SI:AM | The Not-So-Obvious Players Who Could Decide the World Series

Enough about Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge. Here are a few under-the-radar guys who will impact the series.

Flaherty holds the key to L.A.’s ability to properly deploy its bullpen arms. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Leaves are changing here in the New York area. Temperatures are in the low 60s and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. This is what the first day of the World Series should feel like.

In today’s SI:AM:

🏆 World Series preview
🗣️ NFL trade chatter
🐏 Rams’ big win

Remember these names

This year’s World Series is a clash of titans. It’s the teams from the two biggest cities in the country, with two of the three highest payrolls in the sport, led by the two best players of this generation, meeting with a championship on the line. The collection of stars that includes household names like Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Juan Soto, Giancarlo Stanton and Gerrit Cole is what makes this the most hyped World Series in years. But baseball is a game played with nine men on each side, so you never know who will decide the series. Here are a few overlooked players who could have a major impact on the outcome.

Jack Flaherty

It’s no secret what the Dodgers’ biggest concern is: starting pitching. Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Glasnow, Gavin Stone, Emmett Sheehan and River Ryan are all hurt. That leaves Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler as the only true starters on the roster—and all of them have had up-and-down postseasons.

Flaherty has had the most confounding October of the three. His ERA of 7.04 is the highest of any pitcher who’s thrown at least 10 innings this October. His gem in Game 1 of the NLCS against the New York Mets (seven innings pitched, two hits, no runs, six strikeouts and two walks) was easily the best performance by a Dodgers starter this postseason. His dud in Game 5 of that same series (three innings pitched, eight hits, eight runs, no strikeouts and four walks) was also easily the worst performance by a Dodgers starter this postseason.

Flaherty is scheduled to get the ball in Game 1, and the Dodgers’ chances will depend heavily on which version of him shows up. A solid start by Flaherty would have ramifications beyond Game 1, too. In a series where the Dodgers will need to get plenty of innings out of their bullpen, they’ll need Flaherty—the only L.A. pitcher to last more than five innings in a game this October—to go deep into games and let the relievers catch their breath.

Tommy Edman

If you didn’t know who Tommy Edman was before the NLCS, now you do. The Dodgers shortstop was named MVP of the series after driving in 11 runs in six games. It was an incredible run for a player known primarily for his defense. He’d never driven in 11 runs in a six-game span at any point in his six-year MLB career.

With Freddie Freeman hampered by an ankle injury and Teoscar Hernández slumping, the Dodgers need hitters other than Ohtani and Betts to provide offensive production. Could that be Edman again?

Tommy Edman is 5-foot-10 and 193 pounds — and apparently a natural cleanup hitter. The Dodgers lead, 4-1, and Edman has driven in all four runs. pic.twitter.com/3MIrRj7s6H

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 21, 2024

Austin Wells/Jose Trevino

The obvious weak point offensively for the Yankees this postseason has been catcher. Wells had a strong regular season that will earn him AL Rookie of the Year consideration, but he’s been ice cold at the plate in the playoffs. Manager Aaron Boone had slotted him into the cleanup spot in the batting order for the early part of the postseason—the same spot he’d hit in since the end of August—but after a lousy first six games (2-for-24), Wells was dropped from the lineup entirely in Game 3 of the ALCS against the Cleveland Guardians. (He batted eighth in Games 4 and 5.)

Trevino got the start at catcher in Game 3 in Wells’s place and picked up an RBI single in his first plate appearance of the playoffs, but he was immediately picked off first base, limiting the Yankees’ chances of starting a rally with the top of the order coming up. More crucially, the Guardians took advantage of Trevino’s defensive struggles behind the plate, stealing three bases.

Although Trevino is excellent at certain aspects of defense (he won the Platinum Glove in 2022, thanks to his ability to block and frame pitches), his inability to control the running game has been well documented. Back in July, the Boston Red Sox set a new franchise record with nine stolen bases in a game with Trevino behind the plate. Other than Ohtani, the Dodgers don’t run a whole lot (Ohtani, Betts and Hernández were the only Dodgers players with double-digit steals this season), but putting Trevino behind the plate might still be too risky.

If it’s going to be Wells who gets the majority of the playing time at catcher, then the Yankees would benefit significantly from having him return to something closer to his regular season form.

World Series Expert Predictions, MVP Picks, X-Factors. dark. Roundtable. World Series Predictions

Jazz Chisholm Jr. 

Wells’s struggles have placed more pressure on Chisholm. The main reason why the Yankees had used Wells in the cleanup spot is because he’s a lefthanded hitter—putting him in between righty sluggers Judge and Stanton makes the opposing manager’s late-game bullpen decisions more difficult. While Stanton batted fourth in the decisive Game 5 against Cleveland, the lefty Chisholm was the cleanup hitter in Game 4. Stanton is the hottest hitter alive right now, and so he figures to occupy the cleanup spot in this series. But regardless of whether Chisholm is hitting fourth or fifth, the Yankees need him to provide more production in the middle of the lineup.

The deadline deal that sent Chisholm from the Miami Marlins to the Bronx was a major reason why the Yankees were able to finish strong and win the division. He hit well after the trade (an .825 OPS with 11 homers in 46 games) and played solid defense at third base, a position he’d never played before. But he’s been cold in the playoffs, with a miserable .147/.216/.265 slash line. A solo homer in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Kansas City Royals accounts for his only RBI of the postseason.

Chisholm is obviously capable of hitting much better than that, and the struggles of other hitters in the bottom half of the Yankees’ lineup (Wells and Alex Verdugo, primarily) mean they’ll need him to step up against Los Angeles.

Anthony Rizzo

So we’ve established that the Yankees are struggling to find a lefthanded power bat to bolster the middle of their lineup. Is the answer a veteran who’s already been a postseason hero?

Rizzo, who won the World Series in 2016 with the Chicago Cubs, was left off the roster for the ALDS after breaking two fingers on his right hand when he was hit by a pitch on the second-to-last day of the regular season. The fingers are still fractured, but he was able to return to the field in the ALCS.

Rizzo hasn’t been the same player since he sustained an undiagnosed concussion in May 2023. His OPS over the last two seasons is a mediocre .673, well below the .847 he posted in the first 12 years of his career. He’s on a bit of a hot streak now, though, with six base hits in five games, although only one has been for extra bases.

Will the Rams trade Kupp (10) before the NFL trade deadline? / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Tom Verducci wrote about a few other factors that could decide the World Series.

• Stephanie Apstein asked a bunch of Yankees and Dodgers players why unaffiliated fans should root for them in this World Series.

• The NFL trade deadline is less than two weeks away. Here’s what our reporters are hearing about potential deals that could be made.

• Gilberto Manzano thinks that the Rams’ win over the Vikings on Thursday night shows why they shouldn’t trade Cooper Kupp.

• Ever wondered where all the money the PGA of America earns from the Ryder Cup goes? Bob Harig has a good explainer.

• Jimmy Traina is irate over how much the Clippers are charging for parking.

• USF men’s basketball coach Amir Abdur-Rahim died suddenly Thursday from complications during a medical procedure.

• Former No. 2 draft pick James Wiseman’s underwhelming NBA career hit another snag when he tore his Achilles tendon in the Pacers’ season opener.

The top five …

… things I saw last night:

5. Klay Thompson’s first points as a Maverick.
4. Pitt’s two pick-sixes in the first quarter. Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord threw another one at the end of the first half.
3. Jayson Tatum’s nasty crossover on Wizards rookie Alexandre Sarr.
2. Chet Holmgren’s block on one end and dunk on the other.
1. Matthew Stafford’s perfect touchdown pass in the front corner of the end zone.