Spike Lee dishes on World Series, his baseball fandom in exclusive Q&A

Spike Lee is best known for writing and directing films such as “Do the Right Thing,” “Jungle Fever” and “BlacKkKlansman.” But he is also a big-time sports fan. It doesn’t matter which sport it is; Lee is always in attendance. He is expected to attend the World Series between the Yankees and Dodgers when the Series shifts to New York on Monday. MLB.com caught up with Lee, 67, recently to talk about the Fall Classic and his love for baseball.

MLB.com: Be honest with me: Were you hoping for a Subway Series between the Yankees and Mets?

Lee: Yes. New York City is on fire. The Liberty won (the WNBA title). The Yankees are in the World Series. There are big expectations for the New York Knicks, who haven’t won the championship since the 1972-73 season. It would have been great for New York to have a Subway Series. The Mets — they weren’t as good as the Dodgers.

MLB.com: How good was it to see the Mets make their comeback after last year’s tough season?

Lee: I grew up a Mets fan. I sound like a New Yorker. But when New York teams are winning, it’s good. It’s special.

MLB.com: Instead, we are getting the 12th World Series between the Yankees and Dodgers. What do you think of that dream matchup?

Lee: If I were alive back in the day, starting in 1947 — and that was Jackie Robinson’s first year in Brooklyn when he broke the color barrier — there is no way I would root for the Yankees. I’m Brooklyn through and through. No way I would root for the Yankees. Hell no. The Brooklyn Dodgers were African America’s team. … Now, I’m rooting for the Yankees. I have no allegiance to the Dodgers at all.

MLB.com: Who do you think will win the Series between the Dodgers and Yankees?

Lee: I hope the Yankees. They haven’t won since 2009. That’s a long time for the Bronx Bombers. It’s going to be a very competitive Series. It’s going to be a lot of fun watching these two teams. New York and L.A.; L.A. and New York. That’s big time. You are going to have people who are going to hate L.A. and hate New York. That just comes with the territory.

MLB.com: Of all the players in the Series, who will you focus on?

Lee: You have Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts. And then you have Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton. There you go. Judge is my guy — no disrespect to the other great players. Love Judge. But he has to start hitting, though (laughing). I’m going to love him no matter what, but he has to hit. We need the captain to do what he does. The Dodgers’ pitching isn’t that (good). They had multiple bullpen games. Look, I love their manager (Aaron Boone), too. I may be talking crazy, but this might go seven games. A classic New York Yankees/L.A. Dodgers seven-game World Series.

MLB.com: So even though the Dodgers are using mostly bullpen guys, you believe this Series can go seven games?

Lee: Yes, because the Dodgers can hit.

MLB.com: What do you like about Yankee Stadium?

Lee: That’s the Pyramid. That’s the Sphinx. That’s the Eiffel Tower, even though it’s not the original. I remember going to games (at the old Yankee Stadium) as a kid with a pole in front of my face.

MLB.com: When you go to Yankee Stadium next week, what are you going to munch on?

Lee: I will go to the (Audi Yankees) Club, and I tell them to put a whole bunch of crab legs on my plate and pasta. It’s going to be a memorable World Series. These are two teams who have met 11 times. It’s going to be must-watch TV. I just think this is the year for New York. The Liberty already won. The Yankees will win the World Series and you have the Knicks.

I’m old enough to remember 1969-70. You had the Jets, Mets and the Knicks winning the title. I was at Game 7 at the Willis Reed game — 13 years old. I remember that year.

MLB.com: You are known as a huge basketball fan, but people forget you are a huge baseball fan.

Lee: I’m from the generation where baseball was the first sport you played. I love baseball. I was at the game when the ball went through Bill Buckner’s legs (in the 1986 World Series). Years later, I did a commercial with Michael Jordan playing baseball. In the commercial with Michael Jordan playing baseball, we had Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Ken Griffey Jr. and Buckner. We see a ball rolling through Jordan’s legs (just like Buckner).

MLB.com: What was it like working with Buckner?

Lee: He took it as fun. That was the year that Michael was playing with the Birmingham Barons.

MLB.com: You played the character Mookie in the movie “Do the Right Thing.” I’m assuming that character was named after Mookie Wilson of the Mets.

Lee: No. The real story is, when I was growing up on Cobble Hill in Brooklyn, there were softball leagues, and the best pitcher was a Puerto Rican guy named Mookie. That’s where it came from. He was a great left-hand softball pitcher.

As you saw in “Do the Right Thing,” as a tribute to Jackie Robinson, the character Mookie wore a Brooklyn Dodgers jersey. In “Mo’ Better Blues,” Denzel Washington is wearing Willie Mays’ New York Giants away jersey.

MLB.com: Your love of baseball is obvious.

Lee: On top of that, on our block, we played Strat-O-Matic Baseball like it was religion. Everybody had a team and we would spend the whole summer playing Strat-O-Matic Baseball on my stoop. We didn’t play with the current teams. We played with the old teams.

MLB.com: Did your father, Bill, get you into baseball?

Lee: All of my sports. He claimed he was a great athlete — point guard, great second baseman and quarterback. My love for cinema comes from my mother (Jacqueline), and my father hated Hollywood films. Since I was the oldest, I was my mother’s movie date. My passions come from my parents. That’s not unique.