Ranking Every Potential 2024 World Series Matchup Ahead of MLB Divisional Round

11. Kansas City Royals vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

10. Detroit Tigers vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

9. Cleveland Guardians vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Per USA Today, the Cleveland Guardians had the third-lowest Opening Day payroll at $93.3 million. The Detroit Tigers were a bit ahead of that at $103.8 million. The Kansas City Royals were still bottom 10 in the majors at $115.3 million.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers spent $1.3 billion this past offseason on signing/extending four players—Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Will Smith—in the process of putting together a top-five Opening Day payroll for a 12th consecutive year.

And save for that Dodgers-Rays World Series in 2020, it’s been a hot minute since we last had a David vs. Goliath matchup pitting a top-three OD payroll against a bottom-10 OD payroll.

Cleveland-Chicago in 2016 was close, but the Cubs’ OD payroll didn’t tick up into the top five until a couple of years later. (Plus, they were dealing with that 108-year curse, anyway, and didn’t feel like a juggernaut.)

You need to go back to 2007 for Red Sox (No. 2 OD payroll) vs. Rockies (No. 25) for the last time a 162-game season ended with such a World Series. And, well, Goliath pounded David to a pulp in that one with Boston winning in a sweep.

Before that, though, the Marlins (No. 25) over the Yankees (No. 1) in the 2003 World Series was a massive upset, and maybe one of these AL Central penny-pinchers could pull off a similar stunner over the spending limit-less Dodgers.

Goodness knows all the neutral fans would be pulling for the Guardians/Royals/Tigers.