The Dodgers-Yankees World Series Roundtable

How are we feeling about the upcoming Fall Classic?

It’s time for the World Series, the event that theoretically should be the highlight of every baseball fan’s year, but for some reason isn’t. So how are we feeling about it and who do we want to win (lol)? Here’s what the OTM staff has to say a few days before first pitch.

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A Dodgers-Yankees World Series makes you feel . . .

Is there a word that describes the weird dichotomy of being excited to see a historic match-up while simultaneously loathing the fact that it’s these two teams?

Buster Olney poised an interesting question on Twitter on Monday.

If you count Kershaw, who will probably be there and maybe even throw out a first pitch, it’s gotta be that 7+ number, right? Shohei, Mookie, Judge, Soto, Cole, Freeman, and Kershaw are all either locks or on the fast track to Cooperstown. Your mileage may vary on Stanton’s HOF case (he’s creeping up on 500 career homers). And none of that factors into the other young talent that this Fall Classic will feature; take Will Smith and Luis Gil for example. It’s likely that neither will be enshrined in the hall when it’s all said and done, but they’re both productive guys on pennant-winning clubs.

The record for the most Hall of Famers in a single World Series was the 1932 tilt between the Yanks and Cubs, which featured 13 players who would eventually get the call. That’s a lot, yeah, but this 2024 World Series would easily be the most since the 1999 World Series, which included six HOFers between the Yankees and Braves. Of course, some Fall Classics since the turn of the millennium could have their counts tick up as the years go by, but the point remains: we’re in pretty rare territory right now.

So this should be a baseball fan’s dream, right?

Well, simply put: Los Angeles is just annoying, and you don’t need me to get you going about the Yankees considering that you’re currently read OTM. If you’re a neutral, pick your poison: the team supported by people who won’t stop complaining about traffic, or the team supported by people who won’t stop complaining about traffic; the team that has fans that also root for the Dallas Cowboys, or the team that has fans that also root for the Dallas Cowboys.

Either way, the painful part of this match-up really is the fact that, unlike a certain team that plays in the Yankees’ division, these teams have put up the dough to get to this exact point of the season. Maybe I’m fussy because it’s something we don’t have right now.

If this finale were labeled as a battle between Team A and Team B, I’d unequivocally eat it up. I’ll probably eat it up anyways. But man………why’d it have to be these two teams?

— Fitzy Mo Peña

Good! It makes me feel good. I like watching the best players, and best teams, in baseball, and I love rooting against the Yankees. I don’t get the hate for the matchup. It rules.

— Bryan Joiner

Hopeful for team Blue. The Dodgers might have a high payroll but somehow they make the Red Sox pitching IL look like a gift from a friendly deity. We just had to sit through Aaron Judge and a fake Home Run race. I have essentially zero interest in watching games the Yankees play against non-Red Sox teams with the World Series as something of an exception. Ohtani and Mookie: get it done!

— Mike Carlucci

Spellbound! Like a car crash or a flaming train wreck, I can’t look away from this worst case scenario match up. Do I detest it? Yes! Am I going to watch? Every second of it!

This is the difference between anger and apathy. Conflicts between two powerful, unlikeable entities are more compelling, not less. Pick whatever arena in life you want: Celtics vs. Lakers, Walter White vs. Gus Fring, etc. When titanic superpowers collide at the height of their powers, it tends to produce riveting drama, and this probably won’t be an exception.

— Matthew Gross

Nervous? Excited? Both? As a baseball fan, this is an awesome matchup. As a Red Sox fan, the thought of the Yankees winning the World Series disgusts me. The 2024 playoffs have produced both great games and series. I hope the World Series is more of the same, but I’m not afraid to admit I’m fearful of a Yankees win.

— Jacob Roy

Annoyed AND entertained? Who could have thought! I honestly was hoping for a Subway Series, it would have been an all-timer between sterile history and…Grimace. We still get an extremely entertaining matchup between two of the leagues most vaunted and marketed stars in Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge. The winner gets even more lore behind them and the loser maybe gets a villain story? Still, it’s the league’s two largest media markets and highest payrolls. Yipee.

— Jake Reiser

Incredibly excited. Fans of most sports generally like to see the best players on the planet face off for the highest stakes. Fans of baseball prefer to complain.

— Dan Secatore

Like the Red Sox should start spending again. They have the capacity to do so, they choose not to. This season, these two teams brought in: Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, Tyler Glasnow, Jazz Chisholm, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty, Tommy Edman, Alex Verdugo, Michael Kopech (and Luke Weaver??). They may not be likeable franchises and/or fanbases, but they deserve to be there because they did everything they could over the last ten months to WIN.

— Bob Osgood

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The most annoying World Series media narrative will be…

Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The ratings chatter, one way or the other.

Yeah, the whole Ohtani v. Judge thing could get tiresome, but can you blame Fox or the league for pushing that narrative? They’re the combined face of the league, essentially. That’s just Marketing 101.

What will grind my gears are people complaining about TV ratings, especially if they don’t hit their projections. That’s always been a pet peeve of mine—people bugging out about TV ratings for these things. Who cares? If someone likes the sport, they’re gonna watch it. If they don’t wanna watch, their loss. No skin off my nose. I understand why it’s tracked and whatnot; I just can’t imagine getting all up in arms about it.

— Fitzy Mo Peña

I agree with Fitzy. The ratings stuff.

— Bryan Joiner

The media obsession with New York City. (NEW YORK CITY!?!!). The nonsense about their little statue park. Having Jeter and A-Rod on the broadcasts.

