ESPN 98.1 FM / 850 AM WRUF ESPN 98.1 FM / 850 AM WRUF
It’s that time once again. The culmination of a season’s worth of ups and downs, trials and tribulations, swings and misses. Get ready for the 12th Fall Classic meeting between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. The 120th edition of the World Series is upon us, with Game 1 kicking things off Friday.
It isn’t every year that we get two of the biggest franchises in sports, certainly baseball, going head-to-head for it all. In fact, it hasn’t been since 1981 that the two teams clashed. So how did we get here and where are we going?
The Bronx Bombers
It hasn’t been the smoothest season for the Yankees. After putting up a 50-22 record to start the season, best in the Major League’s, New York hit a rough skid. Just ask superstar slugger and AL MVP frontrunner Aaron Judge.
Those bad times were highlighted by a summer slide, to put it lightly. At one point, they were winless in seven straight series, with a feel reminiscent of a poor floundering animal. At the end of the regular season, all was okay. They made it to a 94-68 record, good enough for first in the AL East and the No. 1 seed in the league.
From there, it was quick work of their AL playoff foes. In the Division series, they took out the Kansas City Royals 3-1. In the ALCS, a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians. Just goes to show that in baseball, it isn’t always about the season at large. Sometimes you just need to play your best ball in the biggest moments, and that’s what the Yankees have done to make it to this stage.
West Coast Boys in Blue
The LA Dodgers are coming in feeling good. Boasting the same No. 1 playoff seeding as the Yankees, one would think there isn’t much delineation between the two. They would be right, but if one wants to up the Dodgers, they can point out their four extra regular season wins – a 98-64 record.
That doesn’t matter anymore, of course. LA doesn’t get to use those four wins to close out the seven-game series before a ball is pitched. So, what do the Dodgers get to do? Well, if you ask Jack Flaherty, who’ll start at pitcher for Game 1, they get to do the exact same things they’ve been doing all year long.
That’s the mentality for LA. Up to this point, it’s worked pretty well. The Division series was a bit of a scare, as it went to a deciding Game 5 against the San Diego Padres. They took care of business, though, and moved on to the NLCS against the New York Mets. In the matchup against the other New York team, they dropped two games again but finished it off in Game 6 with a 10-5 win and a trip to this point.
Game 1
So, what will it take for each team to win just the first game?
As I mentioned, it’ll be Flaherty on the mound for the Dodgers in this one. He’ll have to deal with the aforementioned Judge, who’s always a threat to go yard. The problem for the Dodgers is Judge has some friends. Giancarlo Stanton has been fireworks this postseason, with a team-leading five home runs and 11 RBIs. Then there’s the Juan Soto piece of it, as he leads the team in postseason hits, with three home runs to go along with it.
Flaherty’s approach will be one pitch at a time.
Gerrit Cole won’t have it easy either when he steps on the mound as the starter for the Yankees. He’ll be pitching to unicorn Shohei Ohtani, who, this postseason, has been flames every time runners are in scoring position. He’s 6-for-9 when these stars align, while also going .286/.434/.500. Then there’s Mookie Betts, who leads the team in postseason home runs with four. Tommy Edman‘s been taking care of the hits, with a team-leading 15.
In Cole’s single ALCS start, he gave up two runs on six hits and walked four in just over four innings. He’s resided to the fact that the Dodgers are going to get their hits, but he feels that all will be fine as long as he controls what he can and trusts his pitches.
Who ends up winning it all, we’ll find out soon enough. For now, we get to enjoy watching two of the biggest and best teams in baseball go at it for the ultimate reward the sport has to offer.
