The 35th edition of the World Series, it matched the two-time defending champion New York Yankees against the Chicago Cubs.
George Selkirk then reached on an error by Cub second baseman Billy Herman scoring Gehrig, and Joe Gordon drove Dickey in with a single for a 2–0 Bomber lead.
The top of the sixth saw New York extend its lead to 3–1 when Tommy Henrich belted a double to right and scored on a Dickey single.
The Cubs could muster nothing further off Ruffing, who scattered nine hits over the course of the game, and the Yankees held on for the win and a 1–0 lead in the Series.
Game 2 pitted the Yankees' Lefty Gomez against former St. Louis Cardinals ace Dizzy Dean, who had been traded to Chicago in April and won seven of his eight regular-season wins for his new team on finesse after having lost his fastball by changing his pitching motion to avoid putting weight on the toe he had fractured during the 1937 All-Star Game (on a low line drive back to the mound by Earl Averill).
In the bottom of the third, the Cubs went back out in front by a run when Hack and Herman hit back-to-back singles, were sacrificed to third and second by Demaree, and scored on Marty's double.
In the bottom half of the inning, however, Gordon atoned for his mistake by walloping a solo home run off Bryant to tie the game.
In the top of the eighth, the Cubs cut the New York lead to one with a Ken O'Dea home run scoring Cavarretta ahead of him.
But in the bottom half, the Yankees broke the game open with a four-run outburst off four Cub pitchers—Vance Page, Larry French, Tex Carleton and Dean.