by Julian Spivey The 2024 World Series begins Friday, October 25 between the American League champion New York Yankees and the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Dodgers vs. Yankees is the most common World Series matchup in Major League Baseball history. This is the 12th matchup between the two franchises, but the first in more than years. The Yankees have gone 8-3 in the previous 11 matchups. The Dodgers and Yankees were their league’s best team record-wise during the season, making this the first time (in a non-shortened season) that the top team from each league during the regular season has made the World Series since 2013 when the Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals. The Dodgers last won the World Series in the Covid-shortened 2020 season. The Yankees last won the World Series in 2009. Here is the positional breakdown for the 2024 World Series: Rotation: For much of the Dodgers success over the last decade-plus, it has been their starting pitching that has made the team dominant, but due to injuries, their rotation at this point in the season is pretty hurt, and the team has gotten this far based on great work from the bullpen this postseason. The Dodgers have a more impressive rotation in the injured list than the one they’ve been running out this postseason. Jack Flaherty, a midseason trade piece from Detroit, will start game one for the Dodgers. He went 6-2 in 10 starts for L.A. in the second half of the season but has been roughed up pretty harshly in the postseason against the Padres and Mets. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the big free agent pitching acquisition of the offseason from Japan, missed a lot of the regular season with a shoulder injury but was good when he pitched. He has struggled a bit in the postseason with a 5.11 ERA in three starts, only one of which he went five innings. Walker Buehler is the Dodger's No. 3 starter and, basically, the last one in their rotation as they’ve been pitching a bullpen game at least once a series. He hasn’t shown the same stuff he had before Tommy John surgery. He went 1-6 with a 5.38 ERA in 16 starts this season and has pitched nine innings over two starts this postseason, one of which he gave up six earned runs, and the other looked well over four innings. Meanwhile, the Yankees have one of the best, if not the best, ace in all of baseball, with Gerrit Cole leading the rotation. Only making 17 starts this season due to injury, Cole went 8-5 with a 3.41 ERA, coming off a Cy Young Award in 2023. He’s 1-0 over three starts this postseason with six earned runs over 16.1 innings. Carlos Rodon is the No.2 guy in the Yankees rotation, going 16-9 this season with a 3.96 ERA. In three starts this postseason, Rodon is 1-1 and pitched much better in the ALCS over the Cleveland Guardians in two starts than he did against the Kansas City Royals in a horrid 3.2 innings in the ALDS. The No. 3 guy for the Yankees is Clark Schmidt, who went 5-5 with a 2.85 ERA during the season, and has pitched 4.2 innings in both of his starts this postseason, allowing four runs over those 9.1 innings total. If the Yankees use a fourth starter during the series, it’ll be rookie Luis Gil, who was 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA this season. Advantage: Yankees Bullpen: As I mentioned above, the Dodgers bullpen is a big reason they’ve made it this far with all the injuries and issues with the team’s rotation. Picking which team will have the advantage in this series could be particularly rough as both teams have depended hugely on their bullpens all postseason and both run the risk of having run their arms out of gas. This postseason, the Yankees have gotten a 2.56 ERA in 38.2 innings from their pen, while the Dodgers have a 2.94 ERA in 49 innings. L.A.’s lack of starting is the biggest reason for more than 10-plus innings over the Yankees on their bullpen. The Dodgers’ best bullpen arms include closer Blake Treinen, Evan Phillips, Anthony Banda, Daniel Hudson, Michael Kopech (naturally a starting pitcher), and Alex Vesia. These six arms have combined for an incredible 0.84 ERA this postseason. The Yankees are enjoying a breakthrough performance from new closer Luke Weaver, who struggled for years as a starting pitcher. Weaver has appeared in eight games this postseason, compiling a 2.61 ERA and four saves. The Yanks' most used arms in the pen after Weaver are former closers Clay Holmes and Tommy Kahnle. Holmes has pitched 7.2 innings this postseason and Kahnle has pitched 7. Advantage: Dodgers Designated Hitter: The biggest and best matchup that everybody will keep their eyes on all series long will be Shohei Ohtani for the Dodgers vs. Aaron Judge for the Yankees. But the two don’t play the same position. However, the DH matchup for these two teams could be the difference in the series as Yankees’ slugger Giancarlo Stanton has been the team’s biggest threat this postseason with five home runs over two series. His .294 batting average, 11 RBI, 10 hits and five walks are among the team’s offensive statistical leaders. Some would say Stanton has been the offensive threat people thought Judge would be this postseason. But it doesn’t matter how you shake it and how the two have played this postseason; the Dodgers have the single biggest threat at the plate in all of baseball in Ohtani. Ohtani’s three homers this postseason are second on the Dodgers’ squad to Mookie Betts’ four. His 10 RBI are second to Betts and Tommy Edman’s 12. He’s hitting .286 with 12 hits and 11 walks. Advantage: Dodgers Catcher: Austin Wells has done a great job all season as a rookie calling the Yankees pitching game. He’s the better defensive catcher in the matchup against Dodgers All-Star Will Smith, but Smith is certainly a bigger threat at the plate. However, he’s struggled this postseason, only hitting .158 with two homers, six RBI, and six hits. Wells has been even worse at bat, hitting .091 with a homer and three RBI. Advantage: Dodgers First Base: There’s