Postseason matchups between teams in same state

The 2024 National League Division Series between the Dodgers and Padres was the third postseason series matchup in five years between the Southern California rivals. It came two years after San Diego upset a 111-win Los Angeles team in a four-game NLDS in '22. In 2020, the Dodgers swept the Padres in the NLDS on the way to a World Series championship.

The latest NLDS between the clubs came to an end on Friday night with Los Angeles blanking San Diego, 2-0, to advance to the NL Championship Series against the Mets. It was the 26th postseason matchup between two teams from the same state. Here is a history of postseason series between teams who call the same state home.

CALIFORNIA

Angels vs. Giants
2002 WS (Angels 4-3)
The Angels made their first -- and, so far, their lone -- World Series appearance in 2002, taking down the Giants in a memorable seven-game Fall Classic. Trailing 3-2 in the series, the Angels found themselves behind 5-0 by the seventh inning of Game 6, only to rally for six runs in the seventh and eighth for a 6-5 win. In Game 7, rookie John Lackey and the Angels bullpen held the Giants to one run as the Angels claimed the World Series title.

A’s vs. Dodgers
1988 WS (Dodgers 4-1); 1974 WS (A’s 4-1)
These two Interleague rivals have met up twice in the World Series since the A’s moved to Oakland from Kansas City in 1968. In a close 1974 Fall Classic featuring four of five games ending in a 3-2 score, the A’s became the first team in the Divisional Era (since 1969) to win three straight World Series, a feat only the Yankees (1998-2000) have equaled since then. The Dodgers got their revenge in 1988, a World Series featuring an injured Kirk Gibson's improbable pinch-hit walk-off home run in Game 1.

A’s vs. Giants
1989 WS (A’s 4-0)
The 1989 World Series between the two Northern California rivals is better known for the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck the Bay Area less than an hour before the scheduled first pitch of Game 3 in San Francisco, causing significant damage to the region. The Fall Classic was delayed for 10 days before the A’s finished off a sweep of the Giants in the last World Series game ever to be played at Candlestick Park.

Dodgers vs. Giants
2021 NLDS (Dodgers 3-2)
These two teams never met in the postseason as the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants -- both teams were in the National League, and MLB’s procedure at the time was to pit the NL winner against the American League champion in the World Series. (Bobby Thomson's famous "Shot Heard 'Round the World" came against the Dodgers in a tiebreaker series in 1951, so it's considered part of the regular season.) The current iterations of the Dodgers and Giants didn’t meet in the postseason until 2021, when San Francisco edged L.A. by a single regular-season win. But the Dodgers pulled out a Game 5 win at Oracle Park to knock out the Giants and advance to the NLCS.

Dodgers vs. Padres
2024 NLDS (Dodgers, 3-2); 2022 NLDS (Padres 3-1); 2020 NLDS (Dodgers 3-0)
The Padres had been around more than 50 years and the Dodgers had been in L.A. more than 60 years before the two squads ever met in the postseason. In the 2020 NLDS, the Dodgers romped in Games 1 and 3 and scratched out a 6-5 win in Game 2 to sweep the Padres, going on to win their first World Series since 1988. Two years later, the Padres turned the tables on L.A., upsetting the 111-win Dodgers in a four-game NLDS to send their division rivals packing. The teams met again in the 2024 NLDS, and this time the battle went the full five games, with the Dodgers prevailing with a 2-0 win in Game 5 after falling into a 2-1 series deficit.

ILLINOIS

Cubs vs. White Sox
1906 WS (White Sox 4-2)
In what remains the biggest postseason upset in MLB history in terms of winning percentage, the 93-58 White Sox upended the 116-36 Cubs in six games in the third-ever World Series. It remains the only time the White Sox have ever clinched a postseason series in their home ballpark. As for the Cubs, they rebounded to win the next two World Series in 1907 and 1908. After that, it certainly took a while.

