The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees faced off in the World Series last year for the 12th time in MLB history and first since 1981.
It was a battle between two of the most iconic franchises on opposite coasts. They posted the best records in their respective leagues, but the Fall Classic was a mostly one-sided affair.
The Dodgers won the first game in memorable fashion as Freddie Freeman delivered a walk-off grand slam. L.A. then overcame a five-run deficit in Game 5 to eliminate New York on the road and capture their eighth World Series title in franchise history.
Former Yankees infielder Jon Berti said he didn’t like how several Dodgers players critically discussed the team after their victory, via the “Foul Territory” show:
“I don’t know if I’ve ever really heard a World Series-winning team kind of talk as badly as they did about the World Series-losing team. It almost felt like we were being disrespected to the point of where we didn’t even belong to be in the World Series.
“We won a lot of games last year, we won our division, we went and took care of Kansas City, took care of Cleveland. We deserved to be there. Unfortunately, we didn’t perform at our best. All the guys will tell you that, especially from the defensive standpoint and baserunning standpoint.
“I don’t know what the metrics say about all of that of how we were as a team, but you know the staff there, it’s a really good staff. We worked hard on our defense and we talked quite a bit about our baserunning stuff throughout the year. It was obviously a point of emphasis of wanting to improve, and I think the Yankees are going to want to continue to improve in that area obviously.
“Unfortunately, we ran into a team that played better than us in a seven-game series and they deserved to win. I guess they can say whatever they want at this point.”
Berti’s comments are similar to recent remarks by Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who said he didn’t appreciate the Dodgers’ trash-talk after the 2024 World Series.
Boone was seemingly referring to Joe Kelly’s criticism of the Yankees, and the manager also alluded to what Chris Taylor said during Mookie Betts’ podcast after the Dodgers celebrated their World Series title with a parade and event at Dodger Stadium.
Yankees owner: ‘Difficult’ to match Dodgers
The Dodgers are heading into the 2025 season with a payroll that could top $370 million after signing the likes of Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, Michael Conforto, Kirby Yates, Hyeseong Kim and Roki Sasaki.
During an appearance on the YES Network, Yankees chairman Hal Steinbrenner became the latest MLB team owner to say that it is getting difficult to compete with the Dodgers financially.
Have you subscribed to the Dodger Blue YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows and giveaways, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