little doubt that the Dodgers have the best first baseman in the World Series with Freddie Freeman. Freeman could very well be the best first baseman in all of baseball. But he’s also hobbled pretty badly right now and has been forced to miss multiple games this postseason with a bad ankle injury that has basically resulted in him playing with only one ankle. Max Muncy has been filling in at first when Freeman can’t go. Freeman has hit .219 this postseason, with seven hits and one RBI. Muncy is hitting .242 with three homers and five RBI. Expect the two to platoon this series if Freeman’s ankle allows him to go. On the other side, Anthony Rizzo is playing with two fractured fingers, which forced him out of the first round of the postseason but didn’t stop him from a torrid 6-for-14 at the plate in the ALCS against Cleveland. Based on what Rizzo showed at-bat in the ALCS, I’m going out on the ledge and giving the Yankees the advantage here, despite knowing both Muncy and Freeman are more significant threats to do something powerful in the series if they connect. Advantage: Yankees Second Base: Gleyber Torres for the Yankees and Gavin Lux for the Dodgers both had good second half of the season numbers for their respective teams with Torres hitting .292 and Lux hitting .304. Their defensive numbers are pretty equal, too. Torres has had a better postseason, hitting .297 with a team-leading 11 hits and nine runs scored, along with a home run and five RBI. Lux is hitting .208 this postseason but went 0-for-6 in the NLCS against the New York Mets and lost some of his playing time to Chris Taylor and Kike Hernandez, who’s a postseason stud. If Hernandez gets more reps at second base, this could be a push, but for right now, I’ll have to ride with the known, and that’s Torres. Advantage: Yankees Third Base: The Dodgers have basically been forced to run a platoon at third base due to Freddie Freeman’s injured ankle forcing Max Muncy over to first. Muncy was the everyday third baseman for most of the season. Kike Hernandez and Chris Taylor are the fill-ins when Muncy moves across the diamond. The Yankees have Jazz Chisholm Jr., who has been more of a middle infielder/outfielder throughout his career and is learning the position on the fly. Muncy recently came off an MLB postseason record 12 straight plate appearances reaching base safely, while Chisholm has struggled in the postseason, hitting only .147. Advantage: Dodgers Shortstop: Mookie Betts was the Dodgers shortstop for most of the season, which would’ve made the advantage between these teams a no-brainer in favor of the Dodgers, but some injuries have forced Betts back to the outfield in the postseason. The Dodgers have been using midseason acquisition Tommy Edman at short, and what did he do … he won the NLCS MVP with the biggest play of his career on the biggest stage. Edman leads L.A. with a .341 average this postseason, and his 12 RBIs are tied for the team lead position. His New York counterpart Anthony Volpe hasn’t been too shabby, hitting .310 himself, second on the Yankees, with six runs scored. He’s only driven in one run this postseason, though. Advantage: Dodgers Outfield: Both of these outfields are mighty impressive. The Yankees, in fact, probably have the two best outfielders in all of baseball with Aaron Judge in center field and Juan Soto in right field. Alex Verdugo in left field isn’t shabby, either. The Dodgers have former MVP Mookie Betts back in the outfield in right, slugger Teoscar Hernandez in left field and Andy Pages in center. Soto has been one of the Yankees’ biggest producers this postseason, leading the team with a .333 average and 11 hits, and is second on the team with eight RBI, seven walks, six runs, and three home runs. Judge has struggled pretty mightily in the postseason, and the Yankees will need him to step up in the World Series if they want to win. I don’t see them coming out on top if he doesn’t wake up at the plate. Judge is only hitting .161 this postseason and has struck out 13 times. Verdugo is also hitting below the Mendoza line, with a .194 average. He has three RBI and six hits. Behind the surprise of Tommy Edman, Betts has likely been the Dodgers’ biggest offensive threat this postseason with a .295 average, a team-leading four homers, and tied for the team lead with 12 RBI. Teoscar Hernandez has driven in a bunch of runs for the Dodgers with eight, with almost all of those coming in the NLDS against the San Diego Padres, but he’s only hitting .200 for the postseason. He struggled mightily against the Mets in the NLCS, going just 2-for-22. Pages, the Dodgers’ rookie center fielder, is only hitting .210 this postseason, with most of his playing time coming in the NLCS. This is another spot Kike Hernandez has been seeing a lot of playing time. He’s been one of the team’s standouts this postseason, hitting .303 with two home runs and five RBI. Even with Judge struggling at the plate, I can’t turn away from the combo of Judge/Soto. Advantage: Yankees Prediction: Yankees in 7 I think this series is set up to be a modern classic, and I know Major League Baseball is looking forward to the biggest TV ratings in years, with arguably the biggest franchises in each league playing each other in the fall classic. The Yankees' starting rotation has more depth and success this postseason than the Dodgers', which was the most significant factor in my prediction of them winning it all. The Dodgers' bullpen has been near perfect, but I’d worry about the pen running out of gas as much as it’s been used. I expect Judge to start hitting well, and the battle between him and Ohtani at the dish will be must-see TV. I also worry about how much Freeman’s injury will impact the Dodgers. The trio of Ohtani, Betts, and Freeman in the lineup is fearsome and necessary when the Yankees have Soto, Judge, and Stanton. His inability to play or perform at his usual capabilities could have a big impact on the series.
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