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    • Yankees vs. Dodgers: Get ready for an “epic” World Series with so much to enjoy
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    Yankees vs. Dodgers: Get ready for an “epic” World Series with so much to enjoy

    Kathleen William Posted on

    LOS ANGELES – They play a World Series every year. But a World Series like this happens about as often as Halley's Comet.

    It's Yankees vs. Dodgers. It's New York vs. LA. And yet somehow it's even bigger than a duel between America's largest cities.

    It's star power. It's history. And it will reverberate not only from the East Coast to the West Coast, but also across the Pacific.

    It all starts Friday night at Dodger Stadium. And as the Dodgers manager tried his best to grasp the awesomeness of it Sunday night, the same word kept coming to mind.

    “Epos.”

    “I'm a baseball fan first and foremost,” said Dave Roberts, a man on the verge of winning his fourth World Series. “And when you're talking about the two largest media markets in the world and baseball's best and brightest stars on the same field, on the biggest stage, what baseball fan, what sports fan, would do that? Don't want to get involved in this series?

    “For the Dodgers franchise, for the Yankees franchise, for sports fans, I just think it’s what everyone wanted.”

    But even if it's what everyone wanted, that doesn't automatically make it “epic.” So what takes it from unofficially cool to officially epic? Let's take a look at the many answers to this question – because thinking about it is just as fun as watching it.

    They are the two best teams


    Dave Roberts and Aaron Boone led their teams to the best records in their respective leagues. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn Images)

    Let's start here. The Dodgers have won the most games in the National League this season (98). The Yankees won the most games in the American League (94). So, logically, it shouldn't be a surprise that both appear in the World Series. But what does logic have to do with postseason baseball?

    October is a time of excitement, not coronations. And we're not here to complain about it. We are here to celebrate that. Playoffs were not created to send the top two teams to the World Series. They were built for weirdness and unpredictability. That's the whole point. Don't forget that, okay?

    But as the sport began adding rounds, teams and challenges, the biggest casualty was this kind of World Series – these battles of the titans.

    They used to happen every few years. Excluding the shortened 60-game 2020 season, this is only the fourth time in the wild card era (since 1995) that the World Series has featured a meeting of the winningest teams in each league.

    2013 — Red Sox (97 wins) vs. Cardinals (97)
    1999 – Yankees (98 wins) vs. Braves (103)
    1995 – Indians (100) vs. Braves (90)

    Just a reminder: In the pre-wild card version of playoff baseball – from 1969 to 1993, when only two teams from each league advanced to the postseason – this was much more common. The winningest teams in each league played each other in the World Series under this system nine times in 25 seasons – including the Yankees versus Dodgers in 1978.

    But these days, in a postseason tournament that puts landmines in the way of the best teams for over a month, years like this feel like a special occasion. And when you add in the Yankees-Dodgers bonus points, you have something that's not just special. It's a mammoth.

    “Right now I haven’t had time to fully process it,” said Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. “But there is a certain nostalgia. And honestly, it’s a classic series that my baseball mind couldn’t quite grasp yet.”

    They are the kings of October


    The Dodgers celebrate after beating the Yankees and winning the 1981 World Series. (John Iacono/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)

    Think about it. The World Series started in 1903. So this will be the 120th. And counting this year, the Yankees and Dodgers will have played in a combined 63 of those games.

    Does that seem like a lot? Maybe it will, if we put it this way: It's as many as the Red Sox, Cubs, Phillies, Reds, Tigers, White Sox and Cleveland have played compiled.

    And this will be the 12th time the Dodgers and Yankees have played each other in a World Series. To say that's more than any other two teams doesn't reflect the magnitude of it all. Here's what it does: There are as many as the next two most common encounters combined.

    Dodgers-Yankees – 12
    Giants-Yankees – 7
    Cardinals-Yankees – 5

    So there is a story hanging over this World Series that is second to none. It's a story that began with Joe DiMaggio and Pee Wee Reese, as black-and-white newsreel footage flashed across the screen downstairs at the local movie theater. Now these teams are back, streaming on giant flat screens in your living room and on mobile devices around the world.

    There was a time when the Dodgers and Yankees met in six World Series in ten years – 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1956. The Yankees were gracious enough to let the Dodgers win one of them.

    Then, a few decades later, they were at it again, doing it three times in four years – 1977, 1978 and 1981. But in the four decades since then they haven't met once – until now. So how much fun is it that the 43-year hiatus is over?

    “I think for all of us it’s America’s pastime,” Roberts said. “And as I said, it will be a legendary series. We haven't played the Yankees since 1981. And you're talking about the two best teams in all of baseball playing in the World Series. So what better way to be on the biggest stages?”

