A Cubs fan’s guide to the World Series

The World Series is here and the broadcast networks are getting exactly what they dream about each year — a battle between the two largest media markets in the country. It’s sure to draw a lot of viewers. I’ll certainly be tuned in despite the fact that I’m already groaning over the sycophantic behavior from the media fawning over New York and Los Angeles.

And to be clear, it has almost nothing to do with the players who will be showcasing their skills during the next week and change. This World Series features a matchup between the likely National League MVP and sole member of the 50-50 club, Shohei Ohtani, and the likely American League MVP, Aaron Judge, who hit 58 home runs while posting a remarkable .458 OBP. Judge will be backed up by 26-year-old phenom and soon to be free agent Juan Soto, who has gotten on base at a .421 clip while hitting 201 home runs in his first seven seasons — two of which were partial. Meanwhile, the top of the Dodgers lineup is a virtual murderer’s row of hitters with Ohtani leading off followed by back-to-back former MVPs Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. The MVP of the NLCS, Tommy Edman, lurks in the eight hole.

The pitching is a little rockier for the Dodgers, although Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler plus the bullpen got it done for them against a tough Mets team in the Championship Series. The Yankees boast legit starters with two of the top ten highest paid pitchers in baseball, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón as their aces.

The problem is not the talent on the field. It’s that every player I just named except for Aaron Judge and Walker Buehler started their career as the hopes and dreams of some other fanbase’s future. The greatest hitter for some other team who decided they just could not be bothered to part with the hundreds of millions of dollars they most certainly have due to the lucrative business of owning a baseball team in the name of retaining generational talent. Okay, maybe the former Cardinals on this list are a smidge below that talent line, but you get the gist — to most of the people who live and die with a 162-game season for one of the 28 other teams in baseball the Yankees and Dodgers are just the annoyingly wealthy teams who laugh in the face of the luxury tax. The Athletic’s Grant Brisbee put it well earlier this week in his “Hater’s Guide to the World Series”:

Both of these franchises stare at themselves in the mirror when no one’s looking. They also do it when everyone’s looking. Monuments and plaques, a deserved sense of history that still manages to be overblown at the same time. No mascots. Jerseys that have barely changed in a century.

They insist upon themselves. They think they’re better than you and your team. And, sure, by getting to the World Series, that’s technically true, but they don’t have to insist upon themselves so danged hard all the time. It’s much funnier when entitled, history-drunk teams keep getting so close and losing year after year.

The only way this World Series could be more annoying is if the St. Louis Cardinals were in it instead of the Dodgers. I don’t want either team to win. The reason there will be so many more people potentially watching this World Series than other possible matchups is because the Dodgers and Yankees have a lot of fair weather fans who do not care enough about baseball to watch it for baseball’s sake. I’m not even sure some of these people are baseball fans. They might just be influencers who intuit that a World Series where standing room only tickets are going for $1,300 is a place they have to be seen.

There are individual players I’ll be cheering for during these games beyond the superstars listed above. There is real joy in seeing Anthony Rizzo play in another World Series — almost as much joy as the associated heartbreak that he’s not a Cub for life. I genuinely like former Cubs Marcus Stroman and Mark Leiter Jr. and I want good things for Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jasson Domínguez, who are both outstanding young players and dynamic to watch.

On the Dodgers side there are no former Cubs to cheer for, but intriguing talent and fun guys nonetheless, including two who share a last name. Teoscar Hernández took a one-year deal to show the world that his offensive output during a year in Seattle was an outlier and boy did he deliver. The 32-year-old slashed .272/.339/.501 with 33 home runs for the Dodgers and will surely get paid by someone (maybe the Dodgers or Yankees, they are certainly into that) this offseason. Enrique Hernández is 33 years old and has struggled in each of the last three seasons — but the man is electric in October. He’s slashed .278/.356/.533 in 239 postseason plate appearances. And no, those numbers aren’t padded by earlier years in his career. In the 2024 postseason Hernández is batting .303/378/.485 with a wRC+ of 145 in 37 plate appearances.

The media and coverage around this World Series is going to be nauseating, but the baseball should be exceptional. Try to focus on the incredible hitting and slick fielding rather than the copious amounts of bandwagon fans who couldn’t pick Vin Scully or John Sterling out of a lineup. You can see the Yankees World Series roster and the Dodgers World Series roster at MLB.com. I’ll refrain from cheering for the meteor, mostly because it would deprive all of us of what’s sure to be a robust corner in the Hall of Fame someday. Game 1 begins on Fox tonight at 7:08 p.m. CT. A game thread will post at 6 p.m. CT.