The wait for the World Series to begin is finally over! Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:
1. 2024 World Series Begins:
The World Series is set to begin this evening when the Yankees take the field opposite the Dodgers in Los Angeles, with first pitch scheduled for 5:08pm local time. In Game 1, New York is set to send veteran ace and 2023 AL Cy Young award winner Gerrit Cole to the mound opposite Dodgers deadline acquisition Jack Flaherty. Cole missed the first half of the year due to an elbow injury and didn’t look quite like himself this season overall, with a solid but not elite 3.41 ERA through 17 starts in total. He’s put up similar numbers in the postseason this year, with a 3.31 ERA through three starts. Flaherty, by contrast, has enjoyed an excellent season with a 3.17 ERA in 28 starts split between the Tigers and Dodgers this year but struggled to a 7.04 ERA this postseason, including a three-inning, eight-run blow-up against the Mets during Game 5 of the NLCS.
2. Rosters being finalized:
Of course, both teams will need to finalize their rosters for the series before the Fall Classic can get underway. Manager Dave Roberts discussed some of his club’s roster plans with reporters yesterday, indicating that the Dodgers will likely carry veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas on their roster after sidelining him for the NLCS as he struggled to play through an adductor strain and sports hernia. It also seems as though injured relievers Alex Vesia and Brusdar Graterol could be added to the club’s bullpen, fortifying an already excellent relief corps. On the other side of the series, the Yankees have fewer potentially impactful injured pieces but do seem likely to activate southpaw Nestor Cortes to pitch out of the bullpen despite the lefty suffering a flexor injury late in the regular season. With that aforementioned quartet all seemingly poised to join their club’s respective rosters when they’re announced later today, the primary question that remains is which players will be left off their team’s roster to accommodate the likely additions.
3. Happy Birthday, Juan Soto:
For the second time in his young career, star outfielder Juan Soto will play in the World Series on his birthday. The offseason’s top free agent turns 26 today, and while he’ll have to wait a bit longer for his likely record-shattering payday he and the rest of the Yankees will nonetheless look to deliver a different kind of gift to Yankees fans today: a win in Game 1 of the World Series. Five years ago today, Soto’s Nationals took on the Astros in Game 3 of the World Series on his 21st birthday but lost the game 4-1 as Soto went an uncharacteristic 0-4 with a walk and three strikeouts at the plate. He’ll look for better results today coming off an utterly dominant ALCS against the Guardians where he hit .368/.478/.895 with three homers and more walks (4) than strikeouts (3) in 23 plate appearances, including his towering go-ahead three-run home run in Game 5 of the series that ultimately sent the Yankees to the Fall Classic.
Yankees in 5.
Dodgers in 6.
Astros lose.
Yankees in 3. After being beaten so badly in the first 3 games, Dodgers concede the Series.
Da Bearsss
White Sox in…2074
Strange the date of the sentencing for the interpreter got pushed back from today, the first day of the World Series, til December.
not really that strange
The interpreter was betting on a deferral to June 2037…
Well obviously Ohtani is a bit tied up at the moment. Perhaps a trial in the offseason is what makes sense
What trial? The interpreter pled guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
Whatever it is that needs to be done can wait until the offseason. Courts are not in a hurry it’s not a conspiracy.
I didn’t say anything about a “conspiracy.” Just mentioned that there won’t be a trial because a guilty plea had already been entered by the defendant. Only thing left to do is sentence him. Ohtani’s presence isn’t required for the sentencing. Get it?
The other guy implied it was a conspiracy. You jumped in and here we are.
I “jumped in”? You mean when I corrected your misconception that a trial is going to be held after a defendant has already pled guilty?
Both teams fans will be crying “foul” after each loss – they have that in common- both fan bases are crybabies.
Yet you are the only one crying here?
I’m not crying I’m just stating an observation
I know Yankee fans and I know dodger fans – both of them after a loss claim the umpires missed a call or somebody cheated – that’s all I’m saying
I think it’s the Astros both teams complained about and both teams were right it was proven the Astros did cheat. Let’s not ignore that very important fact.
