| Location | Greater Los Angeles |
|---|---|
| First meeting | June 17, 1997[1] Dodger Stadium,Los Angeles Dodgers 4, Angels 3 |
| Latest meeting | August 13, 2025[1] Angel Stadium,Anaheim Angels 6, Dodgers 5 |
| Next meeting | May 15, 2026 Angel Stadium,Anaheim |
| Stadiums | Angels:Angel Stadium Dodgers:Dodger Stadium |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 154[2] |
| Most wins | Angels |
| Regular season series | Angels, 81–73 (.526)[1] |
| Largest victory | |
| Longest win streak | |
| Current win streak | Angels, 7[1] |
TheFreeway Series is aMajor League Baseball (MLB)interleaguerivalry played between theLos Angeles Angels and theLos Angeles Dodgers. The Angels are members of theAmerican League (AL)West division, and the Dodgers are members of theNational League (NL)West division. The series takes its name from the massivefreeway system in thegreater Los Angeles metropolitan area, the home of both teams; one could travel from one team's stadium to the other simply by driving along theSanta Ana Freeway (Interstate 5). The term is akin toSubway Series which refers to meetings between New York City baseball teams The Yankees and The Mets. The term "Freeway Series" also inspired the official name of the region'sNHL rivalry between theLos Angeles Kings and theAnaheim Ducks: theFreeway Face-Off.[5]
The rise ofSouthern California as a major region of the United States brought about a significant economic rivalry between neighboring Los Angeles and Orange counties.
To many living outside of Southern California, the entire region is often simply referred to as "LA", associating Los Angeles and Orange counties with the same stereotypes and preconceptions. However, the two counties differ sharply in political ideology, socioeconomic status, and demographics.
Los Angeles County is considered more liberal, and is represented by a more ethnically diverse population, whileOrange County was known to be one of the most conservative areas in the state.[6] This divide led to the Los Angeles/Orange county line being colloquially referred to as theOrange Curtain.
This can be somewhat misleading, though, because the older, more urban, cities of northern and central Orange County (Anaheim,Santa Ana,Garden Grove,Buena Park, etc.) are much more in tune with Los Angeles County cities than their southern Orange County counterparts. These older Orange County cities are much less homogeneous than the south, and the income levels and demographics represent this.
In recent years, coinciding with the postseason success of the Dodgers and the growing postseason drought for the Angels, gameday experiences for each team have drastically changed (with a Dodgers game costing much more money to attend than an Angels game)[7] because of this the economic situations of each fanbase have experienced a sort of role reversal. Another contributing factor of the changing fanbases of both franchises is the ownership of the Angels byArte Moreno (the first Mexican-American to own a major sports team in the United States) which has led to a significant growth of itsHispanic and Latino American fanbase.[8] This has even become a contributing factor toward players such asAnthony Rendon choosing to sign with the Angels over that of the Dodgers.[9] Following the addition ofShohei Ohtani to the Angels in 2018 and the Dodgers in 2023, both teams saw an increase in both Asian andAsian American fans, particularly Japanese andJapanese American fans.[10][11][12][13]
The Freeway Series began as a pre-season exhibition series regularly played between the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers at their respective regular season ballparks during the final days of each pre-season. The first exhibition game between the two clubs took place on April 2, 1962, which saw the Angels beat the Dodgers 6–5 inPalm Springs, at the time thespring training home of the Angels. The first pre-season series was played atDodger Stadium, at the time the home ballpark of both teams April 6–7, 1963. The Angels won both of the two games played. The Dodgers and Angels continued playing spring training exhibition games against one another in 1964. On the eve of the Angels' 1966 move toAnaheim Stadium, the series paused for the 1965 pre-season and did not resume until the 1969 pre-season. The exhibition Freeway Series has mostly persisted since its 1969, with only occasional skipped years in 1972, 1980 and 2000-02 pre-seasons,[14] the latter of which was the result of bad blood that developed between the teams' front offices following the Dodgers' late cancellation of the 2000 pre-season Freeway Series to play theNew York Yankees, which left the Angels to scramble to find a last minute replacement club to play. While the novelty and transition of the exhibition Freeway Series lost much of its luster following MLB's adoption of regular season interleague play, the exhibition Freeway Series continues to this day. Generally, the exhibition Freeway Series is two or three games, with at least one game played at each ofDodger Stadium andAngel Stadium between the end of theCactus League andOpening Day, and is extremely well attended for preseason games (for example, the average attendance for the 2023 preseason Freeway Series was 36,108.[15]
