Fastball

Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani Set to Join Rare Baseball History in World Series

The Yankees and Dodgers will meet in the Fall Classic, set to begin on Friday night.

Brady Farkas

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (99) celebrates after beating the Cleveland Guardians during game five of the ALCS for the 2024 MLB playoffs at Progressive Field on Oct 19.
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (99) celebrates after beating the Cleveland Guardians during game five of the ALCS for the 2024 MLB playoffs at Progressive Field on Oct 19. / Scott Galvin-Imagn Images
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The World Series is now set after the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Mets on Sunday night in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series.

The Dodgers will take on the New York Yankees in the Fall Classic, which is set to begin on Friday after a lengthy pause in action.

This is the first trip to the World Series for the Dodgers since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. They last got to the World Series in a full season back in 2018 (lost to the Red Sox). The Yankees are heading to the World Series for the first time since 2009, which was also their last win.

In this series, two of baseball's biggest stars will take center stage against each other: Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers) and Aaron Judge (Yankees). When they take the field, they will be doing so under a historic backdrop, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

Shohei. Judge

this will be the 6th World Series between each league’s HR leader, joining:

1956 Mickey Mantle/Duke Snider
1937 Joe DiMaggio/Mel Ott
1936 Lou Gehrig/Ott
1928 Babe Ruth/Jim Bottomley
1921 Ruth/George Kelly

h/t @EliasSports

Ohtani hit 54 home runs this season to lead the National League while Judge hit 58. That is the second-highest total of his career.

While the voting won't be revealed until after the season, each player is also predicted to win the MVP Award in his league. That would also be historic, per Langs.

with Shohei & Judge expected to win MVP, 2024 will join this list

WS between that year’s MVPs, divisional era (1969):

2012: Buster Posey, Miguel Cabrera
1988: Jose Canseco, Kirk Gibson
1980: George Brett, Mike Schmidt
1976: Joe Morgan, Thurman Munson
1975: Fred Lynn, Joe Morgan
1970: Boog Powell, Johnny Bench

If and when Ohtani wins the MVP, it will be his third award in the last four years. Judge will win his second in the last three.

The World Series begins Friday night in Los Angeles at a TBD time.

Full playoff schedule in real time

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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