The Mets almost did it. They almost made this World Series a Subway Series. The Dodgers had different plans, as not only did they really light up the Mets at times in the series, but they shut down New Yorks big bats. Lindor .292, Alonso .273, Vientos .222. That is not good enough to get past a Dodgers team that can usually outscore their problems on the mound.
This is not to take away from the amazing series that Francisco Alvarez, Jesse Winker, and Starling Marte played. Each batting over 300 in the series and Alvarez sitting at .412 is just outstanding. Unfortunately it just is not enough for the Mets to move on, and we have a World Series match up that fans of the game can salivate over.
Dodgers versus Yankees. Over half a billion dollars will be on the payroll for this series. The paychecks may be large in the series, but the salaries do not matter when it comes to the World Series. Whether you are Shohei Ohtani making 80 million (yes I know it was deferred) or Andy Pages making under a million, you need to perform. This is where very good players turn into first ballot hall of famers.
At the time of this article being written, Bet99 has the Dodgers as the favorite at -120. While the Yankees are sitting at +100, you have to think they will come out swinging for the parking lot. This series should see a lot of offense with some of the biggest bats in the league. In fact, three of the top four home run leaders in the MLB regular season will be in this series. Judge, Ohtani, Soto. Amazing hitting potential. The stars on both rosters will be very prominent, but will be battle of depth on the offensive side.
When it comes to the mound, the Yankees arguably have the best pitcher left in the post season in Gerrit Cole. He has been great for the Yankees this season. Cole has pitched 16.1 innings this post season and has a 3.31 ERA. They will give the ball to him for Game 1 and hope he can shut down the offense of the Dodgers. Behind him they have Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt, and Luis Gil. If this series goes longer than four games, like everyone expects, it is more than likely we will see these pitchers twice. If the Yankees find themselves on the ropes, Gerrit Cole should be expecting to the ball.
On the other side, the Dodgers will look to win by committee on the mound. LA has some good pitchers with Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Walker Buehler. Have they had a great postseason? No they have not, to put it bluntly. Each pitcher has an ERA higher than five and they have a total of two wins between the three of them.
Now wins are sometimes hard to come by in the postseason, but two wins when you are in the World Series is just not good enough. The Dodgers have been riding their bullpens amazing effort through October, and they may just stick with what has been working. They have made it through two teams with massive bats, why not another.
The World Series is always must watch baseball but, Yankees versus Dodgers is different. Two of the biggest baseball markets in the league will go toe to toe. The stars will be out. Drama will be turned up to eleven. Travel will be insane, and every baseball fan should be tuning in.
Make sure you keep up with Area 51 as we will be giving you coverage after every single World Series game!
