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OK, that’s enough anticipation — let’s get this World Series going, shall we? It’s our final newsletter before they finally get the party started. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!
Cram Sesh: Last call before first pitch
It’s here, it’s finally here! The World Series will kick off tonight in Los Angeles with Jack Flaherty taking on Gerrit Cole at 8:08 p.m. ET. You can watch on Fox or on Fubo. Here are the final pre-series stories while you wait:
- Fabian Ardaya profiles Brent Honeywell, who has gone from July waiver-wire claim to, as closer Michael Kopech put it, “the glue” of the Dodgers bullpen. Honeywell (and yes, there is literal honey involved) is one of the few remaining pitchers who throws a screwball, a pitch most notably associated with Fernando Valenzuela.
- Juan Soto’s impending free agency is going to loom over the series, so I guess we might as well get used to that. Soto himself is remaining diplomatic about it, but his teammates are employing no such restraint. Chris Kirschner spoke to a few of them, and (surprise!) they feel very strongly that Soto should re-sign with the Yankees.
- Rustin Dodd looks at how Shohei Ohtani has impacted MLB’s reach in Japan. Did you know that in Game 5 of the NLDS — which featured Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Yu Darvish — the viewership in Japan outpaced the United States audience? By more than 5 million!
- When the Yankees last won the World Series in 2009, current shortstop Anthony Volpe was there. Well, at the parade at least. Brendan Kuty tells us the story of how Volpe’s mom had to “pinch him” after the ALCS to remind him: This is really happening.
- Evan Drellich spoke to commissioner Rob Manfred about how the sport plans to capitalize on this matchup of its two biggest stars, playing for two of its marquee franchises, in the two biggest markets in the country.
- And lastly, here are the poll results on whether or not this Yankees-Dodgers matchup is, in fact, good for baseball, with some responses from readers.
Ken’s Notebook: Notes on five Dodgers-Yankees figures
Some notes I’ve prepared for Fox’s broadcast of Game 1:
Fernando Valenzuela: The last time these teams met in the Series was 1981. The Yankees, who had beaten the Dodgers in 1977 and ‘78, jumped ahead two games to none. Valenzuela, still a rookie, started Game 3 back in Los Angeles on short rest, and blew a 3-0 lead by allowing four runs in the first three innings. He ended up throwing a 147-pitch complete game, despite allowing nine hits and seven walks. His performance turned the Series around. The Dodgers won the final four games.
Juan Soto: One of the many things that sets Soto apart is his pregame routine in the batting cage. Austin Wells says he has never seen some of the drills that Soto does. Soto’s focus is on hammering low line drives, hitting through the ball instead of trying to lift it. Hitting coach James Rowson says Soto rarely mis-hits the ball, and his routine is as detailed and consistent at this point of the season as it was in spring training.
Giancarlo Stanton: The Dodgers passed over him twice in the 2007 draft, selecting pitchers Chris Withrow and James Adkins before the Marlins grabbed Stanton with the 76th pick. As former Dodgers GM Ned Colletti recalls, the team feared he would accept a football scholarship to USC. Stanton likes to remind people — he was a wide receiver, not a tight end. But George Genovese, the Dodgers’ legendary area scout in Southern California, was high on him, and would come to see him hit often. He told Genovese how much of a mistake it would be if the Dodgers didn’t draft him, and how hard he would work if they did.
Tommy Edman: His older brother, John, works as a data quality engineer for the Twins, pulling in data from sources such as Fangraphs, Rapsodo and biomechanical companies. I asked him what he thought, from an analytical perspective, of Tommy batting cleanup against a left-handed starter in Games 4 and 6 of the NLCS, when Freddie Freeman was out of the lineup. John said it made sense — Tommy is a switch hitter with significantly more power from the right side.