MISSOURI

Cardinals vs. Browns
1944 WS (Cardinals 4-2)
After the 1953 season, the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore to become the Orioles. But well before the transition, they faced their crosstown rivals in the 1944 World Series. The two squads even shared a home field -- Sportsman’s Park, which hosted all six games. The Cardinals bested the Browns in six games to cap off a season in which many star players -- including Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Bob Feller -- served in World War II rather than playing baseball.

Cardinals vs. Royals
1985 WS (Royals 4-3)
The “I-70 Series” between Show-Me State rivals was actually the first time they’d EVER met in the regular season or the postseason, since it was well before the start of Interleague Play in 1997. The series is unfortunately known for a missed call at first base by umpire Don Denkinger in the ninth inning of Game 6. The play helped the Royals rally for a walk-off win to tie the series at three games apiece, but Game 7 was all Kansas City in an 11-0 romp. It was the Royals’ first-ever World Series win.

NEW YORK

Yankees vs. Dodgers
1956 WS (Yankees 4-3); 1955 WS (Dodgers 4-3); 1953 WS (Yankees 4-2); 1952 WS (Yankees 4-3), 1949 WS (Yankees 4-1); 1947 WS (Yankees 4-3); 1941 WS (Yankees 4-1)
SEVEN World Series matchups in 16 years? It just goes to show how dominant the Yankees were in the AL and the Dodgers in the NL when both teams resided in New York. The Yankees claimed six of the seven Fall Classics between the two, while the Dodgers won a classic seven-game World Series in 1955 thanks to a shutout by Johnny Podres in Game 7. The Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles after the 1957 season, but the teams matched up again in the 1963 World Series -- an L.A. sweep.

Yankees vs. Giants
1951 WS (Yankees 4-2); 1937 WS (Yankees 4-1); 1936 WS (Yankees 4-2); 1923 WS (Yankees 4-2), 1922 WS (Giants 4-0-1); 1921 WS (Giants 5-3)
The Giants also moved to the West Coast from New York after 1957, ending an Empire State rivalry comparable to the Yankees-Dodgers feud. The Giants and Yanks met in six World Series in a 31-year span, with the Yankees winning four of the six sets. Their first matchup in 1921 might look a little strange: It was the fourth and final World Series that used a best-of-nine format, which was deployed in 1903, 1919 and 1920 as well. All games of the 1921 and ’22 Series were played at the Polo Grounds, as both teams had the same home field.

Yankees vs. Mets
2000 WS (Yankees 4-1)
Dubbed the Subway Series, the 2000 World Series was the first matchup of New York teams in the postseason since the Dodgers headed west. The Yankees beat the Mets in five games, but every single contest was decided by two runs or fewer. Jose Vizcaino delivered a walk-off victory for the Bronx Bombers in the 12th inning of Game 1, and Mariano Rivera closed out the series in Game 5 to give the Yankees a rare three-peat -- their third straight World Series title.

TEXAS

Astros vs. Rangers
2023 ALCS (Rangers 4-3)
2023 was only the fourth time both the Astros and Rangers have made the postseason in the same year -- and with the Astros in the NL for more than 50 years of their history, the only way they could have matched up was in the World Series. In any case, their first postseason series was downright epic, a seven-game set featuring exactly zero wins by the home team. The Rangers took the first two games in Houston before the Astros fought back, seizing all three at Globe Life Field in Arlington. But thanks to Adolis García and a potent Rangers offense, Texas won the final two games at Minute Maid Park to take out the defending World Series champions and move on.

OTHERS TO COME?

Over the course of Major League history, four other states have had an opportunity for a postseason matchup, and three of those still could do so in the future.

• Florida has never seen a Marlins-Rays World Series.
• Massachusetts never got a Braves-Red Sox World Series before the Braves left Boston for Milwaukee in 1953.
• Ohio has yet to have a World Series between the Guardians and Reds.
• Pennsylvania has not been treated to a Phillies-Pirates NL playoff series. And neither of those teams ever faced the A’s in the World Series before that franchise departed Philly for Kansas City in 1955.