After what feels like an interminable wait, the World Series, Major League Baseball’s biggest showcase, kicks off on Friday night with arguably its greatest matchup in a generation. The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, who meet in the World Series for the 12th time, the first time since 1981, will likely have a combined 20 players who have made at least one All-star team. That list includes Dodgers unicorn Shohei Ohtani and his teammates Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. For the Yankees, the All-Star players include Aaron Judge, who’s likely to be named the American League’s Most Valuable Player, the soon-to-be half-billion-dollar man Juan Soto and potential Hall of Famer Giancarlo Stanton.
The World Series kicks off Friday night with arguably its greatest matchup in a generation.
This could be the most consequential World Series in decades as MLB fights the headwinds of dwindling viewership. There was an average of 41 million viewers per game for that 1981 World Series. Keep in mind that there were only about 30 cable networks then and a far less fragmented audience. But since we hit the 2000s, only four World Series have averaged more than 20 million viewers per game. Last year’s matchup between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers had a record low viewership, with just a shade over 9 million viewers per game.
That shouldn’t be the case for a series that features two of the sport’s most successful franchises. The Dodgers have won the World Series seven times and the Yankees a historic 27 times. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has his dream matchup.
Ohtani is coming off one of the greatest regular seasons in MLB history, becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season. Betts will one day be enshrined in Baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, along with first baseman and all-around good guy Freddie Freeman. The Dodgers have been a MASH unit when it comes to their starting pitching. And even with that, they’ve slung four shutouts in their 11 postseason games.
In addition to Judge’s MVP-caliber season, the big story for the Yankees this season has been Soto, who came to New York via a trade with San Diego before the season began. So many star transplants have struggled after putting on the pinstripes, but Soto has not been a wilting flower. His three-run homer in the 10th inning was the blow that put away the Cleveland Guardians in 5 games, and he is poised to become one of the highest-paid players in the history of the game this offseason. Will that be with the Yankees? That remains to be seen. He could choose to take his talents elsewhere, potentially across to New York’s other franchise, the Mets, who have extremely deep pockets, or build a legacy in pinstripes.
With enough storylines for a feature documentary, is it crazy to think the Dodgers and Yankees could average 35-40 million viewers per game? If you look at the way the schedule has been laid out for the best-of-seven series, then, no, it’s not crazy. It should have high viewership if we still choose to believe in baseball as America’s pastime.
Ohtani’s record-breaking season started in a tornado of controversy after his then-interpreter and friend Ippei Mizuhara was found to have stolen $17 million from the Japanese star that was used to bet on sports. Mizuhara later pleaded guilty. In what prompted a collective sigh of relief for fans, MLB determined that Ohtani was a victim and wasn’t in anyway involved in the gambling controversy.
The Dodgers won the 2020 World Series with some of the same players. That was the Covid-shortened season that had just 60 regular season games and neutral sites in the postseason. But just one World Series for manager Dave Roberts with such a stellar group of players could be viewed as a disappointment given that he’s won eight division titles in Los Angeles and this is his fourth trip to the World Series. The Dodgers feel a bit like Bobby Cox’s Braves teams of the 1990s. Cox went to the playoffs eight times that decade and made five World Series appearances but only won one.
Those are just a few of the storylines as this series gets started Friday in Los Angeles. This could be the series that thrusts baseball back into the spot behind the NFL for the country’s most popular sport. The two biggest teams from the two biggest markets. Could they deliver an all-time classic? Everything suggests yes. But that’s why they play the games.
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