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From high-octane lineups to crafty pitching, this Yankees-Dodgers battle is baseball’s main event of this weekend. As Jordan Shusterman and Jake Mintz of the “Baseball Bar-B-Cast” podcast put it: “I don’t think we have to explain why Dodgers-Yankees is compelling … There is some stuff here, people.”
Here is some of the stuff:
Both teams are riding high entering this matchup
As pointed out in the latest episode of “Baseball Bar-B-Cast,” there’s a different energy compared to their last showdown. This isn’t just a rehashing of last year’s World Series vibe. Both the Yankees (35-20) and Dodgers (34-22) are entering the weekend as true contenders, but, if anything, the Yankees look stronger this time around.
Mintz summed it up like this: “Last year it was pretty clear pretty quickly that the Yankees were playing worse baseball than the Dodgers. That’s not the case right now. There’s a strong argument the Yankees are better than the Dodgers.”
The Yankees’ run differential is nearly double that of the Dodgers (+113 to +65), and their recent form has been more consistent across the board.
Shusterman’s take: “The Yankees are playing much better, basically, across the board, they’ve been way more consistent. The run differential speaks for itself. They have a lot more of their team clicking.”
Pitching matchups to watch
The arms on display promise some compelling duels:
Friday — Max Fried vs. Tony Gonsolin
Saturday — Will Warren vs. Landon Knack
Sunday — Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. Ryan Yarbrough
Mintz points out the intrigue around pitchers: “Will Warren I’m interested in. He was not a character during the World Series last year. Neither was Max Fried. I’ll take Max Fried against Shohei Ohtani. Thank you very much.”
It’s also a series full of new faces — like the Yankees’ Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Paul Goldschmidt.
Broadcast bingo: Get ready for the highlights
As Shusterman jokes, expect the networks to lean heavily into World Series nostalgia. Will we see countless replays of Freddie Freeman’s grand slam in the World Series opener? Probably. The over-under, according to the “Bar-B-Cast” is set at 12.5. But don’t let that distract from the fact that this series is packed with new storylines and fresh drama.
Freddie Freeman unlocked legendary status after hitting a walkoff grand slam in the World Series opener last year against the Yankees. (Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
(Rob Tringali via Getty Images)
Title favorites: The defending champion Dodgers have the best odds to win the World Series (+240 at BetMGM), and the Yankees aren’t too far behind (+550).
The Tigers (+900), Mets (+900), Phillies (+950), Cubs (+1500) and Mariners (+1800) are the only other teams with better than 20-1 odds.
MVP favorites: Reigning MVPs Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are mashing. If the season ended today, they would both be virtual locks to win the awards again, which would be three in four years for Judge and four in five years for Ohtani.
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Judge leads the AL in every part of the triple-slash (.391/.488/.739), runs (51), hits (81), total bases (153) and WAR (4.2). He’s also second in HRs (18), RBI (47) and walks (38).
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Ohtani leads the NL in HRs (20), runs (59), slugging (.648) and total bases (140), is second in WAR (2.8) and OPS (1.042) and is top 10 in BA (.292) and steals (11).
Looking ahead: There’s still a lot of baseball left, but if the Yankees and Dodgers each make it back to the Fall Classic it will be just the 10th World Series rematch ever, and the first since these same two teams did it nearly 50 years ago (1977-78).
For more of the latest baseball news and debates, tune in to “Baseball-Bar-B-Cast” on Apple, Spotify or YouTube.
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