3 defining storylines for both potential World Series matchups

But which team will join the Yanks in the Fall Classic? We could know as soon as tonight, with the Dodgers holding a 3-2 series lead over the Mets heading into Game 6 of the NLCS. Regardless, this year’s World Series is guaranteed to have big stars in big cities and big stories.

Here are the top three storylines for each potential matchup.

1. The biggest postseason rivalry is renewed
No two teams have faced off in October as often as the Yankees and Dodgers. The matchup, which dates back to the 1940s when both clubs were based in New York, has occurred 11 times in the postseason. But we haven’t witnessed this once-frequent World Series pairing in more than 40 years. These teams last met in the 1981 Fall Classic when L.A. triumphed in six games.

2. No. 1 seed vs. No. 1 seed
Since anything is possible in the MLB playoffs, the sport’s top seeds don’t often meet up in the World Series. A showdown between the teams with the best record in each league has happened just 13 times in the Divisional Era (since 1969). A Yankees-Dodgers matchup would be the first Fall Classic between each league’s No. 1 seed since the shortened 2020 season. That year, the Dodgers defeated the Rays in six games. The last full-season Fall Classic to feature the two top seeds came in 2013 when the Red Sox beat the Cardinals in six.

3. MVP vs. MVP
It won’t be official until a few weeks after the World Series, but this matchup would likely include the Most Valuable Player in each league: Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. We always want to see how the game’s best players perform on the biggest stage, and that is what we would get with a Yankees-Dodgers World Series. An MVP vs. MVP faceoff was a regular occurrence in October before the Divisional Era, but it has happened only once in the past 35 years. That came in 2012 when Buster Posey’s Giants swept Miguel Cabrera’s Tigers. The most recent league MVP to win a World Series title in the same season was Mookie Betts with the 2018 Red Sox.

1. Subway Series, Part II
All aboard! MLB’s second Subway Series would take place 24 years after the original, which saw the Yanks beat the Mets in five games. A lot has changed in the Bronx and Queens over that time. New players, new coaches, new stadiums. But the anticipation for such a matchup would be as high as the top of the Empire State Building.

2. Juan Soto free agency preview?
The chants of “Re-sign Soto!” have been heard throughout Yankee Stadium all season long. Those chants even made a road trip to Progressive Field and were present as the Yankees accepted the American League championship trophy. Yes, the Yankees want to bring back the generational talent this winter. But they will face competition in the bidding, perhaps most of all from the Mets and their owner, Steve Cohen, who has shown a willingness to get whatever his team needs, no matter the price. No one is sure what the price will be for Soto — $500 million? $600 million? — but if he keeps providing dramatic, game-changing hits, that number will assuredly go up.

3. Familiarity in the dugout
It’s unlikely that either manager in a Yankees-Mets Fall Classic would be caught by surprise by any of the moves made by the other side. That’s because the men at the head of each club know each other very well. Before Carlos Mendoza was hired last November to be the Mets’ manager, he served six years on the Yankees’ Major League staff, including four seasons as the bench coach under Aaron Boone. If Mendoza reaches the World Series and beats his former employer, he would become just the sixth rookie manager to win it all.