Ranking all 16 potential World Series matchups: Yankees vs. Dodgers, Subway Series both high on the list

The 2024 MLB postseason is underway and the Wild Card Series round is already complete. Six of the nine Wild Card Series games were decided by two or fewer runs, and three featured lead changes in the eighth inning or later. It was a blast. The best-of-five Division Series gets underway this weekend. Here are the matchups:  

AMERICAN LEAGUE
ALDS1: Kansas City Royals at New York Yankees
ALDS2: Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Guardians

NATIONAL LEAGUE
NLDS1: San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers
NLDS2: New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies

There are eight teams still standing, which equals 16 possible World Series matchups, and one of them is not a 2023 rematch. The Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers both missed the postseason. It’s the first time since 2007 (Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals) that the two reigning pennant-winners are home in October.

Anyway, there are 16 possible postseason matchups and none of them are bad! Each and every one is exciting in its own way, but some are more compelling than others. Sometimes there’s history (recent or otherwise), sometimes new players have joined the mix, so on and so forth.

With that in mind, we are here to rank all 16 possible World Series matchups. What are these rankings based on, exactly? History, watchability, vibes, etc. No need to get scientific. Here now are our 2024 World Series matchup rankings.

The bottom four

16. Phillies vs. Tigers
15. Guardians vs. Phillies
14. Dodgers vs. Guardians
13. Mets vs. Tigers

I can’t say I expected the Phillies to show up multiple times in the bottom tier, but there’s little shared history with the Guardians and Tigers, so what can you do? I suppose the World Series could be the final say on which team won the Matt Vierling trade. Phillies vs. Guardians would have been juicier had Terry Francona hung on for one more year before retiring (and then unretiring), but alas. Mets vs. Tigers would be fun, though there isn’t a ton of history here. Not unless you feel like relitigating the Yoenis Cespedes trade.

The next three

12. Dodgers vs. Royals
11. Padres vs. Royals
10. Phillies vs. Royals

This is going to make it look like we’re hating on the Royals, but I sincerely don’t mean it that way. Cole Ragans is outstanding, Seth Lugo is very fun in an “I have no idea what he’s going to throw next” way (not so much fun for hitters, of course), and Bobby Witt Jr. is simply the best all-around player in baseball. If he has a flaw, I don’t know what it is. The Royals are not in the ALDS by accident. It’s just that someone has to be near the bottom of these rankings, and this year that’s Kansas City. Phillies vs. Royals would be a 1980 World Series rematch, which is all the significant history in this tier.

The Clase tier

9. Guardians vs. Padres

Emmanuel Clase is the best closer in baseball, and, once upon a time, he was a Padres minor leaguer. They signed him as an international amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2015, traded him to the Rangers for journeyman catcher Brett Nicholas (!) in 2018, then Texas sent him to the Guardians in the 2019 Corey Kluber trade. Cleveland also has Joey Cantillo and Josh Naylor playing prominent roles. They came over from San Diego in the Mike Clevinger trade. Perhaps knuckleballer Matt Waldron would make the Padres’ World Series roster? He was in that trade too. The Padres have fingerprints all over this Guardians roster.

8. Dodgers vs. Tigers

Jack Flaherty vs. Trey Sweeney in a big spot in late October would make for some fun baseball theater. Those two were traded for each other at the deadline and now Flaherty is the Dodgers’ top starter and Sweeney is Detroit’s starting shortstop. A mutually beneficial trade, that was. The Dodgers got the starter they needed and Sweeney, while not tearing the cover off the ball, has been an enormous upgrade at shortstop for the Tigers. He’s been a sneaky, important part of their recent success. The Dodgers and Tigers have both been around basically forever, though they’ve never once met in the World Series, if you can believe that.

Notable World Series rematches

7. Mets vs. Royals

The most recent World Series matchup between clubs in this year’s remaining postseason field. The Royals beat the Mets in five games in 2015, and only one player from that series remains with these teams: Salvador Perez (who else?). Beyond that, there are two former Mets in Kansas City’s rotation (Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha), a former Royals prospect in New York’s rotation (Sean Manaea, who was traded for Ben Zobrist during that 2015 title run), and two of the very best shortstops in baseball. A sneaky great World Series matchup, this would be. I might have it too low in these rankings.

6. Padres vs. Tigers

The closest the Padres have ever come to winning the World Series was 1984, when they lost in five games to the Tigers. That is also the last time Detroit won the World Series. There is little overlap between the two current teams — Tigers manager A.J. Hinch ran San Diego’s scouting apparatus from 2010-14 and that’s about it — but a Padres vs. Tigers matchup would ensure one long postseason drought comes to an end. Either the Padres win their first championship or the Tigers win their first since 1984, and end the seventh longest title drought in baseball. Plus the two teams are really fun and would presumably make for some exciting baseball.

