1981 World Series
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.
| 1981 World Series | ||||||||||
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| Dates | October 20–28 | |||||||||
| Venue | 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 (mgr.). Yankees: Goose Gossage Reggie Jackson Bob Lemon (mgr.) 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 | |||||||||
| ALCS | New York Yankees over Oakland Athletics (3–0) | |||||||||
| NLCS | Los Angeles Dodgers over Montreal Expos (3–2) | |||||||||
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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. This remains the most recent meeting between the Dodgers and the Yankees in the World Series, which has been the most frequent matchup in World Series history.