History and star power fuel possible once-in-a-lifetime 2024 World Series
By David Close, CNN
(CNN) — A baseball rivalry steeped in tradition and lore will be rekindled starting Friday.
The 2024 World Series will pit the two best teams from their respective leagues and the shoe-ins for league MVPs against each other; the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees are storied franchises with championship pedigrees and an East Coast versus West Coast vibe will permeate the best-of-seven series clash for the title.
The Dodgers, powered by Shohei Ohtani, and the Yankees, led by slugger Aaron Judge, will have fanatical fanbases watching every pitch once Game 1 opens at Dodger Stadium on Friday.
How to watch and full schedule
Every one of the best-of-seven series games will be broadcast on Fox in the US, with each contest starting at 8:08 p.m. ET.
The schedule is as follows:
Game 1: Friday, October 25 – New York Yankees at Los Angeles Dodgers from Dodger Stadium, 8:08 p.m. ET
Game 2: Saturday, October 26 – New York Yankees at Los Angeles Dodgers from Dodger Stadium, 8:08 p.m. ET
Game 3: Monday, October 28 – Los Angeles Dodgers at New York Yankees from Yankee Stadium, 8:08 p.m. ET
Game 4: Tuesday, October 29 – Los Angeles Dodgers at New York Yankees from Yankee Stadium, 8:08 p.m. ET
Game 5*: Wednesday, October 30 – Los Angeles Dodgers at New York Yankees from Yankee Stadium, 8:08 p.m. ET
Game 6*: Friday, November 1 – New York Yankees at Los Angeles Dodgers from Dodger Stadium, 8:08 p.m. ET
Game 7*: Saturday, November 2 – New York Yankees at Los Angeles Dodgers from Dodger Stadium, 8:08 p.m. ET
*if necessary
A title matchup for the ages
According to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, the Los Angeles-New York title bout is exactly what people wanted.
“I think the whole world was looking forward or hoping for this potential matchup, this showdown,” Roberts said Sunday night after he and Los Angeles clinched a berth in the Fall Classic.
“It’s going to be great.”
The two clubs are facing each other in October for the first time in 43 years.
However, these two clubs have a long, shared history in the postseason. No two teams have faced off against each other in the World Series more than these two. Come Friday, it will be the 12th time the Pinstripes and Boys in Blue went head-to-head in Major League Baseball’s most prestigious event.
The first showdown was in 1941 when the Yanks bested the then-crosstown Brooklyn Dodgers 4-1 in the series.
The Dodgers were victorious when the pair last met in a World Series in 1981 when LA ripped off four-straight wins to take the series 4-2 – capturing the club’s seventh championship.
That was the same series the late, great Fernando Valenzuela threw a complete game in a Dodgers’ 5-4 win in Game 3 against the Yanks.
MLB said it plans to honor Valenzuela this week at a World Series game in LA after the pitching phenom died Tuesday.
New York leads the all-time World Series record between the storied clubs with eight championship wins to LA’s three.
Much of the pre-Series pressure is on New York. With their massive payroll – the second-largest in MLB in 2024, according to Spotrac – and global reach, Yankees fans expect the Bronx Bombers to win every game, let alone every Fall Classic. But New York hasn’t played for a ring since 2009 – an agonizingly long stretch of time for the team’s faithful.
The Yanks won out that year, defeating the Philadelphia Phillies four games to two. The victory sealed New York’s 27th World Series championship.
Meanwhile, Friday will mark LA’s first appearance at the Fall Classic since 2020. The Dodgers won that year, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2.
In a strange twist of fate, the Yankees and Dodgers are 21-21 against each other in the postseason since the start of the 1953 World Series. Despite the disparity in the all-time matchup when it comes to title wins against each other, the two teams have split the last six Fall Classics they have played against one another.
The two teams played each other three times in interleague play this past regular season, with the Dodgers winning two of three.
Another reason this particular World Series is a must-watch for any sports fan is the prospect of witnessing two of the greatest players on the planet competing on the sport’s biggest stage.
Judge and Ohtani are virtual shoe-ins to win their respective league’s most prestigious individual award.
Both have won previous Most Valuable Player honors, with Ohtani – now in the National League – winning two with the LA Angels (2021 and 2023), while Judge was voted MVP in 2022.
The pair will meet in their first World Series, with both sluggers regularly hitting baseballs out of the park.
Judge led the majors with 58 home runs hit in the regular season, while Ohtani was right behind with 54 dingers – oh, he stole 59 bases, too, becoming the first and only member of MLB’s 50/50 club.
When Judge was asked Tuesday what he admired about Ohtani, the Yankees captain smiled and chuckled, “Other than the obvious? I feel like everything is obvious – he hits for average, he hits for power, the speed, doing what he did this year with the 50 stolen bases,” he said.
“That got talked about a lot, but I don’t think it got talked about enough.
“He’s an impressive athlete, the best player in the game and what an ambassador for the sport.”
As for his perspective on what playing in the World Series means to him, Judge referred back to his childhood.
“This is where the real fun starts,” he said ahead his first Fall Classic.
“For years as a kid watching the Yankees playing the World Series, won the World Series, just that excitement, the emotion how the city comes alive is something definitely special and looking forward to doing that with this group.”
Immediately after defeating the New York Mets in the NL Championship Series, Ohtani was asked about playing in his first World Series.
“It’s a place that I’ve dreamed of playing all my life and to be able to finally come to the stage and be able to play and hopefully win,” he said in Japanese through his interpreter.
When asked about his opinion on LA’s next opponent and the task ahead, Ohtani said, “Two really good teams competing against each other. Obviously, Judge is a really good player, but so is (Juan) Soto and a lot of the players on the Yankees team.
“It’s gonna take all of us to really win the series.”
The rich history and main stars are almost out of this world – and so are the ticket prices.
Demand to witness this series in person is driving ticket demand to extraordinary levels.
As of Wednesday morning, the cheapest tickets for a pair of Game 1 seats in Dodger Stadium’s right field stands will run you $2,328, including fees on StubHub, the ticketing resale company.
Good to go solo?
$1,164 is the lowest get-in price to watch the best of the best in person.
StubHub says the demand is tracking to become the company’s best-selling World Series ever.
Ticket reseller Gametime is also showing big figures for games in the Bronx, with the get-in-the-building price of $1,745 for Monday’s Game 3.
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