It's hard to imagine a World Series matchup with more stars and more appeal than this one – both a throwback to the days when baseball reigned supreme in the United States, but also a showcase of today's sport's greatest talents.

The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers represent the two largest markets in Major League Baseball. They entered the season with the second-highest payroll in sports (Yankees) and the fifth-highest (Dodgers). They will now meet in the World Series for the whopping twelfth time, more often than ever between two teams.

Decades ago, the main cast included the likes of Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Roy Campanella and Jackie Robinson.

Legends of the game for sure, and now the star power has returned in 2024.

Shohei Ohtani – who just re-wrote the history books with baseball's first 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases season – certainly appears to have a flair for the dramatic, crushing a three-run home run in his postseason debut.

Ohtani, the top name in the sport, was part of the Dodgers' $1 billion offseason makeover that saw them fill a star-studded roster with two pitching aces – fellow Japanese Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow, the of was taken over by the Tampa Bay Rays.

On the Yankees side, general manager and senior vice president Brian Cashman made a huge offseason splash by signing 25-year-old phenom Juan Soto, considered by many to be the most complete hitter in baseball, adding to the roster that features Americans already represented include the league's home run king, Aaron Judge, and the fearsome Giancarlo Stanton.

Not only did Soto deliver 41 career home runs and 109 runs batted in, but he also just unleashed one of the most epic at-bats seen in the postseason – daring Cleveland Guardians pitcher Hunter Gaddis to throw him an extra fastball innings on Saturday, only to hurl it over the centerfield fence and send the Yankees past upstart Cleveland and into their first World Series since 2009.

Judge and Ohtani, meanwhile, are both making their first appearances at the Fall Classic, a fact that seems hard to imagine given their already solid resumes. Judge and Ohtani are both MVP winners and the favorites to win again this season. Judge flirted with the Triple Crown by batting .322 with 58 home runs and 144 RBIs. Ohtani nearly matched those numbers with a .310 average, 54 home runs and 130 RBIs.

“This is sweeter — it’s even sweeter,” Judge said on Fox Sports about reaching the World Series and whether the reality lived up to expectations.

“This group we have is special,” he said. “You know, all the work they put in in the offseason, the ups and downs during the regular season, there's no better group. … That’s what you look forward to all season – moments like this.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts echoed those sentiments after his team ousted the magical New York Mets and reached the World Series for the fourth time in the last seven years in the Covid-shortened 2020 season, albeit with just one win.

“I have never believed in a group of men as much as I believe in this one,” Roberts said ahead of the upcoming Clash of the Titans. “Most importantly, they believe in each other.”

This season's playoffs were a huge success with fans, with TV viewership reaching its highest level in years.

The last time the two teams faced off in the World Series was 1981 (the Dodgers won), and Tyler Kepner, the longtime baseball writer now at The Athletic, reflected on the rarity of what we're seeing.

“There was a period of 40 or 41 years, from 1941 to 1981, where we saw this matchup (in the World Series) 11 times … but in the last 41 years we haven't had one.”

And with Judge and Ohtani headlining the two juggernauts, they are now achieving another achievement that has also lasted more than four decades.

“Two Hall of Fame players making their World Series debuts against each other in MVP seasons has only happened once,” Kepner said. “That was George Brett and Mike Schmidt in 1980, so it’s kind of a perfect storm of fun that would happen if it were the Yankees and Dodgers.”