For the 12th time in MLB history, two of the most storied franchises in the game — the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers — will square off in the World Series.
The Yankees have contested all of them as the Bronx Bombers, but the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn in 1959. This year marks the fifth time the Dodgers have competed against the Yankees in the World Series while representing the City of Angels.
The Yankees, attempting to win their 28th championship, are competing in their first one since they won the 2009 World Series with Joe Girardi at the helm.
The Yankees went 94-68 this season, while the Dodgers went 98-64 — the top records in each league. The two teams played three games at Yankee Stadium in early June, with the Dodgers winning the first two games before the Yankees avoided the sweep.
These are two formidable foes with very different paths to victory. So how do I see this going?
I am picking the Dodgers, but if Yankees stars Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Giancarlo Stanton and Gerrit Cole all play at a high level, throw my ideas out the window. Soto, Stanton and Gleyber Torres have been the postseason leaders for the Yankees, who beat the Royals and Guardians en route to the Fall Classic. So far, Judge hasn’t really shown up in the postseason, going just 5-for-31 (.161 average). He could be due for a bit of a breakout.
The Yankees’ starting rotation consists of Cole, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt and early-season sensation Luis Gil. Apparently the Yankees will have regular-season starters Nestor Cortes and Marcus Stroman active as well.
I have heard talk of Cole possibly being penciled in for three starts. To me, that would be a foolhardy move. We have not seen the best version of Cole this year. His overall results are much more middling than usual. Manager Aaron Boone would be much better off starting him in Games 1 and 5, possibly leaving him available for an inning or two in Game 7.
Closer Luke Weaver and fellow top relievers Tommy Kahnle and Tim Hill have been a big help, but former closer Clay Holmes has been pretty up and down.
Now let me get to why I like the Dodgers despite the fact that Freddie Freeman will not enter the series anywhere close to full health due to a bum ankle.
Club president Andrew Freidman and GM Brandon Gomes didn’t do such a hot job constructing their pitching staff for the 2024 season, especially considering the resources they have at their disposal. To be fair, they were dealt some bad injury luck with Yoshinobu Yamamoto making just 18 regular-season starts and a host of other starters going down.
And Walker Buehler clearly isn’t the same pitcher he was before his second Tommy John surgery, though the pending free agent might bounce back elsewhere in 2025. But the Dodgers’ issue is what kind of pitcher is he now?
With so much uncertainty surrounding Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Clayton Kershaw and Buehler, the Dodgers sure put a lot of eggs in the Tyler Glasnow basket, which didn’t end up working out quite as well as they planned.
The Dodgers did bring in Jack Flaherty, who helped them significantly in the final two months of the season. All told, the Dodgers will go into the World Series with only three starters: Flaherty, Yamamoto and Buehler.
However, the investment the Dodgers made in keeping around a lot of recovering bullpen arms like Blake Treinen and Daniel Hudson has paid off. They also brought in two long-shot relievers who have helped out in Anthony Banda and Brent Honeywell.
When I wrote up my postseason power rankings, I said manager Dave Roberts could smother the opposition with bullpen arms. That line stuck with me as the Dodgers beat the Padres and Mets en route to the World Series.
I think the Dodgers have a deeper lineup than the Yankees, even with Freeman ailing. Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernández, Tommy Edman, Kiké Hernández and Will Smith will be tough for the Yankees’ staff to deal with.
But I get back to the potential for the Dodgers’ array of bullpen arms — Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips, Brusdar Graterol, Ben Casparius, Treinen, Hudson and Banda — to smother the opposition.
With four days off between the clincher against the Mets and Game 1 of the World Series, that ‘pen is rested. With two off days during the seven-game series, I am betting Roberts will always have loaded guns ready in his bullpen.