LOS ANGELES — With apologie🌟s to the cost-efficient Guardians and that gritty, gutty, lovable team from Queens, this is the World Series we’ve all been waiting for.
MLB ♊bigwigs won’t say it aloud, but the marquee matchup of Yankees and Dodgers — yes, especially the Ohtani Dodgers, let’s be real! — is the World Series that works best for them.
The fans love it, t🏅♉oo, as ticket prices are almost all in the thousands already. They want to see the stars, no matter the cost.
This matchup has big history, even if it’s been 43 yꦉearsꦛ.
There was the Reggie game.
There was Don Larsen authoring perfection.
There was Jackie stealing home.
Tradition is nice, especially for us old folks. But this meeting i🐭s mostly about the current megastars who populate these celebrated rosters.
“You are talking a𒆙bout all the biggest stars in the game, and they are going to be playing on the biggest stage,” Max Muncy said in the afterglow of the Dodgers’ NLCS win over those overachieving Mets. “As a fan, how special is this, man? This is unbelievable.”
The $300M-plus Yankees and Dodgers are the two biggest payrolls (discounting the Mets’ for their close to $9ꦰ0M in “dead money”). They have the three highest-paid pitchers (Gerrit Cole, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani, although Ohtani is said very unlikely to pitch — more on that later). They have the two highest-paid hitters (Aaron Judge and Ohtani). And there is of course, the future highest-paid player (J🎶uan Soto).
The Yankees have three $300M players and a fourth who’ll be aiming for $700M (that’s the latest whisper number, and it’s a legit $700M a𝓀sk, too.) The Dodgers have three $300M men, including the first ever $700M man. That’s Ohtani, the international sup𒐪erstar who’s making money for everyone. Word going around is the Dodgers are actually earning a big profit on his record-setting deal, and who doesn’t believe that?
Even in a competition that includes Soto (who allegedly called the Yankees’ clinching win before hitting the home run that guaranteed it), Judge, whose regular season stats dwarfed everyone’s, plus Giancarlo Stanton, an unstoppable October force, Ohtani is theꦗ🐻 guy who makes this a worldwide event.
On a Dodgers team of extreme adaptability, he is the champion of versatility, a talent so great he will win his third MVP in a year he was limited to hitting (so🌳rry, Frankie, you were great, too). This is probably better for a Hollywood fantasy script, but wouldn♕’t it be something if Ohtani could pitch in relief?
“Ain’t gonna happen,🐻” is the🍨 unofficial word from a Dodgers official.
OK, so that’s enough for California dreamin’.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Yankees in the postseason:
- Yankees superstar Juan So🐻to sends Bronx Bombers to 🅰World Series with all-time classic homer in extra innings
- Giancarlo Stanton adds another level to his𝓀 g♕rowing October legacy
- How the Yankees missing last year’s playofꦑfs changed everything
- See the Yankees’ wild champagne-soaked celebr♊a🎃tion after reaching World Series
This series is perfect enough, as is.
Soto enters free agency with a virtual guarantee to beat Ohtani for actual contract value (Ohtani’s is $437.4M via the players union files) and an outside chance to hit that $700M mark, too, after he delivered the Yankees to their first World Series in 15 years with an at-bat for the ages. And this isn’t gene🧔rally known, but Soto actually called a buddy that afternoon and said he was ending the series that night. It isn’t exactly Babe Ruth calling his shot on the field, but like Ohtani, Soto matches otherworldly ability 🔴with off-the-charts competitiveness.
If anyone beats the Dodgers for power, it’s the Yankees, especially now that the beloved slugger they all call G — the G is apparently for guaranteed homers in October — is actually outdoing Soto. It’s still a wonder that the Guardians pitched to Stanton, but it is clear now: The Yankees have more than “two good hitters” as Luis Severino famously told them (“two and a half,” Severino allowed with a smile on Sꦓunday).
It’s the pitching where the Yankees really hold an edge. They have a rotation that’s close to what they envisioned while the Dodgers are piecing it all together. Dodge🍎rs manager Dave Roberts, who like the Yankees’ Aaron Boone has an amazing record and countless critics, did brilliant work to get them here.
The Dodger rotation is, frankly, a mess, which is what gave the Mets hope they could continue their miracle. A veritable All-Star team of pitchers are out, including starters Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Gavin Stone, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin; recovering relievers Alex Vesia and Brusdar Graterol are maybes foꦇr this Series. What’s left of their rotation is the $325M Yoshinobu Yamamoto (who isn’t the same since returning from a shoulder concern), Jack Flaherty (who the Yankees backed away from at the trade deadline over lower back concerns) and a shell of Walker Buehler, who’s managed one win in a half season since returning from Tommy John.
The Dodgers have the edge in lineup depth now that Muncy is getting on base all the time, Kiké Hernandez is in his favorite month and NLCS MVP Tommy Edman turned ꦐhimself into a worthy cleanup hitter. And their lights-out bullpen featuring the brilliant trio of Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips and Blake Treinen🍌 is even better than the Yankees’ fine pen.
Even with all their aches and pains, the Dodg♛ers are deeper. But there’s no logical reason oddsmakers made them the favorite. It’s a tough call, but either way, it will be 💎fun. We can hardly wait.
