•  The Dodgers and Giants played each other for the first time on April 18, 1884, in an exhibition game won by the Giants, 8-0.
•  The first meaningful game between the two franchises was October 18, 1889 at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan. It was the "World Series" between American Association Champion Brooklyn and National League Champion New York. Brooklyn won the game 12-10, but New York won the series 6 games to 3.  The series was marred by controversial calls from umpire John Gaffney, who carried a grudge against New York's star player, John Montgomery Ward.  Game 1 of the series may have also witnessed the first ever seventh inning stretch.  As The Sporting News reported, "Somebody cried, 'Stretch for luck!' And instantly the vast throng on the grandstand rose gradually and then settled down."
•  The first official game was May 3, 1890 after Brooklyn joined the National League. They won at home, 7-3.
•  On June 12, 1890, Brooklyn defeated the Giants, 12-6, in the first game to feature a passionate dispute between the two clubs in the National League. It was ignited by Brooklyn third-base coach Darby O'Brien who pretended to be a base runner and broke for home, drawing a throw, allowing the actual runner to make it safely to third.
•  In 1893, John Montgomery Ward (now Brooklyn Player/Manager) told reporters that he could no longer work for club President Charlie Byrne. Byrne sold Ward back to the Giants to play/manage, and the two men continually took shots at each other in the papers. After the '93 season, Byrne challenged Ward to a post-season series for the "Metropolitan Championship." Brooklyn won 4 games to 2.
•  On New Year's Day, 1898, the city of Brooklyn became a borough, part of greater New York City. Many Brooklynites continued to see themselves as residents of their own city, and later baseball would become a source of pride for the borough's residents. The Giants, located in Manhattan, and their fans would come to represent wealth and success, while the Dodgers and their faithful were synonymous with the underdogs of the working class. The cultural differences between the respective supporters fueled much of the passion in the stands during the inter-city games.
•  Near the end of the 1899 season Brooklyn owner Charles Ebbets was negotiating with obscure shortstop Zeke Wrigley, but New York owner Andrew Freedman signed him and he played 4 games before Ebbets demanded he report to his team, where he played the final 15 games. Freedman appealed; Ebbets was fined $500 and forced to forfeit the games Wrigley played, but refused to pay the fine and Freedman threatened to not allow his team to play their rivals the following season.  League owners intervened and the issue was eventually resolved.
•  Opening Day in 1909 saw the Giants' Red Ames pitch 9 no-hit innings but the game was scoreless.  He allowed a single in the 10th and lost the game in the 13th, 3-0.
•  June 23, 1910, Giants third baseman Art Devlin ran into the stands to fight Bernard Roesler, a Brooklyn fan who had been heckling him.  Devlin knocked Roesler unconscious, more fans swarmed, and a full-scale brawl erupted as fellow Giants came to Devlin's aid.  Devlin was arrested and later paroled.
•  Opening Day of the 1912 season was so crowded in Brooklyn that the police were called in for control and the game had to be called after six innings. New York won, 18-3.
•  Wilbert Robinson (Dodgers, then known as the Robins, Manager 1914-31) and John McGraw (Giants Manager 1902-32) constantly feuded in the media. Prior to becoming Brooklyn Manager, "Uncle Robbie" had been a Giants coach but was fired by "Little Napoleon", ending a 22-year friendship. One example of their bitterness came in 1916 when McGraw left mid-game during a Robins victory on October 3rd that clinched the pennant. McGraw said his players were laying down for Brooklyn while Robinson thought McGraw was jealous of his success. Robinson said that by leaving early, "He pissed on my pennant."
•  The Robins finished seven games ahead of the second-place Giants 1920, the first 1-2 finish in the rivalry.  The race was decided in the season's final week.
•  The teams finished 1-2 again in 1924, this time with the Giants claiming the pennant. This race was the first truly great duel, lasting until the second-to-last day of the season.
•  Brooklyn President Charles Ebbets died on the morning of April 18, 1925. The Robins were to play the Giants at Ebbets Field that day to begin a 3-game series. The games went on as scheduled because, as Wilbert Robinson said, "Charley wouldn't want anybody to miss a Giant-Brooklyn series just because he died."
•  A Dodgers 10-5 win over the Giants on the third-to-last day of the 1927 season ended New York's hopes for a pennant.  It was the first time one team was able to spoil the other team's pennant hopes at the end of the season.
•  Before the 1934 season, Giants Manager Bill Terry was asked about Brooklyn's chances in the pennant race. He answered, "Brooklyn? I haven't heard anything from lately. Are they still in the league?" This sparked a war of words, and a wager of two new suits, with Dodgers Manager Max Carey.  Brooklyn then spoiled the Giants' playoff hopes on the final day of the season, winning 8-5 in 10 innings.