— Mike Carlucci

Whatever piece of Yankee propaganda Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter spend a week inundating the airwaves with in the pre and postgame shows. Details remain unknown for now, but I can guarantee they will be insufferable!

— Matthew Gross

Conversely to Matt, it’s whatever counter-propaganda comes out to try and combat A-Rod and Jeter that’s going to annoy me the most! Not to say whatever those two are going to say will be both riveting and truthful, but they’re Yankees through and through, what do you expect?

— Jake Reiser

Any reference to lengthy travel days in between New York and Los Angeles. A grueling 2,445-mile trip via a chartered plane for naps, card games, and cold beer. Just ask Wade Boggs.

— Bob Osgood

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One thing you really want to see in the World Series is . . .

Joe Buck’s dream become a reality:

— Fitzy Mo Pena

Ohtani and Betts going a combined, like, 35 for 50 with 9 homers.

— Bryan Joiner

A really big meteor. Just kidding. Kinda. What I really want to see is Shohei Ohtani lead off game three of the World Series with an absolute no-doubter home run as the mutants in the bleachers do the lame Yankee roll call. It’s a shame the Dodgers have home-field advantage, because Ohtani taking Cole deep to start the series and the collective “oh shit” as Yankee Stadium realizes they’re in trouble would be sweet. (Un)Fortunately, the Dodgers are better than the Yankees and the series will start in LA. Either way, Ohtani silencing Yankee Stadium before they can even get a foot in the game would be glorious.

— Jacob Roy

A scoreless ninth inning for the final win with Ohtani striking out Judge and Soto.

— Mike Carlucci

A Mookie Betts walk-off hit to clinch the series. The Red Sox trading Betts to the Dodgers only for him to eventually drive a dagger into the Yankees upon their return to the World Series and extend their title drought beyond 15 years would be one of the greatest accidental long cons in history!

— Matthew Gross

Mike has the right idea with the wrong pitcher…it’s Ryan Brasier’s time to shine!

— Jake Reiser

Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Juan Soto to go 1-for-32 in the series, triggering just enough boos from the Yankee Stadium crowd in Game Five that he goes elsewhere in free agency this offseason. Soto is the perfect fit in the Bronx, and we can’t allow this to happen for more than one season. Boo this man.

— Bob Osgood

An incredibly pivotal play that involves both Mookie Betts and Alex Verdugo. Sorry folks: we need some content.

— Dan Secatore

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The World Series MVP will be . . .

Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Because the universe is a painful, relentless, and unforgiving force: Markus Lynn Betts.

— Fitzy Mo Peña

It’s easy to guess Shohei Ohtani or Mookie Betts or Tommy Edman, the Dodgers superstars. I was about to fire up Stathead and do some queries but I’m just gonna say Max “Maximum” Muncy. Go get it out of the ocean!

— Mike Carlucci

Obviously, I have the Dodgers winning the series. I don’t think there’s a pitcher on their staff capable of putting in a Madison Bumgarner-esque performance though, taking the ball as much as possible and delivering. For that reason, I’ll look at the Dodgers lineup. Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortes, and Tim Hill will be key pieces of the Yankees staff for the series. Teoscar Hernandez is a lefty killer, in a contract year, who went 6-12 with three home runs earlier this season in Yankee Stadium. I’m expecting Hernandez to add a few million to the contract he’s going to get this winter.

— Jacob Roy

Give me one of the Hernandezes here. Kiké seems to be playoff Kiké and hitting clutch. Teoscar is hitting bombs too. Seems like one of them could be destined if not Ohtani.

— Jake Reiser

Shohei Ohtani. 54 Homers, 59 Steals, 9.1 WAR. I think I’d be overthinking it if I picked anyone else. He sat on the sidelines in October for six years in Los Angeles Anaheim, and has waited too long for this moment, turning 30 in the second half of this season.

It took a few minutes but he started heating up throughout the NLCS, with a home run in Games 3 and 4, and then multi-hit efforts in games 5 and 6. He’s taking Gerrit Cole deep in Game 1 and won’t look back.

— Bob Osgood

The friends we made along the way.

— Bryan Joiner

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You want the Dodgers to win in . . .

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

Seven. I always want a seven-game World Series and you should, too.

— Dan Secatore

As painless of a manner as possible.

— Fitzy Mo Peña

Four games. Just mopping the floor with the Yankees.

— Mike Carlucci

Clothes. Would be weird if they were naked.

— Bryan Joiner

Four games. Listen, I’m not trying to take anything away from the Royals or Guardians. I am, however, trying to tear the Yankees down as much as possible. Neither the Royals or Guardians were serious contenders. Neither lineup was World Series caliber, save for one or two players on each team. The Royals beat up the White Sox all year, and the Guardians had a pitching staff of 12 relievers and Tanner Bibee. The Yankees may not even be in the Wolrd Series if Emmanuel Clase pitched to the best of his ability. If the Dodgers curb-stomp the Yankees in four games, it’s very easy for me to do my best high-pitched chuckle and label the Yankees postseason a Mickey Mouse run.

— Jacob Roy

Excruciating fashion for the Yankees. Whatever that takes!

— Matthew Gross

I’m with Dan here, seven games it is. You want the Yankees to see it, to taste it, to be oh so close to the Commissioner’s Trophy…only for it to be snatched away from them at the last moment. How delicious.

— Jake Reiser

Seven games. I always want the baseball season, the last thing to grasp onto from the summer months, to last as long as possible. Game Seven is scheduled for Saturday, November 2 at 8:08 EDT. You know what happens six hours later? We turn the clocks back. The sun sets at 4:34 in Boston on November 3, and I go into hiding until March. Talk to you then.

— Bob Osgood