Cody Snavely
LOS ANGELES, CA — The 2024 World Series is offically set, and it’s a good one as the Los Angeles Dodgers will face off against the New York Yankees, their twelfth time meeting in the Fall Classic (1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1963, 1977, 1978, 1981) and the first time since 1981 when the Dodgers won in six games.
It is also the first meeting between two top-seeded teams in their respective leagues since the 2013 season (St. Louis Cardinals versus Boston Red Sox), excluding the 2020 60-game COVID-19 shortened season (Los Angeles Dodgers versus Tampa Bay Rays).
After last year’s small market and up-and-coming World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers, Major League Baseball gets a massive win as the two most popular teams in baseball in the two largest media markets, and multiple stars on both sides will be at full display to the world.
For the Los Angeles Dodgers, this is familiar territory. In the span of nine seasons, the Dodgers, led by manager Dave Roberts, have reached the World Series four times, winning it all in their last appearance during the 2020 season.
The Dodgers have made the postseason every year since 2013 and won the division every year except in 2021, when they lost by one game to the 107-win San Fransisco Giants. They have appeared in seven National League Championship Series and have been the cream of the crop in Major League Baseball, perhaps right under the Houston Astros, who have two World Series Championships in the same span.
After back-to-back first-round exits, all eyes were on the team entering the 2024 season, especially after signing two-way star Shohei Ohtani to a massive 10-year $700 million deal.
In a season where they placed over twenty-five players on the injured list and lost start pitchers Gavin Stone, Tyler Glasnow, and veteran lefty Clayton Kershaw to season-ending injuries, they still finished with the best records in Major League Baseball and battled through two tough postseason opponents in the San Diego Padres and New York Mets.
Led by likely 2024 National League Most Valuable Player Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers didn’t doubt themselves despite the adversity they faced, and for the first time in four years, they were back in the dance, ready to compete for their eighth World Series title in franchise history.
For the New York Yankees, they are in unfamiliar territory despite what their long history of postseason success shows. It is their first World Series appearance since the 2009 season when they beat the Philadelphia Phillies in six games, their longest doubt without an American League Pennant since the late 1980s and 1990s.
After missing the 2023 postseason, the Yankees began a mission to not only make it back to the dance but steamroll their way to a World Series appearance.
Similar to how the Los Angeles Dodgers brought in Shohei Ohtani, the New York Yankees brought in a superstar of their own to pair with Yankees Captain Aaron Judge, bringing in Juan Soto in a blockbuster trade with the San Diego Padres.
The Yankees’ offense transformed with Juan Soto’s presence, and with Aaron Judge on his way to another American League Most Valuable Player Award, they were not only back in the postseason but also won ninety-four games and claimed the best record in the American League.
On their path toward their 41st World Series appearance were two American League Central teams: the Cleveland Guardians and the Kansas City Royals.
Overall, the Yankees steamrolled in the 2024 American League postseason bracket, dominating the Royals, winning the series in four games, and taking down the American League Central champion Guardians in five games, capped off by a three-run game-winning bomb by Juan Soto.
Both teams had great offenses and pitching. Both teams are led by experienced managers who have been in this position as players and managers. Both teams have multiple MVP and Cy Young award winners. But only one team can win it all, and it all begins tomorrow.
Pitching match-ups
Game One: Jack Flaherty (1-2, 7.04 ERA) vs Gerrit Cole (1-0, 3.31 ERA)
Game Two: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-0, 5.11 ERA) vs TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Game Three: TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
*Game Four: TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
*Game Five: TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
*Game Six: TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
*Game Seven: TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
*if necessary
Game Times
Game One: 5:08 PM PT, FOX
Game Two: 5:08 PM PT, FOX
Game Three: 5:08 PM PT, FOX
*Game Four: 5:08 PM PT, FOX
*Game Five: 5:08 PM PT, FOX
*Game Six: 5:08 PM PT, FOX
*Game Seven: 5:08 PM PT, FOX
*if necessary
Who’s in & who’s out?
It is no secret that the Los Angeles Dodgers have battled numerous injuries throughout the 2024 Major League Baseball regular season; however, this issue has also followed them into the postseason.
Dodgers veteran first baseman Freddie Freeman has been dealing with a sprained ankle since the last week of the season in the Dodgers National League West-clinching win over the San Diego Padres.
Freeman has gone through a rigorous pregame routine to be able to play these games in any capacity, but the pain has forced him to miss three games this October, one in the National League Division Series and two in the National League Championship Series.
With the Dodgers clinching in game six of the NLCS and game one of the World Series starting tomorrow, Freeman was able to get multiple days off his feet, limiting his running but still able to hit in the cage and take live batting practice.
Freeman stated that he will be 100% ready for Friday’s opener and should play the first two games in Los Angeles; when the team travels to the much colder New York on the East Coast, it will likely be a game-time decision.
Dodgers veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas, who was left off the NLCS roster after aggravating his adductor injury, could rejoin the team during the World Series. According to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, Rojas has” made strides” but isn’t a lock to make the World Series roster.
Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux was largely absent in the final game of the NLCS due to a lefty on the mound in Sean Manaea and a hip flexor injury that has bothered him since the beginning of last week.
However, with some time off, Dave Roberts insisted that he believes that Gavin Lux will be in the starting lineup in game one of the World Series and should be a “full go” to play the entire series.
