Cody Snavely
After a full week of anticipation, the 2024 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees begins later this afternoon, with two Southen California natives competing.
For the first time since the 2017 season, the Dodgers will host game one of the World Series (the 2020 World Series was played in Arlington, Texas), and it is a day set to be filled with excitement and sorrow. Before tonight’s game, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Major League Baseball will celebrate the life of the great who sadly passed away on Tuesday, October 22nd, at the age of sixty-three.
It is the first meeting between these two historic clubs in the Fall Classic since the 1981 season, where the Los Angeles Dodgers won in six games en route to their fifth championship.
For the New York Yankees, a franchise that has appeared in forty-one World Series, winning twenty-seven of them, which is the most in Major League Baseball, this is their first World Series appearance since the 2009 season, a fifteen-year gap.
For Major League Baseball, this a dream scenario for the World Series as ratings are projected to be at an all-time high with viewership spanning coast to coast in the United States and the World as the country of Japan is expected to watch in droves as Shohei Ohtani makes his World Series debut.
In terms of game one, both the Dodgers and Yankees are undefeated, each winning the first game in both of their previous two series. And history shows that the winner of game one is set up for success in the rest of the series.
On the rubber
Jack Flaherty (1-2, 7.04 ERA) vs Gerrit Cole (1-0, 3.31 ERA)
Right-handed pitcher Jack Flaherty is taking the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers for the fourth time this postseason. He is hoping to rebound after a disastrous performance his last time out, when he allowed eight runs in just three innings against the New York Mets.
Flaherty has shown some dominance for the Dodgers in October, pitching 5.1 hard-fought innings in the first round of the postseason against the San Diego Padres, but was untouchable in the opener for the National League Championship Series, throwing seven scoreless innings.
However, when the righty goes on normal rest (four days), there is a huge drop in quality and performance, so bad that even the Dodgers have noticed, according to manager Dave Roberts.
Still, with Flaherty getting the game one nod, he will be set up to make at least two starts in this series. With the winner of game one set up well for the rest of the series, the Dodgers are hoping for a great performance out of Jack so that they can hide their high-leverage arms in the bullpen as often as they did in the Mets series to keep the Yankees hitters off-balance.
Right-handed pitcher Gerrit Cole is on the rubber for the New York Yankees, who is on his second trip to the Fall Classic after making it with the Houston Astros during the 2019 season.
It has been a weird season for Gerrit Cole, missing the entire first half of the regular season with some elbow issues that at one point looked like season-ending.
After finally winning his first Cy Young Award during the 2023 season, Cole regressed slightly, posting a 3.41 ERA in twenty starts. So far this postseason, he has been outperformed by left-handed pitcher Carlos Rodón, who will start tomorrow’s game.
In his career, Cole has a 5.01 ERA against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but most of those starts were when the righty was in the National League with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cole’s most recent start versus the Dodgers came last season in Dodger Stadium, when the righty picked up the win, tossing six innings, allowing one run on four hits while walking two, and picking up five strikeouts on June 3rd, 2023.
One advantage the Dodgers do have over Cole is that, according to our conversation with Lance Meadow of BLEAV in the Bronx podcast, we don’t know what version of Cole we will get tonight, as he has not been the same dominant figure he was last season.
Who to watch?
One player to watch for the Dodgers tonight is the October legend himself, Kiké Hernández. In his career, he is 7-for-19 (.368) versus Gerrit Cole, with one home run and four walks in twenty-three plate appearances.
Hernández is expected to remain in the starting lineup regardless of what hand the pitcher throws with. So far this postseason, the righty utilityman is 10-for-33 with two home runs, five RBI, and a .863 OPS.
While all eyes will be on the big three in the New York Yankees lineup: Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and American League Championship Series MVP Giancarlo Stanton, I will go with first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who has seen Dodgers starting pitcher Jack Flaherty the most due to their time in the National League Central.
Rizzo, 35, has three home runs, six RBIs, two strikeouts, and a .429/.571/.905 slash line in twenty-one at-bats, and despite just returning from a fractured hand, he should be the Yankees primary first baseman against the Dodgers right-handed starters.
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 -130 moneyline favorites for this matchup against the Yankees (+110). Los Angeles is the run-line favorite (-1.5). The total is 8.5 runs for this contest.
The Dodgers are also favored in the win probability at 54% compared to the Yankees at 46%.
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