•  The night of July 12, 1938, post office clerk Robert Joyce argued with the drinkers at Pat Diamond's Bar and Grill over the Dodgers' chances at finishing ahead of the Giants.  After being told that Brooklyn may never be good again, a drunk and enraged Joyce left the bar, gathered two guns, and returned to kill the bartender William Diamond and customer Frank Harvey Krug.  It was the first of two known incidents where homicide can be partly blamed on the rivalry.
•  Opening Day of the 1939 season was broadcast on the radio for the first time in several years, a Giants 7-3 victory over the Dodgers.  The choice to use the airwaves to reach fans was the first of many innovations by Brooklyn executive Larry MacPhail that would soon shift the balance of power in the rivalry back to the Dodgers after years of Giants dominance.
•  In 1946, Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher coined the term, "Nice guys finish last," referring to Giants skipper Mel Ott - though he was actually misquoted. After being told by a reporter to "be nice" he responded with, "Nice guy? Who wants to be a nice guy? Look over there at the Giant bench. Where would you find a nicer guy than Mel Ott? And where are they? In eighth place."
•  When Durocher's Dodgers struggled early in the 1948 season (compounded by his run-ins with the league office), Dodgers management dismissed him. This led to one of the most stunning developments in the rivalry's history as Ott was then released by New York and replaced by the hated ex-Dodger Durocher.
•  In 1951 the Giants came from 13.5 games back on August 11th to force a three-game playoff for the pennant. In the third game, played on October 3rd, Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World" won the pennant for New York, 5-4. Thomson's home run capped a three-run ninth inning, and is considered by many to be the greatest home run in baseball history.
•  The two teams finished 1-2 again the next year in 1952, this time with the Dodgers claiming the pennant by 4.5 games.
•  In 1954 the Giants finished off the third 1-2 finish in four years by clinching in the final week with a 7-1 victory over Brooklyn.
•  December 13, 1956, Jackie Robinson was traded to the Giants and, as the myth goes, refused to report, opting instead to retire rather than play for the rival.  In reality, he had chosen to retire prior to the trade, yet the story has nonetheless perpetuated ever since.
•  1957: both teams move to California. After San Francisco Mayor George Christopher discovered the Dodgers were considering a move to Los Angeles, he and Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley convinced Giants owner Horace Stoneham that the two clubs should move to the west coast together. On August 19, 1957, the Giants announced they were moving to San Francisco. The Dodgers announced their move to Los Angeles on October 8th.
•  Much like how the social/economic/cultural differences between the residents of Brooklyn and Manhattan created heightened fervor among each team's fan base, so too did the differences between those living in Los Angeles and San Francisco. LA embodied the Hollywood image - and all that comes along with that - while SF strove to be the progressive capital of the West. Both cities still compete for the economic and cultural crown of California.
•  Fans packed Seals Stadium in San Francisco for the first day of big league ball on the West Coast. On April 15, 1958, in that historic opener, San Francisco shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-0. The Dodgers played their first game in Los Angeles on April 18th, defeating the Giants 6-5 before 78,672 fans at the LA Memorial Coliseum.
•  With less than two weeks left in the 1959 season, the Giants held a 2 game lead over the Dodgers and hosted a three game series. The Dodgers swept all three in San Francisco to take over first place, where they finished.
•  They tied for first place for the second time at the end of the 1962 regular season, forcing another three-game playoff. On October 3rd the Giants won game three, 6-4, after coming back from a 4-2 deficit entering the ninth. The go ahead run came across on a bases-loaded walk to Jim Davenport by Stan Williams.
•  On August 22, 1965, in the middle of a pennant race, Giants pitcher Juan Marichal knocked down two Dodgers batters. Later in the game, Dodgers catcher John Roseboro buzzed a couple return throws to the pitcher by Marichal's ear and Marichal turned and clubbed him over the head with his bat. It was one of baseball's most violent moments and it ignited a bench-clearing brawl.  Los Angeles would outlast San Francisco in 1965, thanks in part to Marichal's suspension and poor play once he returned.  The Dodgers clinched on the second-to-last day of the season.
•  The Dodgers won the pennant ahead of the Giants again in 1966, this time clinching on the last day of the season.
•  The Giants got revenge in 1971 in another race that wasn't decided until the season's final game.