The Yankees were fined $100K (in a sign stealing scandal) for illicit use of electronic devices in 2015 and 2016. They used electronic devices to decode and relay opposing teams signs during the 2015 season and the first half of the 2016 season. Just as bad as the Astros garbage can sign stealing in 2017. Yankees did it first and for a half season longer. Don’t ignore that fact either.
Pretty sure the Astros did more and were punished more than the Yankees or anyone else.
MLB didn’t crack down hard on sign stealing until the Astros in 2017. Just slapped hands w/small fines as a warning.
Was that around the time Altuve was caught red handed? My guess is it was. Again how you ignore that I don’t know.
Not ignoring what you “don’t know.” Laughing at you spouting “let’s not ignore that important fact” while whining that I’m “ignor(ing)” what you “don’t know.” The Astros were busted for sign stealing by banging on trashcan lids to relay signals in 2017. Unlike the Yankees sign stealing scandal the 2 previous years, MLB significantly fined the Astros (and BoSox)—probably because the light punishment handed down to the Yanks didn’t achieve the desired effect of stopping sign stealing after MLB had issued guidance on the issue beginning in 2014. Both the Astros and BoSox continued stealing signs after the warning to the Yankees. NY Times article dated April 26 2022 by James Wagner details the letter sent to the Yanks in 2017 regarding their sign stealing. Astros were engaging in the trash can scandal the entirety of the 2017 season (and part of 2018).
It was probably because the Astros ended up winning the World Series dontcha think?
So did the BoSox.
…..but yes, it’s also likely that MLB enacted tougher punishments to both World Series winners after the Yankees hand slap didn’t achieve their desired effect.
Altuve got caught. No Red Sox player was caught the way Altuve was caught.
MLB’s investigation of the 2018 Red Sox went on for months and uncovered no evidence of cheating. They admitted this in their report when they said they have a “factual dispute”, “largely have no direct evidence” and “no written record, recording or other contemporaneous evidence of the underlying events”. If there was any evidence, the facts would not be in dispute. The conclusion of cheating “on at least some occasions” was clearly based on speculation as MLB’s investigation failed to document a single occasion of cheating by admission, eye witness or any other means. Reporters have unfortunately focused on the conclusion and not the lack of evidence. MLB’s report is still available on mlb.com for all to read.
Quotes from the above referenced NY Times article dated April 26 2022: “The Red Sox were found, according to a separate (from the Yankees) investigation released in April 2020, to have used a scheme in 2018 that was more limited in scope than the Astros’ but still involved decoding opponents’ signs while watching live video during games and passing that information along to players.” “Manson punished the Red Sox by issuing one-year suspensions to Manager Alex Cora, who was also part of the 2017 Astros’ scheme, and J.T. Watkins, Boston’s video replay operator. The team also lost it’s second round pick in 2020.” Just asking, but if the BoSox investigation “uncovered no evidence of cheating,” why were the penalties levied? Did Cora and the BoSox accept the punishment without rebuttal? Also, when was the MLB report that you’re basing your comments on dated? Asking because I’m not familiar w/it.
Jeff: I don’t know why the 2018 Red Sox were punished. MLB’s investigation failed to document any instances of cheating. The commissioner can “find” anything to be true either with or without evidence. Cora was not punished for any cheating in Boston. He was only punished for his actions in Houston. I think the Red Sox accepted it because it only found one guy guilty of cheating on isolated incidents during the regular season and no cheating in the postseason. So, I think they thought it did not invalidate their World Series win.
The Red Sox released a statement, but I can only find part of it at the moment: “As an organization, we strive for 100% compliance with the rules. MLB’s investigation concluded that in isolated instances during the 2018 regular season, sign sequences were decoded through the use of live game video rather than through permissible means.”
