NEW YORK (AFP) — Two of Major League Baseball’s oldest and most storied clubs, the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, will meet in the World Series for the first time since 1981.

Excitement for the epic renewal of one of baseball’s legendary rivalries on Friday is swiping attention on one of the biggest weeks in American sports with the National Basketball Association season tipping off, the National Football League in mid-season form and the Major League Soccer playoffs starting.

It’s the 41st time the Yankees will play in the World Series, the first time since winning the 2009 crown, and the 22nd time for the Dodgers, who won their most recent of seven titles in 2020.

It’s a showdown of the most popular teams from the largest cities and features the sport’s top stars, New York’s Aaron Judge and Japanese slugger Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers.

US television ratings are through the roof. Japanese viewership is even higher as Ohtani’s homeland follows every moment of his first playoff appearance.

Tickets on the resale market start at $1,131 just to get into Dodger Stadium for the opener. Front row seats by the dugout will set you back more than $30,000 each.

Dodgers shortstop Tommy Edman, Most Valuable Player of the National League Championship Series, can hardly believe his luck in getting to be part of the first World Series Dodgers-Yankees matchup in 43 years which starts on Saturday (Manila time).

“It’s what you always dream about as a little kid getting to play in the World Series, playing for the Dodgers against the Yankees. It’s pretty surreal,” Edman said.

“I’m just excited to get to play those big games. Over this next week or so we’re going to start preparing against the Yankees. But it’s a dream come true, for sure.”

Ohtani spent six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels without making the playoffs and now could help the Dodgers capture the ultimate prize in his first campaign with the club.

“I really feel like we finally arrived, I finally arrived, at this stage,” Ohtani said.

“A lot of the games we played were really tough and hard to win. And it was truly a team effort to get here.”

It will be the record 12th time the Yankees and Dodgers meet in the World Series, with New York owning an 8-3 edge in the all-time rivalry but the Dodgers won their most recent championship matchup in 1981.

While the creation of interleague play has seen the Yankees and Dodgers play in regular seasons every so often, it is the World Series meetings where the rivalry became legendary.

The Yankees won six of their first seven World Series meetings from 1941 to 1956, losing only in 1955, before the Dodgers left for California.

The Yankees, whose history dates to 1903, have won a record 27 World Series crowns and their roster has included many of baseball’s iconic stars, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson and Derek Jeter.