Major League Baseball’s most recognizable and iconic franchises will square off in the fall classic for the first time in 43 years. I can go on and on about the history of each club, and the legendary matchups these teams have had, however, Game 1, which begins Friday night at 8:08 pm, will showcase some of the most impressive players the sport has ever seen. Shohei Ohtani, who can be compared to the likes of Babe Ruth, secured an NL MVP due to his 50-50 (50 home runs and 50 stolen bases) season; he is the first player to ever reach this achievement. Then there is Aaron Judge, the king of New York Baseball, who just slugged his way to another MVP season. You can’t forget Juan Soto, Freddie Freeman, Giancarlo Stanton, Mookie Betts and Game 1 starters Gerrit Cole and Jack Flaherty.
Both the Yankees and Dodgers had relatively smooth journeys to the fall classic, however, both teams encountered some speed bumps along the way. The Dodgers especially faced a massive obstacle in the NLDS against the Padres, trailing two games to one in a best-of-five series; however, strong pitching and timely offense led Los Angeles to the NLCS against the Mets. Los Angeles beat the Mets in six games and will be returning to the World Series for the first time since 2020. The Yankees, on the other hand, will be making their way back to the fall classic for the first time in 15 years. That might not seem like a long time, however, the Yankees, who are searching for their 28th world championship, have not seen a World Series drought this long in their entire history. New York won both the ALDS and ALCS in five games, thanks to late-game heroics by Giancarlo Stanton and Juan Soto.
There is no way to predict who will win the World Series, it truly is a coin toss. However, this series will ultimately come down to pitching. Both offenses have extreme firepower; scoring runs will be inevitable; but the team that comes out on top will be the club that avoids the big inning and stranding runners on base. Bullpens will be used heavily in this series, so quality pitching depth will be a major factor.
If you do in fact watch this year’s World Series, just know that you are watching future baseball greats compete on the biggest stage. Yankees and Dodgers, West Coast vs. East Coast, baseball’s Zeus and Jupiter. It doesn’t get any better than this.