In anticipation of the Angels moving to Anaheim for the 1966 season, the Angels renamed as the "California Angels". They would keep this name from late-1965 to 1996 and rename as the "Anaheim Angels" from 1997 to 2004. After the Angels addedLos Angeles to their official name in 2005 (as the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim"), the rivalry took on renewed interest, as the series took on a more intracity atmosphere. Throughout the 2005 season, Dodger Stadium listed the Angels as "ANA" on its out-of-town scoreboard and team schedules, as it was prior to Angels' name change. However, the Dodgers now post "LAA" on both their scoreboard and schedules. Dodger broadcasterVin Scully referred to the team as just the Angels when mentioning them on the air. Dodgers tickets would initially refer to the Angels as the "Anaheim Angels." As of the 2011 season, however, the Angels' out-of-town scoreboard in right field still lists the Dodgers by their pre-2005 "LA" abbreviation instead of "LAD". The Angels' name change was largely opposed by the Dodgers organization, city and county of Los Angeles, Anaheim, every other city in Orange County, and fans on both sides. The prevailing argument was that the Angels did not play within Los Angeles county limits, and that adding LA to the name inaccurately represented the location and background of the team's fans. The Angels' ownership countered that bringing the Los Angeles name to the American League was beneficial to the entire region and organization.[16] Furthermore, the Census Bureau's definition ofGreater Los Angeles includesOrange County in its definition, and the Angels have always used Los Angeles stations to broadcast their TV and radio games. The adding of the "Los Angeles" to the Angels name still causes some resentment in the minds of both Angel and Dodger fans today.[17]
Regular and postseason games between the two teams take place at eitherAngel Stadium of Anaheim orDodger Stadium. The two stadiums are located approximately 30 miles (48 km) apart,[18] and take approximately 40–50 minutes to travel viaMetrolink orAmtrak from their closest stations,Los Angeles Union Station and theAnaheim Station.[19]
At one point, both teams were owned by major media conglomerates: the Angels had been owned bythe Walt Disney Company,[20] and the Dodgers were owned byNews Corporation (each company owned one of the MLB broadcast partners, with News Corporation changing its name to21st Century Fox in 2013, and subsequently beingpurchased bythe Walt Disney Company in 2019).[20] Both teams have been sold in recent years.
During the2002 World Series, there was a moment of peace in the rivalry as a result of the nightmares the Dodgers and their fans were facing because the Angels played theSan Francisco Giants, the fiercein-state rivals of the Dodgers.[21][22][23]The Los Angeles Times called the series "the Dodgers' 'Nightmare Series.'"[20] TheNew York Post called it "the worst-scenario World Series for the Dodgers."[23]The San Francisco Chronicle called the series "a Dodger fan's worst nightmare."[24] The Dodgers and their fans, including ChairmanBob Daly and former managerTommy Lasorda, rooted for the eventual champions and attended their games in Anaheim.[21][22][23] Lasorda was at Game 2 and stood behind the batting cage and said that he's a big fan of Angels managerMike Scioscia (Scioscia had spent his entire 13 year playing career with the Dodgers).[25] Daly attended Game 7 and sat near the Angels dugout, as a fan of late Angels ownerGene Autry.[26] This series was the Angels first, and to date, only championship. Of note, the Dodgers have played what is considered the Angels biggest rival, theOakland Athletics, in the1974 and1988 World Series.
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History was made in2014 when two MVPs were chosen from the same metropolitan area with the Angels outfielder Mike Trout winning theAmerican League MVP and Dodger pitcherClayton Kershaw winningNational League MVP for the year. This occurred again in2019 when the Angels' Trout and Dodgers'Cody Bellinger won their league's respective MVP awards.[27][28]
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Another recent point of contention between the two fanbases occurred on December 9, 2023, when Angels’ starShohei Ohtani signed with the Dodgers for $700 million.[29] Ohtani's decision to leave the Angels to sign with the Dodgers led to some Angels fans dubbing him a "traitor" and "sell-out".[30] Following the firing ofIppei Mizuhara in 2024 due to his theft of $4.5 million from Ohtani forsports betting, animosity towards Ohtani's departure from Angels fans only grew. The first regular season meetings between the two teams since the signing took place on June 21, 2024 atDodger Stadium and on September 3, 2024 atAngel Stadium.
