A Yankees vs. Dodgers World Series is a star-studded clash that’s been decades in the making

It’s hard to envision a more star-studded and magnetic World Series matchup than this one — both a throwback to when baseball reigned supreme in the U.S. while also showcasing the greatest talents in the game today.

The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers represent the two largest markets in Major League Baseball. They entered the season with the second-largest payroll in the sport (Yankees) and the fifth largest (Dodgers). They will now meet for a whopping twelfth time in the World Series, the most by any two teams. 

Decades ago, the key players were luminaries like Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Roy Campanella and Jackie Robinson.

Legends of the game, for sure, and now that star power has returned in 2024. 

Shohei Ohtani — who just rewrote the history books with baseball’s first season of 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases — certainly appears to have a flair for the dramatic, crushing a three-run homer in his postseason debut.

Ohtani, the marquee name in the sport, was part of the Dodgers’ $1 billion offseason overhaul that saw them pad a star-studded roster with two pitching aces — fellow Japanese countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow, acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays.

On the Yankees side, general manager and senior vice president Brian Cashman made a major offseason splash of his own — acquiring 25-year-old phenom Juan Soto, whom many consider the most complete hitter in baseball, adding to a lineup that already features American League home run king Aaron Judge and the fearsome Giancarlo Stanton. 

Soto not only delivered with a career season of 41 home runs and 109 runs batted in, but he also just unleashed one of the most epic at bats you will see in postseason play — daring Cleveland Guardians pitcher Hunter Gaddis to throw him a fastball in extra innings Saturday, only to belt it over the centerfield fence and send the Yankees past upstart Cleveland and into their first World Series since 2009. 

Judge and Ohtani, meanwhile, are both making their first appearance in the Fall Classic, a fact that might seem hard to fathom given their already robust resumes. Judge and Ohtani are both MVP winners and are the favorites to win it again this season. Judge flirted with the Triple Crown by batting .322 with 58 home runs and 144 RBIs. Ohtani nearly matched those numbers, with a .310 average, 54 home runs and 130 RBIs.

“This is sweeter — it’s even sweeter,” Judge said on Fox Sports about reaching the World Series and whether the reality matched expectations. 

“This group we have is something special,” he said. “You know, all the work they put in the offseason, the ups and downs during the regular season, there’s no better group. … That’s what you grind all season for — moments like this.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts echoed those sentiments after his team ousted the magical New York Mets to reach their fourth World Series in the last seven years, though with only one ring to show for it, in the Covid-shortened 2020 season.

“I’ve never believed in a group of guys more than I believe in these guys,” Roberts said, ahead of the impending clash of the titans. “Most importantly, they believe in each other.”

The playoffs this season have been a hit with fans as TV viewership is at its highest levels in years.

The last time the two teams faced off in the World Series was in 1981 (the Dodgers won), and Tyler Kepner, the longtime baseball writer now with The Athletic, reflected on the rarity of what we’re seeing. 

“There was a 40- or 41-year span, from 1941 to 1981, where we saw that matchup [in the World Series] 11 times … but in the last 41 years, we haven’t had one.” 

And with Judge and Ohtani headlining the two juggernauts, another feat is now happening that’s taken more than four decades, too. 

“To have two Hall of Fame-type players in MVP seasons making their World Series debuts against each other, that’s only happened once,” Kepner said. “That was George Brett and Mike Schmidt in 1980 — so it is kind of a perfect storm of fun stuff that would happen if it’s Yankees and Dodgers.”