Photo by Adrienne J. Romero / SOC Images.
New Jersey loves baseball. And for many Jerseyans, who don’t have a local MLB team, becoming a New York Yankees fan is almost like a rite of passage.
You can either choose orange and blue for the Mets and venture off to Citifield in Queens; red and white for the Phillies over in Philadelphia; or you become enamored with the pinstripes who reside in the Bronx. For Liam Markgraf, he was brought in by the latter.
Despite the Yankees being down 0-3 to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 World Series, Markgraf told Slice of Culture that it’s part of the game. And even if the Bronx Bombers aren’t able to turn it around—like they have many times before—the Dumont, NJ resident said that re-entering the World Series after 15 years, still means “everything” to him.
“Baseball is a long season, and no outcome is a given. The days of the old Yankees dynasty are long behind us. The game is much tougher and talent level is at an all time high,” Markgraf said.
“Making the World Series and winning a championship is not guaranteed, so it’s important to live in the moment and experience the thrill of watching your team compete at the highest level with your friends and family. That’s what this whole rollercoaster is all about!”
Tri-State Ties: History Behind Yankees And Dodgers
Both the Yankees and Dodgers are teams filled with some of the all-time greats in baseball, and this trend continues in the modern day as both teams have the biggest stars in baseball today.
These names include Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax, Yogi Berra, Fernando Valenzuela, Orel Hershiser and Kirk Gibson to more modern day legends such as Mike Piazza, Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera.
Today, the Dodgers and Yankees have the best players in all of baseball such as Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Mookie Betts, Juan Soto, Freddie Freeman and Giancarlo Stanton. There are five MVPs among these stars, including the prohibitive favorites for the MVP this year, the two best players in all of baseball—Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani.
During the regular season Judge hit 58 home runs, four shy of his career high of 62. Ohtani, often compared to Babe Ruth due to his ability to pitch and hit, did not pitch this year due to an injury, instead he became the first player to be in the 50/50 club with his 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases.
The Los Angeles Dodgers also have subtle ties in the tri-state area as the Dodgers originally played in Brooklyn, New York, which is where Jackie Robinson first played when he made an appearance at the old Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City.
The Yankees current shortstop, Anthony Volpe, also represents New Jersey as he’s originally from Watchung, NJ and is half Filipino.
Jersey → Yankees Fan Pipeline
Volpe grew up a Yankees fan.
And just like the shortstop, Markgraf was indoctrinated as a Yankees fan because of his family. His mother grew up in the Bronx in the 1960s, just two blocks away from the old stadium as “Mickey Mantle and company were making their mark on baseball history,” he noted. Mantle appeared in 12 World Series and won seven of those.
But Markgraf said that he didn’t feel like he was truly a fan until the 2009 season, which was the Yankees’ 27th World Series championship where they beat the Philadelphia Phillies in a 4-2 series.
“I was in middle school and felt the enormous amount of buzz and interest in the team being that they opened up the new stadium across the street, and followed it up with a massive offseason and eventually a championship. Memories of hearing ‘Empire State of Mind’ [by Jay Z and Alicia Keys] on repeat pretty much that entire fall following that amazing season was enough to ensure I’d be a diehard fan for life,”
Markgraf said.
For those, like Markgraf, who watched the 2009 season as a kid, still hold sentimental value towards that roster even now as an adult. The lineup was star studded with players like first shortstop Derek Jeter, second baseman Robinson Cano, designated hitter Hideki Matsui and pitchers Mariano Rivera and CC Sabathia.
It’s hard to explain why most North Jersey residents lean towards the Yankees or Mets while South Jersey typically chants for the Phillies, but a 2014 interactive map by the New York Times paints a picture of where these fans are at, just by putting a town or zip code.
Back In The Borough
While the Dodgers are up 3-0, each game has been competitive and filled with drama. What may be the defining moment of this series was in Game 1 on Friday.
The Yankees were up 3-2 in the 10th inning, with one out to win the game. Shohei Ohtani flies out, Mookie Betts is intentionally walked to get to Freddie Freeman, who is battling an ankle injury, with the bases loaded.
Freeman would hit a walk-off grand slam, to give the Dodgers a 6-3 win. Freeman would go on to hit 2 more home runs in Game 2 and Game 3, hitting a home run in five straight games, dating back to his time in 2021 with the Atlanta Braves.
Juan Soto, the star acquisition of the Yankees, has been playing well, with reports suggesting the Dodgers would look to acquire the Yankee star via free agency, perhaps putting even more pressure on the Yankees to try and make this comeback down 3-0.
Overall, the World Series viewership has been hitting record highs in Japan, due to Japanese star Shohei Ohtani, viewership in the United States and among the younger demographic.
Due to a faster pace of play with the pitch clock, eliminating shifts to induce more scoring, and the once-in-a-generation star that is Ohtani, many people are tuning into baseball that many consider to be a dead sport, boring and not flashy.
The Yankees return to their home field and seek a comeback against the Dodgers, which will kick off at 8:08 p.m. ET on FOX. The game can also be streamed via Fubo, MLB TV and YouTube TV.
