Why it could be a lifetime until there’s another World Series like this one

Let’s play a little game.

When was the last time the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees played each other in the World Series?

1981.

When was the last time the home run kings from the American League and the National League played each other in the World Series?

1956.

Have two opponents with at least 50 home runs ever slugged against each other in the World Series?

Nope.

How many times since 1988 have the AL MVP and NL MVP met in the World Series?

Once.

And how many times this century has the best team in the AL played the best team in the NL in the World Series?

Twice — and one of those was in the pandemic-shortened season.

When the first pitch is thrown in Los Angeles to start 2024’s Fall Classic, it will be a confluence of all the above factors.

The clash between the Dodgers and the Yankees, the game’s signature cross-country rivalry, will be the teams’ first World Series showdown in more than 40 years. It’s also the first battle between the AL and NL home run leaders since Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider, the first championship matchup between the AL’s and NL’s best teams in the 12-team postseason era, and a showcase for the game’s two most exciting players: Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, who’ve already won a combined three MVPs and are each favored to win again this year.

It’s rare enough to see even one of the aforementioned storylines in baseball’s final playoff round. And with the expanded postseason, the likelihood is that matchups like this one be even fewer and farther between. But this World Series has it all.

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