Jun 8, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) rounds third base and scores on an double by first baseman Freddie Freeman (not pictured) during the ninth inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images It will be New York vs. Los Angeles, Aaron Judge vs. Shohei Ohtani, the best team in the American League against the top one in the National League when a must-see World Series begins Friday on the West Coast.
This October collision course seemed inevitable way back in May, but when do early-season World Series projections ever come to pass?
In the end, it will be the top two teams in baseball from the top two markets in the country with a pair of sure-fire MVPs battling it out for a title.
Here is how both teams got here and three keys to finish off what they started:
New York Yankees
Sep 6, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Luis Gil (81) delivers a pitch against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images The Yankees bolted from the gate with the best pitching staff in baseball to automatically set them up as a World Series favorite since their offense also consisted of Judge, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton.
By the second week of May, the Yankees had a major league-best 2.86 ERA and the third-best ERA in baseball from their starters at 2.95. Making it all the more incredible is that the inspired performances were coming from a staff without an injured Gerrit Cole.
Coming off Tommy John surgery and with just seven big league starts to his credit, Luis Gil opened the season 8-1 with a 1.82 ERA after eight starts. Cole returned from an elbow injury on June 19, wobbled a bit at first, then reeled off a 1.58 ERA in seven starts for the start of August through Sept. 8.
Judge’s MVP march found its stride with 14 home runs, 27 RBIs and a 1.397 OPS in May. He had at least a 1.000 OPS in every month this season except for the first one. Soto had 41 home runs and 109 RBIs in his first season in the Bronx, showing that no task is too tall.
Three Yankees keys to winning the World Series:
Power is king for the Yankees, and backbreaking home runs are their specialty. Judge’s 58 in the regular season were more than anybody, while Stanton’s five in the postseason lead anybody on either team. And it was Soto who had the biggest long ball of all when his home run clinched the ALCS over the Guardians. Dodgers pitching, meanwhile, gave up 120 home runs, eighth worst in baseball and one more than the 121-loss Chicago White Sox.
Comparatively speaking, the Yankees are the picture of stability when it comes to their starting rotation. Cole, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt and Gil will handle the starting duties all the way through Game 7. But eating innings is not as vital in the postseason as quality ones. If the Yankees can get six-inning starts on the regular, the bullpen figures to be in good shape to take care of the rest.
Neutralizing Ohtani is easier said than done, but he has looked like a mere mortal for stretches in this postseason. The Padres pitched Ohtani up-and-in, then down-and-in in the NLDS, holding the LA star to two hits in 15 at-bats in the final four games of the series. And Ohtani had an 0-for-22 run this postseason without a runner on base. Slowing Ohtani slows down the Dodgers.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Sep 16, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) throws against the Atlanta Braves in the third inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images Just the frequency of injuries alone should have knocked the Dodgers off stride this season, let alone the injuries to their high-level talent. Ohtani has been available every day, but just about everybody else has missed significant time, from Betts to Max Muncy and Freddie Freeman with his current sprained ankle.
On the pitching side, Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Emmitt Sheehan, and standout rookie Gavin Stone are all out for the postseason.
Of the three starters still standing, Jack Flaherty didn’t join the club until late July, Yoshinobu Yamamoto missed three months with a shoulder injury, and Walker Buehler didn’t return until May after two years away following a second Tommy John surgery. Then he missed two more months with a hip injury.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spent much of his time addressing what was going wrong, and yet the team was never out of first place this season while holding off two of the second half’s hottest teams, the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.
Three Dodgers keys to winning the World Series:
On a one-year deal this season, an inspired Teoscar Hernandez has been as valuable as anybody outside of Ohtani. But he inexplicably disappeared in the NLCS when he was overpowered by fastballs. The Home Run Derby champ hit 33 of them in the regular season, and while the top three players from each team battle it out, Hernandez can end up being the best of the rest.
The call to fire Roberts gets louder each year in a sad refrain that, perhaps, comes with the territory when sitting in the hot seat of a club loaded with talent. Yet Roberts is having his finest season, all leading to a master class in managing this postseason while navigating three bullpen games, with victories coming in two: one to keep the season alive in the NLDS and one to clinch the NLCS.
It has been a long season for Freddie Freeman, who took time off as his young son worked his way back from a serious illness. Then came his sprained right ankle on the late-September night the Dodgers clinched the NL West for the 11th time in 12 years. Freeman said he is good to go for Game 1 and his production will be key after he already missed three games this postseason and has just one hit in his last 15 playoff at-bats.
