Why it could be a lifetime until there’s another World Series like this one

Let’s play a little game.

When was the last time the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees played each other in the World Series?

1981.

When was the last time the home run kings from the American League and the National League played each other in the World Series?

1956.

Have two opponents with at least 50 home runs ever slugged against each other in the World Series?

Nope.

How many times since 1988 have the AL MVP and NL MVP met in the World Series?

Once.

And how many times this century has the best team in the AL played the best team in the NL in the World Series?

Twice — and one of those was in the pandemic-shortened season.

When the first pitch is thrown in Los Angeles to start 2024’s Fall Classic, it will be a confluence of all the above factors.

The clash between the Dodgers and the Yankees, the game’s signature cross-country rivalry, will be the teams’ first World Series showdown in more than 40 years. It’s also the first battle between the AL and NL home run leaders since Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider, the first championship matchup between the AL’s and NL’s best teams in the 12-team postseason era, and a showcase for the game’s two most exciting players: Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, who’ve already won a combined three MVPs and are each favored to win again this year.

It’s rare enough to see even one of the aforementioned storylines in baseball’s final playoff round. And with the expanded postseason, the likelihood is that matchups like this one be even fewer and farther between. But this World Series has it all.

“I think the world wanted to see this,” Dodgers star Mookie Betts told reporters after the National League Championship Series. “It’s going to be fun. It’s good for baseball.”

Of all the historical outliers involved in this iteration of Los Angeles versus New York, perhaps none is more exciting than the prospect of Ohtani and Judge trading haymakers.

Forget the playoffs — despite winning two MVPs, Rookie of the Year, batting and pitching, Ohtani never played for a team that finished with a record better than .500 until he joined the Dodgers. With a loaded roster around him, Ohtani had a historic season, becoming the first 50-50 player in league history with 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases. He posted career bests in homers, RBIs, batting average and WAR.

“He hits for average, he hits for power, the speed,” Judge said at a press conference Tuesday. “Doing what he did this year with the 50 stolen bases, it got talked about a lot, but I don’t think it got talked about enough. He’s an impressive, impressive athlete, the best player in the game, and what an ambassador for this sport.”

The Yankees slugger is no slouch. After hitting 62 home runs two seasons ago, Judge hit 58 this year and posted career marks in batting average, slugging, OPS and WAR.

“Excited that [Judge is] going to get to go be on this stage,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said at a press conference Tuesday. “Of course, I know playing against Shohei, what an amazing talent he is, and obviously going to the Dodgers this year and having the kind of season he’s put out there, I think it’s great for the sport, great for baseball, and looking forward to the battle of it all.”

This series is still somehow more than just a matchup between two titans or two legendary franchises. It’s also a chance for MLB to showcase several stars under a massive spotlight.

There’s Betts, a former MVP who has already won two World Series.

There’s Juan Soto, a four-time All-Star and former champ in his first season with the Yanks who is only 25 years old and inexplicably still looking for his long-term home.

There’s 34-year-old Giancarlo Stanton, a former NL MVP who is looking to cement his legacy in New York. (Oh, and he once hit a home run literally out of Dodger Stadium.)

A year ago, MLB’s unpredictable playoff format produced two Cinderellas in the World Series, the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks, a matchup between two wild card teams that ended in five games. It was fun in its own way to watch two underdogs make their way to the Fall Classic, but the baggage of seeing two big-market, high-spending teams with loud fan bases being the last two teams standing shouldn’t take away from how unique this World Series is.

“You are talking about all the biggest stars in the game, and they are going to be playing on the biggest stage,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy told reporters after the NLCS. “As a fan, how special is this, man? This is unbelievable.”