The Dodgers bullpen has been absolute nails for the team this October, pitching fifty-seven innings and three bullpen games, two of which were in the NLCS. However, the team could get a massive return with lefty Alex Vesia and righty Brusdar Graterol.
Vesia suffered an intercostal injury during the NLDS that kept him off the NLCS roster. Vesia has been one of Dave Roberts’ most dependable bullpen arms, with his ability to get both left- and right-handed batters out and go more than one inning if asked.
Graterol, 26, has spent more time on the injured list than off it this season. He missed most of the season with a shoulder and hip injury. Graterol began experiencing shoulder discomfort in late September, which caused him to land on the 15-day injured list. He was ruled out for the start of the postseason, but he has been throwing recently.
At the time of the injury, Roberts called it a week-to-week situation and noted that the right-hander had dealt with it throughout the season. However, now Roberts suggests that both will be a game-time decision on whether they will be on the roster or not, so we will have to wait and see until Friday when World Series rosters have to be announced.
As for the New York Yankees, they are expected to have left-handed pitcher Nestor Cortes rejoin the team for the World Series after being placed on the 15-day injured list back in September due to a strained elbow flexor.
Cortex threw a twenty-eight simulated game on October 22nd at Yankee Stadium before the team left for Los Angeles, and all went well, with him stating that he expected to be added to the roster.
Another bat the Yankees could possibly add to their World Series roster is veteran infielder DJ LeMahieu, who has been on the injured list since mid-September.
LeMahieu participated fully in the ALDS and ALCS workouts, but the Yankees opted to keep him off the postseason roster.
The Dodgers are not the only team with an injured first baseman. Anthony Rizzo has also been dealing with a fractured hand but has still been able to play and came up big for New York in the ALCS.
Who to watch?
The New York Yankees offense, led by 2024 American League Most Valuable Player Award frontrunner Aaron Judge, was among the best in baseball this season, ranking third in runs (815), first in home runs (237), third in RBIs (782), and first in walks (672).
As a team, they batted a collective .248/.333/.429 this season and got even better with runners in scoring position, hitting .261/.343/.465 this season in those situations.
These numbers have translated well into October, as they have hit the second most home runs this postseason (13), just behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Overall, the Yankees have been a decent team since the all-star break, with a 36-28 (.568) record, which was the ninth-best in Major League Baseball in that span. However, they still finished with the American League East crown and the best record in the American League. The Yankees have also sped through the postseason, losing only two games.
The stars will be bright in this series, and that is especially true with the Yankees offense.
Giancarlo Stanton has seemingly been the heart and soul of the Bronx Bombers offense, leading the Yankees in home runs with four along with seven RBI and a .294/.385/.794 slash line and winning the American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award.
Juan Soto has been a close second to Stanton, who has been everything the Yankees hoped he would be come October. So far this postseason, Soto has a wRC+ of 203 and a .333/.439/.667 slash line and hit the, as already mentioned, game-five dagger in Cleveland.
Interestingly, one of the weaker links in the Yankees’ offense so far in October is Aaron Judge, who has hit a combined .161/.317/.387 and has a 94 wRC+ between the American League DIvsion Series and American League Championship Series.
While Judge has had some clutch moments, such as the game-tying home run off all-star Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase, it has been a big question mark for the Yankees moving forward.
Over the two series played by the Yankees, they scored a combined thirty-six runs over nine games, averaging four runs per game. However, they’re also here because of their pitching.
During the regular season, the Yankee’s pitching ranked seventh in ERA (3.74), fourth in strikeouts (1457), eleventh in starting pitching ERA (3.85), and eighteenth in FIP (4.06).
Those numbers have been even better in the postseason, where Yankees starters led by Gerrit Cole have a combined 3.89 ERA and 3.335 FIP in forty-four innings pitched.
The Yankees bullpen has arguably been just as good as the Dodgers this October but has pitched way fewer innings. In 38.2 innings so far, the Bronx bullpen has a combined 2.56 ERA but was roughed up in the ALCS, where it jumped to a 4.30 ERA.
Gerrit Cole, 34, missed most of the first half of the 2024 season due to arm/elbow soreness, but since his return, he has been his old dominant self. Through the ALDS and ALCS, Cole has a 3.31 ERA, 3.60 FIP, and twelve strikeouts in 16.1 innings pitched, and with Cole taking game one, we will see him more than once in this series.
One arm to watch in the bullpen for the Yankees is left-handed relief pitcher Tim Hill, who will more than likely be the go-to arm to face Shohei Ohtani.
Since joining the Yankees, Hill has been one of their most dependable arms in the bullpen. So far this postseason, he has been excellent, with a 1.59 ERA in 5.2 innings.
Hill’s -20° arm angle will especially be tricky against lefty hitters, and his low barrel percentage (100th percentile) will keep hitters from both sides of the plate in check.
Another arm in Nestor Cortez, who will likely be on the World Series roster and could be another option in the bullpen to face lefty bats such as Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani, who is only 2-for-12 in his career versus the southpaw.
As for the Los Angeles Dodgers we know how they got here we know what they need to do.
To win this series, they’ll need their stars to shine, including veteran first baseman Freddie Freeman, who has been dealing with an ankle injury over the last several weeks.
The starting rotation, like it was in the NLDS and NLCS, is a question mark. Will the team’s overreliance on the bullpen finally be its undoing? Can the offense maintain its torrid 6.5 runs per game pace? That will all be answered starting Friday.
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