Alex Vesia: Likely addition to the Dodgers’ roster. Threw 15 pitches in a live batting practice session on Wednesday, mimicking his normal routine — playing catch at 5 o’clock, entering the game after a starter, warming up for five to eight pitches, then another five to six on the mound. Vesia said intercostal injuries normally call for 30-day shutdowns. He has been down for only two weeks, but believes he is good to go, even though his velocity was down about 1 mph in his live BP session. Vesia said the adrenaline of pitching in the World Series will provide the added kick he needs.
Deep Dives: Let’s get nerdy about pitching plans
If you want to know where Eno Sarris shines, well, this is one example. Wondering how each of the World Series teams will employ their pitching? Sarris broke down a few of the various factors that will be at play. Here are some highlights:
Familiarity is more important than splits: “From Mike Petriello, we can see that a batter’s OPS against a reliever the third time they see them in a series is over .800 since 2016. Over that same time frame, in the regular season, righty relievers have allowed a .733 OPS against lefty hitters. Although you get better results pitching a righty against a righty, teams may want to cede the platoon advantage to reduce looks against their pitcher — especially in the era of the three-batter minimum.”
The plans to dim the stars: Under that premise, Sarris looked a little deeper at how each team might approach the other’s big bats, namely: Aaron Judge and Juan Soto for the Yankees, and Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts for the Dodgers. Sure, Carlos Rodón and Alex Vesia will be important when it comes to neutralizing Ohtani and Soto, respectively, but you can’t just let them face off a half-dozen times, either.
Pitch selection matters: Another interesting note is that these lineups seem constructed to succeed against the pitching staff they’ll be facing: “(W)e looked at key reliever and hitter matchups this week — things like how the Dodgers have thrown the second-most fastballs this postseason and the Yankees have hit fastballs better than any other team this postseason, or how the Yankees have thrown the second-most changeups in the playoffs so far and the Dodgers were the best-hitting team in baseball against changeups.”
Looks like we could be in for a barnburner or two. Let’s see how managers Dave Roberts and Aaron Boone navigate the storms.
Final Reads: We desperately need the games to start
In no way is this section disparaging the work that our journalists have done this week. In fact, it’s more a testament to their ability to dig deep while the sport takes a few moments to gather itself before the curtain rises and the show begins.
For example: Tyler Kepner has a story pointing out that the Dodgers and Yankees are the only two teams in the sport who do not have mascots.
As Kepner points out, the Yankees did have a mascot briefly. But they never really gave it a chance to succeed — perhaps because it was viscerally upsetting to look at — and “Dandy” was unceremoniously dumped. I’m not making this up: Dandy was destroyed with an industrial shredder.
But the lack of uncanny human puppets doesn’t mean there isn’t any off-field entertainment. Led by Jose Juan Soto, the Yankees’ dads have become a de facto dance team as they cheer on their sons.
T-ball and Little League dads, this could be you. Why isn’t it you? Get with the program. Less yelling, more dancing out there.
Meanwhile, I jumped in with Marc Carig and Rustin Dodd to take a look at a few changes that have happened in and around the sport since the Yankees and Dodgers last met in 1981.
Handshakes and High Fives
The Reds are holding a 14-hour visitation next month for Pete Rose, who died in late September.
The Padres put together a special 2024 season. Dennis Lin lists all the upcoming free agents, and what the plan might be to keep them in San Diego.
Meanwhile, Aaron Gleeman has his annual list of top 20 Twins players based on long-term upside.
“See Her Be Her,” a new documentary on women in baseball, premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on MLB Network. Daniel Brown gives us the rundown.
From the brain of Grant Brisbee, five alternate universes in which five other teams make the 2024 World Series thanks to one simple move: signing Brandon Belt.
A couple more hitting coach hires to fill you in on: Tim Hyers left the Rangers to take the Braves job, and Pat Valaika left the Guardians to take the Reds job under Terry Francona, with whom he worked in Cleveland.
Most-clicked in yesterday’s newsletter: Jim Bowden’s top 45 free agents for 2024-25.
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(Top photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn Images)
