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It's a World Series matchup 43 years in the making. The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, two of the most storied franchises in North American sports history, will meet in the Fall Classic for the 12th time. Before the first pitch of Game 1 in Los Angeles Friday night, we'll make our Dodgers World Series predictions.
In a way, it's no surprise the Dodgers made it this far. They finished the regular season with the best record in the league, marking their sixth consecutive season with a winning percentage above .600.
The roster makes it easy to see how Los Angeles got here. Usually, when a team spends $1 billion in free agency, the plan isn’t to crash out early in the playoffs. The Dodgers expected to be in the World Series. It's what they worked for the entire season. Now the door is open to finish the job and bring a championship back to Chavez Ravine.
Beating the Yankees won’t be an easy task, but the Dodgers are one of the few teams that can go toe-to-toe with the Yankees in a seven-game series. The stars are set to shine in this year's World Series. Will the Dodgers triumph to capture their eighth championship? Regardless, let's get down to the nitty-gritty of this article with our Dodgers World Series predictions.
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Shohei Ohtani shines in first World Series
Are you really surprised to see Shohei Ohtani's name in this article? The best baseball player on the planet produced one of the finest hitting seasons in MLB history during his first campaign with the Dodgers. He hasn’t missed a beat in his first MLB postseason.
Ohtani launched a home run in his second MLB playoff at-bat, then produced a 1.185 OPS with six RBIs and nine runs during the NLCS. Perhaps what's most impressive is Ohtani's numbers in the clutch.
The soon-to-be three-time MVP has six hits in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position this postseason. The pressure to perform has not buried Ohtani. Something tells me it won’t bother him in the World Series either.
As the leadoff man in the Dodgers' lineup, Ohtani can set the tone of the series from the jump. He'll be the first Dodgers hitter to face Yankees ace Gerrit Cole in Game 1, a true clash of the elites that will be must-watch for the handful of times they'll faceoff in this series.
Shohei Ohtani has given us little reason to believe he won’t produce on the big stage. He did in the Japanese league and the World Baseball Classic. He'll likely do it again in his first World Series. Ohtani will launch at least three home runs and flirt with a .400 batting average against the Yankees.
Unlikely Dodgers hero wins MVP
It's easy to pick one of the five former regular season MVPs playing in this series to win World Series MVP. The numbers predicted for Shohei Ohtani would certainly put him in the running. The star sluggers don’t always take home MVP honors though.
The Dodgers received contributions from their non-stars in the NLCS, mainly Tommy Edman. After getting traded to the Dodgers in July and appearing in 37 regular season games, Edman drove in 11 runs in the NLCS and was in the clean-up spot for their pennant-clinching win in Game 6. Edman was named MVP of the series, beating out Ohtani and Mookie Betts, who each posted a nearly 1.200 OPS.
A similar situation will unfold in the World Series. If the Dodgers are going to win, their stars need to do what they do. However, the role players and utility men will be just as important, Max Muncy among them.
Muncy is one of the longest-tenured Dodgers, with this series being his third World Series appearance. He hit well during the 2020 World Series, recording six RBIs with a .318 batting average and .944 OPS. He was an on-base machine during this year's NLCS, drawing 11 walks in five games while adding nine combined runs and RBIs.
Muncy is a key figure in the middle of the Dodgers' lineup. He becomes even more important if Freddie Freeman's ankle injury continues to impact his hitting. He dominates right-handed pitching and posted an .891 OPS against righties this year.
Muncy should see plenty of pitches with the monsters atop the Dodgers lineup ahead of him. He'll take advantage and be a catalyst for Los Angeles, topping the series with double-digit RBIs and a game-winning hit sprinkled in there. Max Muncy, World Series MVP. It has a nice ring to it.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto slams door on Yankees' season
Yoshinobu Yamaoto's first MLB season has had its peaks and valleys. He missed three months with triceps tightness but was spectacular when healthy, posting a 3.00 ERA and 4.77 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 18 starts.
His first playoff start for the Dodgers did not go well as Yamamoto was tagged for five runs in Game 1 of the NLDS. Los Angeles ended up winning that game and came out victorious in all three of Yamamoto's starts so far this postseason.
The 26-year-old pitched much better in his next two starts. He earned his first MLB playoff win after shutting down the Padres in Game 5 with five scoreless innings. Then he struck out eight Mets hitters in Game 4 of the NLCS.
The Dodgers gave Yamamoto the largest pitching contract in MLB history for moments like these. After years of pulverizing NPB hitters in Japan, Yamamoto took his talents to the United States and is set to prove his $325 million deal was worth it.
Maybe one stellar World Series doesn’t seal that, but it would certainly set up Yamamoto's legacy pretty well if he balled out in the Fall Classic. He should get multiple starts, including perhaps against Gerrit Cole in Game 1, but this prediction comes with unfamiliar territory for Yamamoto.
If the series goes seven games, or if the Dodgers see a golden opportunity to secure the title in Game 6, it will likely be all hands on deck pitching-wise. Dave Roberts will go to the pen late in a clinching scenario, but not to get a reliever. He'll bring Yoshinobu Yamamoto in to record the final outs of the series and the Japanese phenom will be in the middle of a dogpile of Dodgers.