The top five

5. Phillies vs. Yankees

A 2009 World Series rematch, this would be, which creates a nice little storyline right off the bat. You’ve also got Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper, Juan Soto and Trea Turner, Gerrit Cole and Zack Wheeler, on and on. Great players, all of them, and great players tend to make for great series. Also, Phillies manager Rob Thomson was a Yankees lifer before joining Philadelphia in 2018. He joined the Yankees as a minor-league coach in 1990 and did just everything from coach in the minors to run player development to serve as their MLB bench coach. I’m sure the New York tabloids would have a field day with Thomson beating his former employee in the World Series.

4. Guardians vs. Mets

In 2016, Francisco Lindor played in the World Series for Cleveland. In 2024, he has a chance to play in the World Series against Cleveland. The Guardians traded Lindor (and Carlos Carrasco) to the Mets in Jan. 2021 for Andrés Giménez (and others) and this would be the biggest “star player plays his former team in the World Series” matchup since … Frank Robinson faced the Reds with the Orioles in 1970? Yeah, I think so. Lindor returning to his old stomping grounds with his new team and a World Series title on the line would really be something. And, you know, both teams are looking to end long World Series droughts. Cleveland has not won a title since 1948. The Mets’ drought seems like nothing in comparison. They’re titleless since 1986.

3. Padres vs. Yankees

Would there be anything juicier than a Padres vs. Yankees World Series immediately after the Juan Soto trade? Talk about a win-win trade. Soto had a tremendous season for New York, one that will land him in the top 3-4 of the MVP voting, while San Diego landed their best pitcher (Michael King), their starting catcher (Kyle Higashioka), and the top 100 prospect they flipped to the White Sox for Dylan Cease (Drew Thorpe). Both teams are thrilled with their end of the trade. There’s also the backdrop of the 1998 World Series, which the Yankees swept. The great Tony Gwynn went 8 for 16 with a homer in that series. It felt like he never made an out. Padres vs. Yankees would be two great teams with a World Series history and the colossal storyline of the Soto trade. Fun fun fun.

2. Mets vs. Yankees

We had a Subway Series World Series in 2000, though the Yankees were in the middle of a dynasty at the time, and the Mets were very clearly New York’s No. 2 team. Under owner Steve Cohen and POBO David Stearns, the Mets are trying to flip New York into a Mets town, and what better way to do that than to beat the Yankees in the World Series? Even beyond the intra-city stuff, the Mets and Yankees are two very good teams with some of the game’s biggest starts. Aaron Judge and Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso and Juan Soto, etc. I’m guessing most baseball fans outside New York would roll their eyes at this matchup, but a Mets vs. Yankees World Series would as fierce a matchup as any World Series in recent memory. Zero love lost here, and I mean zero.

1. Dodgers vs. Yankees

How could Dodgers vs. Yankees not be No. 1? It would be Aaron Judge and Juan Soto vs. Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani on the game’s biggest stage. The Cooperstown-bound greatness of Freddie Freeman and Gerrit Cole, the swagger of Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Teoscar Hernández, and two combustible bullpens liable to make the last few innings of every game interesting.

Give the commissioner and the television network executives a truth serum, and I’m certain they’d tell you this is the World Series matchup they want. The Dodgers and Yankees are baseball’s two marquee franchises. They play in the two largest markets and have a long history, too. No two teams have met in the World Series more than the Dodgers and Yankees.

Here is a rivalry recap. More than one out of every 11 World Series throughout history has featured these two teams.

• 1941 World Series: Yankees won 4-1
• 1947 World Series: Yankees won 4-3
• 1949 World Series: Yankees won 4-1
• 1952 World Series: Yankees won 4-3
• 1953 World Series: Yankees won 4-1 (at 25, Vin Scully becomes youngest World Series broadcaster ever)
• 1955 World Series: Dodgers won 4-3 (Jackie Robinson steals home in Game 1)
• 1956 World Series: Yankees won 4-3 (Don Larsen throws a perfect game in Game 5)
• 1963 World Series: Dodgers won 4-0
• 1977 World Series: Yankees won 4-2 (Reggie Jackson hits three homers in Game 6)
• 1978 World Series: Yankees won 4-2
• 1981 World Series: Dodgers won 4-2

Dodgers vs. Yankees has given baseball some of its greatest, most iconic moments ever, but it has been a while, which only adds to the intrigue. An entire generation of baseball fans (2-3 generations in baseball years) have not seen the Dodgers and Yankees hook up in October. This is as good a year as any to change that.

Whenever the Dodgers and Yankees meet during interleague play, it’s an event. Like the World Series in the summer. Yankees fans are all over the world and there are still a lot of Dodgers fans in New York, with fandom handed down through the generations from the franchise’s Brooklyn years. Dodgers vs. Yankees in the World Series would be outrageously fun.