In2025, the Angels swept the season-series from the Dodgers, 6-0, for just the second time since the two teams began playing each other in the regular season in1997.[31] However, this would be a small blemish for the Dodgers on the season, as they would win their second of back-to-back championships against theToronto Blue Jays inseven games.
| Team | World Series Titles | League pennants | Division titles | Wild Card Berths | Playoff Appearances | All-time Regular Season record | Win percentage | Seasons played |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Angels[32] | 1 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 5021–5,115–3 | .495 | 64 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers[33] | 8 | 14 | 22 | 3 | 29 | 5,808–4,788–6 | .548 | 67 |
| Combined | 8 | 14 | 31 | 4 | 39 | 10,829–9,903–9 | .522 | 67 in LA 131 total |
Note: Dodgers records only from 1958 when they moved to Los Angeles.
As of January 16, 2025.
| LAA vs. LAD | Angels wins | Dodgers wins | Angels runs | Dodgers runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular season | 81 | 73 | 659 | 650 |
Updated to most recent meeting, August 13, 2025.
| Los Angeles Angels vs. Los Angeles Dodgers Season-by-Season Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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1990s (Dodgers, 9–5)
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2000s (Angels, 36–24)
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2010s (Angels, 29–21)
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2020s (Dodgers, 19–11)
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Summary of Results
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As of2024, the two sides have never met in the postseason. To meet in the postseason would require that they both advance to theWorld Series in the same year. To date, the two teams have made the postseason in the same season four times: 2004, 2008, 2009, and 2014. In 2009, both teams advanced to their respectiveLeague Championship Series. The Angels lost theALCS 4–2 to theeventual championNew York Yankees, while the Dodgers lost theNLCS to thePhiladelphia Phillies, 4–1. This would be the only time each team qualified for its League Championship Series in the same season.
The Angels won their only World Series appearance in2002. The Dodgers have seen nine World Series titles and eight in Los Angeles, most recently winning in2025.
Now that we have the Freeway Faceoff between the Kings and Ducks to go along with the Freeway Series between the Dodgers and Angels, we need a name for this. It might be difficult to incorporate 'freeway' into it, though, since they share the same building. Maybe we could call it the 'We took the same freeway as you did to get here tipoff.' Or, 'The showdown at the intersection of the 10 and 110 freeways.'
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Dodgers fans look to the Angels coaching staff—former Dodgers Mike Scioscia, Mickey Hatcher, Ron Roenicke and Alfredo Griffin—as another reason to like the Angels...The Southern California connection, as well as the north-south divide, also plays a role...Most true-blue Dodgers fans are looking beyond Mickey Mouse and are hoping the Angels reduce the Giants to gnats.
The way Angel Manager Mike Scioscia figures it, Dodger fans will be rooting for the Angels during the World Series, if only as the lesser of two evils. As a former Dodger catcher, Scioscia is well aware that a Dodger fan's two favorite teams are the Dodgers and whoever is playing the Giants.
This is the worst-scenario World Series for the Dodgers...San Francisco is the Dodgers' most hated NL rival. The Angels are the Dodgers' neighbors to the south...'This is not a good situation for the Dodgers,'(Paul) Lo Duca admitted. But he said because he has a relationship with Scioscia and former Dodger coaches and current Angel coaches Mickey Hatcher and Ron Roenicke, it would be easy for him to root for Anaheim.
This Series is a Dodger fan's worst nightmare.
Although Lasorda could never cheer for any team other than the Dodgers, he obviously is a big Scioscia fan, who spent his entire pro career as a Dodger under Lasorda.
There was little doubt where Dodger Chairman Bob Daly's allegiances were...—the Brooklyn native was seated two rows behind the Angel dugout for Game 7...'I grew up...lovingGene Autry, so for me this was easy,' Daly said of the late Angel owner. 'The Angels...have a good team,...played very well, and...I've enjoyed it.'
