Cody Snavely
Well… It’ll be hard to top last night’s dramatic 6-3 walk-off victory, where Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman channeled his inner Kirk Gibson to hit a go-ahead grand slam in the tenth inning off Yankees left-handed pitcher Nestor Cortes.
If game one is that start of theatrics in the 2024 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, then Major League Baseball is in for a treat between these two historic franchises.
Yesterday was the first Dodgers walk-off win in a World Series game since Max Muncy‘s walk-off home run in the bottom of the 18th inning in game three of the 2018 World Series against the Boston Red Sox.
It was the third walk-off home run for the Dodgers in their franchise’s history and the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history.
The Dodgers will look to ride that momentum into game two of this series, looking to take a commanding 2-0 series lead before the team heads back to New York for the next three games of this best-of-seven series.
The New York Yankees hope to rebound from this dreadful loss, in which they wasted an iconic performance by their ace, Gerrit Cole, who had the Dodgers off balance all night.
On the rubber
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-0, 5.11 ERA) vs Carlos Rodón (LHP)(1-1, 4.40 ERA)
Right-handed pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, making his fourth start this postseason, will take the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Yamamoto, 26, has been brilliant in his last two starts for the Dodgers, pitching five scoreless innings in the National League Division Series game five clincher over the San Diego Padres and tossing 4.1 innings and allowing just two runs while collecting eight strikeouts in Queens against the New York Mets.
It will be the second time in Yamamoto’s career that he faces the New York Yankees after pitching seven scoreless innings in the Bronx during their regular season matchup in June.
Taking the rubber for the New York Yankees is left-handed starting pitcher Carlos Rodón, who has been up and down statistically this October with a 1-1 record and a modest 4.40 ERA in 14.1 innings pitched.
In his career versus the Los Angeles Dodgers, Rodón is 1-2 with an ERA of 4.50 in five appearances while also collecting twenty-six strikeouts.
The weird thing is that depending on who you ask, Rodón has been the Yankees’ best pitcher this October, not Gerrit Cole, who looked unhittable last night. With Rodón being lefty-handed, we will see a few new faces in tonight’s Dodgers lineup, such as veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas and rookie Andy Pages, who has crushed lefties this season.
Who to watch?
On back-to-back nights, I’m going with Kiké Hernández to have a big game not only because he is due for another dramatic postseason moment but also because he has hit New York Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodón well.
Hernández is 3-for-6 with three home runs in his career and showed some good contact yesterday off Gerrit Cole, but with the matchup now in his favor, we should see a big moment.
Another mention will be Andy Pages, who I love in any matchup versus a left-handed pitcher due to his 157 wRC+ this season against southpaws.
My player to watch for the New York Yankees is right fielder Juan Soto, whom the Dodgers kept in check in game one by being very cautious about what they threw in the zone.
Soto did not play in the three-game regular season series between the two clubs in June and, therefore, did not face righty Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Soto has one of the best eyes in the game, and it will be interesting to see how Yamamoto attacks him. He traditionally attacks with a fastball to set up his signature splitter.
Where to watch
The World Series will be exclusively broadcast on Fox Sports One (FS1) or Fox.
Dodgers play-by-play broadcast announcer Joe Davis will join Atlanta Braves legend John Smoltz on the call as the primetime Fox baseball crew will broadcast this series.
First pitch for game five is set for 5:08 PM PT at Dodger Stadium.
Betting Odds
The Dodgers are favored in this one, at -141, while the underdog Yankees have +120 odds to win. Los Angeles is the favorite on the run line (-1.5 with +143 odds). The total is 8.5 runs for this matchup (with -122 odds to hit the over and +101 odds on the under).
The Dodgers are also favored in the win probability at 55% compared to the Yankees at 45%.
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