Octoberfest: Angels, Dodgers eye World Series

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Tom Lasorda can't imagine anything like it. Mike Scioscia likens the possibility to a bit of paradise.

In a place where Disneyland magic takes root and screenwriters trade in celluloid fantasies, these are heady times to be playing baseball in Southern California.

From freeway to freeway, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels are on a path toward doing something they've never done before - play each other in the World Series.

"It would be the greatest thing that ever happened," said Lasorda, who guided the Dodgers to two World Series crowns in four appearances during his Hall of Fame career.

"This would be the baseball Mecca for a couple of weeks out here in Southern California, and that would be something special," said Scioscia, who played for Lasorda's title teams in 1981 and '88 and managed the Angels to their only World Series championship six years ago.

Since the Dodgers moved west from Brooklyn in 1958 and the Angels were formed as an expansion team three years later, the teams have made the playoffs in the same season only once, in 2004. Both were eliminated in the first round that October.

The Angels, with strong pitching and the addition of Mark Teixeira to an already tough lineup, were the first team in the majors to clinch a playoff spot this season. They won the AL West for the fourth time in five years.

The Dodgers, boosted by the trade for Manny Ramirez and playing their first season under manager Joe Torre, have taken a solid lead in the NL West.

"I could see a lot of shirts being worn out there with one side `Dodgers' and one side `Angels,"' Angels hitting coach Mickey Hatcher said. "I think it would be something really big, especially with Mike and myself and a couple other guys who played for the Dodgers in '88 now coaching against the Dodgers.

"It would be a weird situation, but I don't think the rest of the nation would even care."

Lasorda was reluctant to talk much about a possible Freeway World Series because the Dodgers haven't yet ensured a postseason berth.

"We haven't done anything until we clinch it," he said. "We're not going to talk about something we don't have. When the season is over and we've been declared the No. 1 team in the National League West, we've done something."

The Angels entering Tuesday's action in the race for the league's best record and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.