NY and LA in search of history

Since the New York Mets were established in Queens in 1962–a response to the void left in the National League by the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants when they moved to California after the 1957 season–this is the first time the two Big Apple-based clubs and the two Los Angeles-based clubs have entered the month of May leading their respective divisions.

The New York Yankees (23-8, .742) not only lead the American League East Division by 4.5 games, but also own the best record in MLB, while the Mets (22-11), first in the National League East, hold the largest lead over second place, 6.5 games, among all divisional leaders.

The Los Angeles Dodgers (20-10) retained first place in the NL West despite losing their last series to the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park and losing the weekend series opener at Dodger Stadium to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Los Angeles Angels (21-12) surrendered first place in the American West on Thursday after the Houston Astros (21-11) swept the Minnesota Twins to extend their winning streak to 10 games, which is currently the best in both majors.

But even if the Angels or any of the other three failed to win the divisional pennant, the New York and Los Angeles teams would still have a great chance to make history by advancing to the postseason at the same time. That’s something that has never happened.

On four occasions, three of them were in the same postseason: 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2015.

In 2004, Angels, Yankees and Dodgers won their divisions, but the Mets finished second-to-last in theirs. In 2006, Yankees, Mets and Dodgers were divisional champions. In the Dodgers’ case, they had to win an extra-inning game over the San Diego Padres to clinch first place. Eventually, the Mets swept the Dodgers 3-0 in the Division Series.

In 2009, the Angels, Dodgers and Yankees won their divisions, while in 2015 the Mets and Dodgers won their divisions and the Yankees qualified with the first wild card.

On the other hand, the Dodgers vs. Yankees combination in the World Series has been the most frequent of all time, with 11 editions, but the first seven occurred when both teams were in New York (1941, 1947, 1949, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1956) and only four (1963, 1977, 1978 and 1981) since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles.

The 2000 Subway Series between Mets and Yankees is the only other all-time combination involving New York and Los Angeles clubs.