was Hyeseong Kim from South Korea. A middle infielder(ironically like another fellow Korean with a similar name), Kim was looking to fill a role that Mookie Betts has been transitioning into, but his presence is still needed in the outfield with a lack of depth out there. The Dodgers have plenty of pitching depth as usual and added onto it with a couple of key bullpen arms. They signed lefty closer Tanner Scott to a multi year deal and also picked up Kirby Yates to be a good setup guy behind Mr. Scott. Along with acquiring Luis Garcia as another reliever(whom the Angels traded and got a big package of prospects for at the trade deadline last season), the Dodgers bullpen has been solidified with veteran experience. The Halos meanwhile signed a few new bullpen arms, including a former Dodger great in Kenley Jansen, to be a closer option while their preferred closer of the future in Ben Joyce continued to develop and try to avoid further injury issues. Other signings for the Halos in the offseason included Yoán Moncada and Tim Anderson to fill an otherwise young infield with some veteran depth. Along with Travis d’Arnaud from Atlanta to provide a backup catcher behind Logan O’Hoppe, the Angels were looking forward to a better 2025 season. Only one way to go after almost losing 100 games the year before and that way should be up.

Unfortunately, it seems that the old bad luck bugaboos continue to bite the Angels, who started out this season with a solid 9-5 record through 14 games but since then have only won 8 games and lost 20 entering the first Freeway Series of the season set to occur at Dodger Stadium. Injuries to key players like Mike Trout(again, but this time with less severity) and a couple of bullpen arms(Ben Joyce mainly, who is done for the season already with shoulder surgery) haven’t helped matters. The return of Zach Neto from his shoulder injury has provided some aid, but not enough. Struggles with batting with runners on base/scoring position and a whole load of relievers used already this season has put the pressure on the starters to do well. So far, the starting pitchers have done good and no major changes have been made to the rotation yet. But with a lack of run support and inefficient bullpen production, the Angels currently find themselves in last place in the AL West, which is mediocre so far along with the rest of the American League. At 17-25 and expecting the return of Trout sooner rather than later, the Halos are faced with an uncomfortable situation. Can they find some magic within them to compete against teams who are currently better than they are? Can the bullpen improve and find a way to bridge the gap to Kenley Jansen? How many more changes need to be made for this time to really compete? Is Ron Washington on borrowed time? All these questions will be answered in the next several weeks as the second quarter of the season has commenced.

As for the Dodgers, they have gone through some injuries as well to a couple of their key players. Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman are currently on the IL, but their starting staff is about to get a boost. Clayton Kershaw is slated to make his season debut in the Freeway Series this weekend at Elysian Park. Kershaw will pitch on Saturday night against the Angels, who will counter with former one-year Dodger starter Tyler Anderson. Both those guys nearly threw perfect games/no-hitters against the Halos in Freeway Series games that they pitched in the 2022 season. Speaking of the Freeway Series, the Dodgers have dominated it since 2020. They won ten straight regular season meetings against the Angels from 2021-2023, and that’s when the Halos had Ohtani on their roster(Shohei won his third MVP award in 2024 and his first NL MVP award). The series was split in 2021 and 2024 overall as the Angels managed to win two games against their cross-metro area rivals last year. This year, it will be a six-game Freeway Series as the Big A will host three games in mid-August. We shall see if anyone wins it this year or if it’s another split. One thing is for certain- both teams are in different spots right now. The Dodgers find themselves in good standing in a competitive NL West with top-heavy teams and a historically-bad Colorado Rockies club. Meanwhile, the Angels find themselves between a rock and a hard place as they are still trying to compete. But everyone knows that they are in a post-Shohei Ohtani rebuild right now, whether they want to admit it or not. The AL West being mediocre just makes it harder to pretend that they are actively trying to compete. A competitive spirit is what you would always want to see, but the further you fall in your overall record, the harder it becomes to actually expect a good result. And that’s what is going on right now for the Halos. No matter who wins this weekend’s Freeway Series(a three game series obviously guarantees a winner rather than a two-game set) or whoever’s stars shine brighter, there is always a divide between success and failure. One team has achieved it more while another seems to be going in the opposite direction with no end in sight. Let’s see how long that dynamic lasts for two teams playing in an area ripe with baseball passion.