David vs. Goliath. The Blue Crew vs. The Evil Empire. The Big Apple vs. Hollywood.
The 119th World Series will feature a historic match-up between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, a battle people either love or hate.
Some hardcore baseball fans love to see new teams get their chance at MLB's ultimate prize, saying it's good for baseball while others love to see teams with the most history in the championship.
This time around, I think a Yankees-Dodgers World Series is outstanding for the game.
Let's face it, MLB doesn't have the numbers that leagues like the NFL and NBA put up, for many reasons like the length of the season and the player exposure.
But what will help the casual or non-baseball fan watch? Having the two most historic teams in the game's history facing off in the World Series for the first time since 1981.
Because of this, who else loves this match-up? Television executives.
So far this postseason, viewership has been five per cent higher than last year, with an average of 3.96 million viewers per game.
The two championship series averaged 5.35 million viewers, which is the highest since 2017. The NLCS between the Dodgers and the New York Mets was on Fox, and it averaged 5.62 million viewers per game, the most the network has seen since 2019.
Two games - Game one of the NLCS between the Dodgers and the Mets on Oct. 13 and the decisive game five in the NLDS between the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres on Oct. 11 averaged an estimated 12.1 million and 12.9 million views in Japan alone, the two most-viewed MLB games in Japan's history, the Shohei Ohtani effect.
Speaking of Ohtani, the $700 million man, this series features the biggest teams with the biggest stars - Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Mookie Betts, Gerrit Cole, Freddie Freeman…the list goes on.
These two teams have the second and fifth-highest payrolls in the league: Yankees - $309+ million, Dodgers - $241+ million. This series is set to have some fireworks.
Ohtani has been on another level with runners in scoring position since before the start of the postseason. Since Sept. 19, he's 18 for his last 23 at-bats with runners in scoring positions with seven home runs and 28 RBIs.
We should see a few home runs throughout the series as well. Ohtani (58), Judge (54), and Soto (41) finished first, second, and fourth respectively in the league in the long ball this regular season.
Additionally, the Yankees hit the most home runs in baseball, 237, while the Dodgers were third with 233.
Back to the history aspect, this is an MLB record 12th time the Yankees and Dodgers are meeting in the World Series.
New York has won eight of the match-ups while the Dodgers have won three. The previous 11 times took place from 1941-1981, so it's been a while.
Also, the Dodgers won the last won in '81.
The Dodgers last won in the World Series in 2020 and have been at the top of the baseball world seven times, while the Yankees last won in 2009 and have won the championship 27 times.
The storylines going into this series seem to go on forever and this is set to be one of the best World Series in recent time.
Game one between the Yankees and the Dodgers goes on Friday, Oct. 25, at 5:08 p.m.
Schedule
Game 1 - Friday, Oct. 25;
Game 2 - Saturday, Oct. 26;
Game 3 - Monday, Oct. 28;
Game 4 - Tuesday, Oct. 29;
Game 5* - Wednesday, Oct. 30;
Game 6* - Friday, Nov. 1;
Game 7* - Saturday, Nov. 2.
* - if necessary
Italics - in New York