I don’t see any date on MLB’s report but it was put on MLB’s website on April 22, 2020:
mlb.com/news/red-sox-sign-stealing-decision
Jeff: John Henry said the following: “What I regret most about all of this beyond the toll it took on our organization is the position it put our fans in — having for months to wonder if the 2018 championship could actually be the result of unfair play,” Henry wrote to Speier. “It’s clear from the report that these isolated occurrences in 2018 happened during the regular season. The report references how often those instances called into question had an opportunity to take place and within the context of the overall season all one has to do is the math to see the net potential result. But I’ll let others do the math.”
masslive.com/redsox/2020/04/red-sox-owner-john-hen…
John Henry was referring to MLB’s report detailing how rare they thought the illegal sign stealing was during the regular season.
Thanks for the info all.
No problem, Jeff. Maybe there was some occasional illegal sign stealing by the 2018 Red Sox in the regular season, but I haven’t seen an evidence of any games being negatively affected.
any evidence
Two blown calls favoring LA already and the game hasn’t even started yet!
The Yankees lose – damn the Dodgers win!
The Dodgers lose – damn the Yankees win!
Enjoy the WS fellow fans. The stove will be heating up in a couple of weeks!
Bring on the FA prediction contest!
Hope they both lose!
Lol I hear you
MLB is thrilled. Record viewers in 3 massive cities. NYC, LA, and Tokyo. You can add the entire country of Japan to that record viewership.
Yeah, there’s no way this series doesn’t go 6 or 7 games lol. But I’d love for it to be a sweep or a 5-gamer.
Enjoy the WS!
The 1978 Yankees/Dodgers WS remains the most widely viewed WS ever. This one could top that.
In The US, no. It will be lucky to get half the viewership.
Isn’t it amazing Soto is only 26 years old? My friend hates him but I haven’t seen a batter that strikes fear into the opposing pitcher, owning the batters box the way he does, ever. An OG will tell you that pitchers actually feared Jim Rice. That’s what we see with Soto. Still invest heavily on Soto baseball cards, his numbers will look like Mickey Mantle’s at the end of his career.
Don’t get ne wrong – Soto is a great player. But to me, he’s not really the type to “strike fear” mainly because his best attribute is his plate discipline. And while walks are important, no one ever said, “Oh no, don’t pitch to this guy – he’s gonna walk!”
Yeah but he’s got every single inch of that strike zone covered, where you pitching him to get him out?
609
Guess you never saw Barry Bonds. Bonds probably used steroids and was far from friendly, but he struck feat in pitchers in a way Soto has never done.
@Top Commentator
Bonds probably used steroids?
He used HGH, steroids & God knows what else. His head grew to bowling ball proportions and he grew four shoe sizes from his late 20s onward.
Only probably though…
Fair enough!
Agreed, Bonds should be in the HOF and so should Clemens. The HOF is a museum not a popularity contest. Have seen Bonds in person, absolutely was feared.
Bonds, Alvarez.
Is he really only 26? I got my doubts…..
Let’s go Yankees!!!!
Unless the Dodgers are planning on letting Kiermeier take key ABs, he’s probably the odd man out if Rojas returns. He’s only been a late game defensive replacement whereas Pages and Taylor have gotten starts (and Pages has produced at the plate.
KK makes sense too. He’s familiar with playing in NY
I’m sure those degenerate dodger fans will shower Soto with ‘gifts’
cole and flaherty get lit up tonight
final score 11-8 dodgers
So have the Dodgers repaired the right field wall?
@Joe
Repair is not the term the Dodgers would like you to consider. They’ve undertaken improvements. Judge will be surrounded by bear traps to capture any alligators that might happen to patrol centre field. I trust you also saw the practice snake during the NLCS…
Boone should wear his ring on his middle finger and wave to the Yankee crowd that has unrightfully voiced their displeasure. Top 5 manager in the last 50 years
They’ve been all over Stanton too, and now look
There will always be fans who boo before thinking. Knuckleheads do what they do.