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For the first time since 1981, the Dodgers and Yankees will square off in the World Series in a battle of MLB Goliaths.
The teams, who entered the season as odds-on favorites to win their respective pennants, lived up to the hype by earning their league’s No. 1 seeds in the playoffs.
Presumptive league MVPs Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani will go head-to-head, but they are far from the only headliners.
The series features five former league MVPs, including Ohtani, who won the AL award two times with the Angels.
The list does not include Juan Soto, who looks poised to earn a historic contract with his incredible postseason run.
The Yankees slugger is my pick to win World Series MVP.
What is lacking among these two rosters is premier starting pitchers, at least relative to most teams that make it to the Fall Classic.
Like we saw from Cleveland in the ALCS, the Dodgers are unlikely to receive many innings of work from starters Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler.
Dave Roberts expertly deployed his bullpen against the Padres and Mets, but it’s a big question mark whether his bullpen can continue to be as effective while working so many innings.
The Dodgers pitching staff has pitched to a 4.36 ERA this postseason, and their 4.97 xFIP is the worst of any team to make the playoffs.
While not altogether overpowering, the Yankees’ starting rotation still looks deeper and more formidable than the Dodgers’ three-man unit entering the series.
Gerrit Cole deserves to be viewed as the best starter available to either side and the supporting cast beyond him has meaningful upside.
Based on Stuff+ ratings this season, the Yankees have the four best-starting arms in this matchup.
Carlos Rodon pitched well against Cleveland and featured the best Stuff+ rating (122) of any starter from either side.
Clarke Schmidt’s 116 Stuff+ rating ranks second, while Luis Gil’s 110 Stuff+ mark ranks fourth.
Even Nestor Cortes, who looks likely to crack the World Series roster and return from injury, would be the third-best Dodgers starter right now if he were to return at the same level he pitched in the regular season.
The Yankees were the best team in MLB versus right-handed pitching this season with a wRC+ of 120, which sets them up well with Yamamoto, Buehler and Flaherty all being righties.
The Dodgers bullpen has been incredible, and they will likely need to lean heavily into that strength in this series.
In 57 innings, Dodgers relievers own a 3.16 ERA in the postseason with an xFIP of 3.16.
This series could become somewhat of a war of attrition, as both lineups have displayed elite plate discipline in the playoffs and will run up pitch counts of opposing pitchers.
Yankees hitters have a wRC+ of 117 in the postseason, rank first with a BB/K ratio of 0.64 and hold a 36.6 percent hard-hit rate.
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The Dodgers feature a slightly deeper lineup, which has put up a wRC+ of 120 in the playoffs.
They rank second with a BB/K ratio of 0.62 and hold a 30.8 percent hard-hit rate.
The deeper starting rotation of the Yankees looks like the clearest edge either side holds entering Friday night’s Game 1.
Based on that advantage, I don’t believe the Yankees deserve to be an underdog.
At plus-money, I see value backing the Bombers to win what should be a spectacular World Series.
Recommendation: Yankees to win World Series (+115, FanDuel)
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Nicholas Martin handicaps the NHL, MLB and NFL for the New York Post. He strives to include relevant game notes in articles to help bettors come to their own conclusions, but is also up 180 units himself on verified picks in a sports betting app. You can find Nick on X @nickm_hockey.