•  During the summer of 1978 fans at San Francisco's Candlestick Park, already known for their rowdiness when LA would come to town, were even more violent than usual. Following a game on May 26th, Dodgers outfielder Reggie Smith went into the stands after a fan that had been throwing objects onto the field. Smith would again fight a Giants fan in the stands in 1981, this time during the game. Smith was ejected and the instigator, Michael Dooley, was arrested.
•  In 1980 the Dodgers blew an 8th inning lead at San Francisco in the last game of the second-to-last series of the year. This 3-2 loss dropped the Dodgers 3 games behind the Astros and cost them the chance to win the Division outright when they swept Houston in the final 3 games of the year. Instead, they were forced to play the Astros in a one game playoff, which they lost.
•  Both clubs were in a three-team race with the Atlanta Braves in 1982. The Dodgers eliminated the Giants on the second-to-last day of the season, 15-2. The Giants then returned the favor the following day, October 3rd, 5-3, thanks in part to a three-run home run by Joe Morgan known as "The Little Shot Heard 'Round the World."  It remains the only time both teams eliminated each other in the same season.
•  The Giants spoiled the Dodgers playoff hopes during the final week in 1990 by sweeping three games at home. San Francisco did it again in 1991 with a win on the next-to-last day of the season, 4-0.
•  The Dodgers got their chance to return the favor with a 12-1 win on October 3, 1993, the season's final day.  San Francisco was eliminated from the playoffs, despite winning 103 games that season.
•  The teams finished with the two top spots in the Western Division in the strike-shortened 1994 season with the Dodgers leading at the time of the stoppage.
•  San Francisco took first over Los Angeles in 1997 and 2000. In '97, a two-game sweep in late September by the Giants in Candlestick tied the race. The sweep was highlighted by Barry Bonds' post-home run twirl in game one and Brian Johnson's 12th inning walk-off home run to take game two, 6-5 (12 innings). The Giants then rode that momentum into the playoffs.
•  A Wall Street Journal article in the Winter of 2001 detailed the sign stealing methods used by the New York Giants during their 1951 second-half comeback and their three-game playoff with the Dodgers. When asked by the Giants to participate in a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the "Shot Heard 'Round the World," the Dodgers declined.
•  In 2001, the Dodgers eliminated the Giants in the final series of the season. It was in the first game of this series that Barry Bonds hit his record 71st home run of the season off Dodgers pitcher Chan Ho Park.
•  The Dodgers finished second to the Giants for the 2002 Wild Card and the 2003 Division title.
•  On September 19, 2003, Dodgers fan Pete Marron shot and killed Giants fan Marc Antenorcruz in the parking lot after a game in LA. This was the 2nd known murder due to the Dodgers-Giants rivalry, and hopefully the last.
•  On the second-to-last day in 2004, after trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers scored seven runs to win the game, 7-3, and the Western Division. The rally was capped by a walk-off grand slam by Steve Finley. The Giants finished second and were eliminated from the Wild Card the following day.
•  On Opening Day of the 2011 season two Dodgers fans severely beat Giants fan Bryan Stow in the Dodgers Stadium parking lot, causing permanent damage. This incident brought more attention to safety at rivalry games than ever before, appalling the fans in both cities and it became a national media story. The following week, when Los Angeles began a three-game series in San Francisco, both teams joined together on the field in an unprecedented call for peace and civility from the fans.
•  The teams finished 1-2 in 2012, with the Giants winning the Division. The Dodgers still had a chance at a Wild Card spot until the Giants spoiled their hopes with a 4-3 win at Dodger Stadium on the second-to-last day of the season.
•  Los Angeles won the Division title by 6 games over San Francisco in 2014, clinching in the season's final week with a 9-1 victory. SF won the Wild Card, marking the first time both the Dodgers and the Giants made it to the postseason in the same year.
•  The Dodgers finished 8 games ahead of the second-place Giants in 2015, clinching in the final week with an 8-0 victory.
•  On August 25, 2016, Giants pitcher Matt Moore pitched 8.2 no-hit innings against the Dodgers before giving up a flare single to rookie Corey Seager to spoil the bid.
•  Los Angeles won the 2016 Division championship by 4 games over San Francisco, who finished in one of the league's Wild Card spots. 2016 was also the final year of Vin Scully's 67 year broadcasting career with the Dodgers, which began in Brooklyn. Though he did not travel to away games over his final few years, he called the season's last three games in San Francisco because he wanted to end his career calling a Dodgers-Giants game.
•  During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, MLB played a shortened season in empty ballparks. Opening Day was played on July 23 with no fans in attendance for the first time in the rivalry's history. The Dodgers won 8-1.