By: CHASE GOODMAN / STAFF WRITER
With less than a month until Opening Day, it’s becoming clear who the favorites, sleepers and obvious no’s are for the 2024 World Series Championship.
While many teams have bolstered their rosters this offseason in hopes of adding a title to the trophy cabinet, two teams in particular stand out the most. Coincidentally, they just so happen to be the Evil Empires on the East and West Coasts.
The New York Yankees are widely known for their championship prowess and the legends that defined their careers in the Bronx. Despite that, the Yankees have failed to win the World Series since 2009, which is their longest drought since the 18 seasons in between their 1978 and 1996 championship victories.
They looked to ride the momentum of Captain Aaron Judge’s 2022 MVP season, where he broke Roger Maris’ 61-year AL Home Run Record (61) with 62 knocks. The 2023 Yankees not only failed to live up to expectations but they crashed and burned badly.
Despite a Cy Young Campaign by ace Gerrit Cole, the Yankees win total plummeted from 99 wins in 2022 to just 82 wins in 2023, missing the playoffs entirely and having statistically one of the worst offenses in all of baseball.
Among many reasons, one of the biggest contributors to the Yankees’ struggles were injuries. Judge, who is regarded as the heart and soul of their offense, was sidelined for a majority of the season. Even when he returned, it was seemingly too late and the Yankees were unable to recover.
Another glaring issue centered around their starting pitching. Even with Cole being named the American League’s best pitcher, the rest of the rotation was poor and inconsistent as the season went on. Paired with a weak offense, the Yankees were doomed.
Facing heavy criticism and chants for his termination from fans, General Manager Brian Cashman was aggressive in the offseason, looking for ways to bolster the team to compete for a World Series this fall. He traded for outfielder Alex Verdugo from the Boston Red Sox and also acquired the young phenom, Juan Soto, from the San Diego Padres.
In addition to those trades, free agent pitcher Marcus Stroman inked a two- year contract worth $37 million with the Bombers that helped strengthen the vulnerable starting rotation.
But is it just the Yankees that have made major moves to their team? Absolutely not.
Looking across the country to sunny Los Angeles, the Dodgers had one of the biggest offseasons in all of North American sports.
Prior to the offseason, two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani had another memorable season with the Angels, capped off with his second AL MVP award in just his sixth season in the majors. Sadly, even when paired up with fellow All-Star and three-time MVP, Mike Trout, the Angels once again failed to make their first postseason appearance since 2014.
It was very clear Ohtani’s time with the Angels was nearing its end. Once it was mathematically impossible for the Angels to make the playoffs, many outlets, analysts, fans and even retired players began to predict where “Shotime” would play next.
Heavy favorites were the Los Angeles Dodgers and their in-state rivals, the San Francisco Giants, alongside the New York Mets and the Toronto Blue Jays. After a heavy bidding war, which even included a false report of Ohtani flying to Toronto to potentially sign with the Blue Jays, the Dodgers would prevail and sign the hottest free agent in baseball history to a record setting ten year $700 million deal.
The Dodgers weren’t finished, however. After Ohtani made a rare but selfless move by deferring $680 million to be paid over ten years after his contract expires, Los Angeles suddenly had a lot more money to spend. It just so happens that elite pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto from the Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB) was posted and available for MLB teams to sign.
Yamamoto and Ohtani share a successful history. Playing for Japan, they won the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Given their past, many speculated that whichever team signed Ohtani would likely also sign Yamamoto to pair the two flamethrower pitchers up.
With Yamamoto making it clear that he wishes to play alongside other Japanese players, the Dodgers were once again the favorites in another bidding war. Despite a very tight battle with both New York teams, the Dodgers prevailed once more, signing the highly sought after free agent to a 12-year $325 million dollar deal.
Even after adding Ohtani and Yamamoto to an already strong rotation, the Dodgers wanted to add insurance. Pitcher Tyler Glasnow played for the Tampa Bay Rays from 2018 to 2023, where despite showing promise, he struggled with injuries that cost him more than half of his 2021 season, most of his 2022 season and the first month and a half of his 2023 season.
After compiling a 10-7 record with a 3.53 ERA, Glasnow became a trade target for the Dodgers, who looked to add some extra strength to their rotation. On December 16th, 2023, Tyler Glasnow, alongside outfielder Manuel Margot, were traded to the Dodgers in exchange for pitcher Ryan Pepiot and outfielder Jonny DeLuca.
With both teams having exceptional offseasons, they are highly expected to be competing for a ring this season. Interestingly, the Dodgers and Yankees are not strangers when it comes to playing each other in the World Series.
In fact, the two teams have met in the Fall Classic for a record of 11 times, where the Yankees won eight times and the Dodgers took the other three.
An iconic moment between the two teams came in 1956. In game five, journeyman pitcher Don Larsen threw the only perfect game in both postseason and World Series history. He would go on to win World Series MVP for his performance and the Yankees won in seven games.
Their most recent matchup came in 1981. The Dodgers prevailed four games to two, thanks to World Series MVP’s Ron Cey, Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager. This series sent the Yankees into one of their darkest eras in franchise history, where they went 14 straight seasons without as much as a playoff appearance.
Both teams have been considered favorites over the years but with it being 43 years since they last met in the postseason, will 2024 be the year the rivalry is renewed?