    It's the Star Power World Series


    The stars will be out in force in this World Series. (Kamil Krzaczynski/Imagn Images)

    The biggest stars of last year's World Series – a matchup of wild card teams (Texas and Arizona) – were, well, who exactly? Corey Seager and Corbin Carroll? Adolis García and Zac Gallen? Or should we just applaud the nine outs that Max Scherzer got?

    With all due respect to everyone who competed in the last World Series, it was perfectly acceptable to call some of these men “stars.” But this year? We're talking about megastars.

    We're talking about the two likely MVPs – Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani – meeting in the same World Series for the first time since 2012 (Miguel Cabrera and Buster Posey). And they’re not “just” MVPs. They are towering figures in a sport desperate to cling to its star power.

    But that's not all. The red carpet at this World Series features a parade of stars that we believe is unlike any other star in the series' history. Do you think we're exaggerating? No.

    Let's talk about MVPs. We'll watch right away five MVPs play in a World Series. Do you think this happens every year? Oh no, it doesn't. This has literally never happened before.

    We asked the amazing Sam Hovland from STATS Perform to take a look at it for us. He proved our point. For purposes of this table, we're assuming every one-time MVP on both rosters will play in this World Series, with the exception of injured Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw. Look at this now.

    MOST FORMER MVPS PLAYING IN A WORLD SERIES*

    2024 – 5 (Judge, Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Giancarlo Stanton)

    1971 – 4 (Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Boog Powell)

    1966 – 4 (Sandy Koufax, Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Maury Wills)

    1964 – 4 (Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Elston Howard, Dick Groat)

    1963 – 4 (Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Roger Maris, Maury Wills)

    1962 – 4 (Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Roger Maris, Willie Mays)

    1955 – 4 (Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella)

    1953 – 4 (Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella)

    1940 – 4 (Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer, Ernie Lombardi, Bucky Walters)

    (*has played in at least one World Series game, must have won MVP in a previous season)

    (Source: STATS Perform)

    So even if only four members of this year's group played, it would still be the most in more than half a century. But here's this: At least one of these guys won an MVP in every season since 2016 except one. The only year they missed? That would be 2019 if another Dodger, Cody Bellinger (now with the Cubs), won the NL MVP.

    Let's talk about other awards. Ah, but we also have two former Cy Young Award winners on these teams – Kershaw and Gerrit Cole of the Yankees. We have two former rookies of the year – Judge and Ohtani. And we have six Gold Glove Award winners – Betts, Kershaw, Tommy Edman, Kevin Kiermaier, Anthony Rizzo and Anthony Volpe.

    And let's talk about jersey sales. Can we measure star power by how many hard-earned dollars people are willing to spend on a jersey with one of these guys' name and number on the back? Why the hell not? In fact, this might be the best way to measure that star power factor.

    So what does it tell us that the teams in this World Series employ three of the top four, four of the top seven and six of the top 20 players who sold the most MLB jerseys in 2024?

    1. Ohtani
    3. Judge
    4. Betting
    7. Soto
    18. Freeman
    19. Kershaw

    You can draw your own conclusions. But here's what it says to Max Muncy of the Dodgers.

    “I just think you're talking about two of the classic franchises, and you're talking about two teams that have the biggest stars in the game,” Muncy said. “And I mean the biggest stars. We're talking about Shohei, Freddie and Mookie on our team. Her team includes Aaron Judge, Giancarlo and Soto.

    “You’re talking about the real biggest stars in the game. And now they will play on the biggest stage. How special is that for a fan, man? Incredible.”


    Shohei Ohtani could crown his first Dodgers season with a title. (Kiyoshi Mio/Imagn Images)

    We know there are people in Central America and elsewhere who complain about the $627 million in payroll these teams brought here. And if you're a fan of the Royals, Pirates, Guardians or other teams, we understand why this matchup might put you off rather than excite you.

    But is it worth noting that the Royals, Guardians and Tigers have all played in a World Series more recently than the Yankees? Or that four of the 10 teams that spent at least $200 million on payroll this year didn't even make the playoffs — and two more didn't win a game there?

    So if for some reason you want to argue about or boycott this World Series, do what you have to do. But for the rest of us? This is one of those matchups you wait a lifetime for. So when you come along, we recommend enjoying everything about them, from the first pitch to the last, from the black-and-white Ebbets Field highlights of yesteryear to the electrifying visions of where Ohtani takes the sport in his imagination.

    It's Dodgers vs. Yankees. It's LA vs. New York. But actually it is so much more.

    “If you asked me, 'What is the most classic World Series you can imagine?'” Andrew Friedman said, “I think the Dodgers-Yankees would be the answer.”

    go deeper

    Go deeper

    Yankees and Dodgers face off in the World Series: 5 storylines to watch

    (Top photo of Shohei Ohtani and Jose Trevino in June: Brad Penner / Imagn Images)

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    Kathleen William
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