Dodgers Clinch World Series Berth; Can Yankees Complete Major TV Market Sweep?

The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their first trip to the World Series in 29 years tonight with an 11-1 victory over the defending champion Chicago Cubs to win the National League Championship Series. Dodgers outfielder Kike Hernandez hit three home runs in the victory, the first Dodger to do so in a championship game.

The last time the Dodgers make the World Series was 1988, when they beat the Oakland A’s for the franchise’s sixth world championship.

Fox, which broadcasts the World Series beginning next week, would never say it, but now it’s gotta be rooting for the New York Yankees on Friday in the American League Championship series — the network is one pinstriped win away from a matchup of teams from the nation’s two biggest TV markets. Game 6 of the ALCS is tomorrow night in Houston on Fox Sports 1.

Both the league championship series are crushing the ratings this year: Through three games, the Dodgers-Cubs on TBS has averaged 6.4 million viewers, a 73% increase over last year on the network. The Yankees-Astros series is averaging 5.8 million viewers through three games on Fox and FS1, up 57% over 2016.

The Dodgers and Yankees have a storied World Series past that mostly only New York likes to talk about. The Yankees won five titles from 1940-1953 against the then-Brooklyn Dodgers before the Dodgers ended the slide in 1955. The Yankees beat the Dodgers in 1956 before the latter pulled up stakes for Los Angeles. The Dodgers won two of their five world titles in L.A. beating the Yankees.

The best-of-7 World Series begins October 24 at Dodger Stadium.

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