LOS ANGELES – When you clash with the New York Yankees for a decade in the American League East, then find yourself as a center fielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, you understand what we’ll see in the 120th World Series. If you’re sitting in the bleachers at Chavez Ravine, bring a glove.
“There’s going to be a lot of balls hit very hard this series, and maybe some long homers,” said the Dodgers’ Kevin Kiermaier, who knows how those outcomes happen. “A lot of deep counts. The Yankees don’t make it easy on you, by any means – and after being here the last three months and watching what our lineup can do, it’s not easy to get these guys out, either.”
That’s a handy synopsis of why the Yankees and the Dodgers earned the best records in their leagues this season, and how they made it through the playoffs. Their hitters take discipline and damage to levels we’ve never seen before in the World Series.
The Yankees and Dodgers both drew more than 600 walks this season while hitting more than 230 homers. There’s never been a World Series matchup in which both teams had patience and power at those extremes.
Two playoff series, however, have featured lineups with that many walks and homers – and both were classics won by these very franchises. The first was the 2003 ALCS, when current Yankees manager Aaron Boone finished off Boston with a Game 7 homer in the Bronx. The other was the 2021 NLDS, when Dave Roberts’ Dodgers edged San Francisco in a five-game thriller.
“I think Aaron can say the same thing: our lineup controls the strike zone,” said Roberts, the Dodgers’ manager. “We can slug and (have) the ability to create stress and traffic by way of a walk, as well.
“One through nine, it gets daunting, and it’s hard for a starter to go three times through the lineup. And then in a longer series, you’re starting to see the same guys again. So all that stuff starts to benefit and become an advantage for the offense. That’s overall our approach in trying to scare pitchers out of the strike zone.”
It’s hard to blame a pitcher if he’s scared of these lineups. When you make a mistake, there’s a good chance it’s not coming back. The Dodgers have hit 20 homers in 11 postseason games, and the Yankees just smoked 10 in a five-game ALCS. The leadoff guys have been on base constantly – Shohei Ohtani at a .434 clip for the Dodgers, Gleyber Torres at a .400 rate for the Yankees – making sure those homers do maximum harm.
“Every single game we’ve had, he sets the tone,” the Yankees’ Aaron Judge said of Torres, who has led off games this postseason with five hits and three walks, while making just one out.
“You have him at the top of the lineup just consistently having great at-bats, fouling off tough pitches, giving Juan a chance to see six, seven, eight pitches, giving me a chance to see a couple of pitches, see how the pitcher’s feeling today, all that leads to greater success for your team. He’s really been the catalyst for this offense.”
Juan Soto had a 1.373 OPS in the ALCS, even better than the Dodgers’ No. 2 hitter, Mookie Betts, whose NLCS OPS was a mere 1.182. Yet neither did enough to win series MVP; that hardware went to the Dodgers’ Tommy Edman, who hit .407, and the Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton, who swatted four home runs .
In deep lineups like these, hitters are naturally more willing to wait for their pitch.
“Honestly, our offenses are very similar,” said Yankees left fielder Alex Verdugo, who spent his first three years with the Dodgers. “We don’t chase out of the zone too often, we force pitchers to throw strikes and we all go up there with a pretty good game plan. And we understand that it’s not necessarily about us getting the job done right then and there. It’s about passing the baton and moving the line along. And if they’re not going to pitch to us or give us pitches to hit, we take a walk.”
In other words, these lineups make you earn it. The Yankees swung at an MLB-low 24.9 pitches outside the strike zone this season, according to Fangraphs, with the Dodgers next best at 25.7. Just as Yankees general manager Brian Cashman seeks patient sluggers in player acquisitions, so does his counterpart with the Dodgers.
“Andrew Friedman loves that,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “Every time I’ve talked to him, he loves people that can control the strike zone. It puts more pressure, makes more pitchers throw more pitches, gets into bullpens quicker – and over a course a seven-game series, if you get into bullpens quicker, it’s going to set you up maybe later on to face different kinds of matchups that are more favorable, or guys are more tired.”
If a reliever faces a hitter repeatedly in a series – as we saw with Cleveland’s bullpen – the edge often shifts to the hitter. To get through treacherous orders multiple times in a game, starters like the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole, who will face Jack Flaherty in the opener, must fully buy into each decision.
“I think the challenge is trying to just be convicted (in) every pitch,” Cole said. “You’re not really sure what the opposition is going to do, and you know that they’re lethal when they do swing. So you’ve got to give every pitch a chance by fully committing to it.”
Neither staff was especially stingy with walks this season; generally, the Dodgers and Yankees succeeded by limiting hits. The teams essentially tied for fifth in the majors in fewest hits allowed per nine innings, but both issued more walks than the average team.
The idea, of course, is to be smart about it.
“I’m not big with walks, but if I have to, I’ll put a guy on because I’ve always been pretty good with (holding) runners on,” Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle said. “So I don’t have a big pet peeve of that. I’m kind of transforming into a ground-ball pitcher, and if I have to walk guys and maybe get a double play, then yeah, so be it, especially if it’s a guy that I miss with a changeup and next thing you know, he puts it out of the park and they’re up.”
Even so, Kahnle said, the goal is to induce hitters to swing. (Orel Hershiser, the Dodgers’ 1988 World Series hero who will toss a ceremonial first pitch before Game 1, calls this “bat stimulus.”) Several relievers in this series have the stuff to boldly challenge anyone.
The World Series will be heavy on bullpens – both teams have just two starts this month lasting longer than five innings – and Roberts’ most trusted arms have been very effective. Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips, Blake Treinen and Alex Vesia (likely to return after missing the NLCS with an injury) have allowed just two earned runs in 23 postseason innings for a 0.78 ERA.
“Our mindset is to succeed in the strike zone, trust our stuff and trust our preparation, understand the safe spots and not-so-safe spots and use all that information to help us make quality pitches,” said Phillips, who has never allowed a run in 12 career postseason outings.
“That’s kind of a Dodger mentality. You’ve seen that for years here in Los Angeles. I remember watching it from afar and being astounded by how willing people were to attack the strike zone. Now, granted, when you have a Kenley Jansen prime cutter, what else do you need? When you have a Michael Kopech 102 mile an hour fastball, you trust it. Alex Vesia’s unicorn fastball, you trust it. Blake Treinen’s slider — and I’ll humbly include mine in that mix as well — you trust it. That kind of conviction you can build with a repertoire, it gives you all the confidence in the world, regardless of who’s in the box.”
That’s what will make this series sizzle: confident pitchers going right after the best sluggers in the world. Discipline, damage … and drama. Let’s get going.
“I mean, if you’re a baseball fan, it doesn’t get much better than this,” Kiermaier said. “A lot of great pitching, phenomenal hitters, household names, a lot of guys in between who can hurt you, too. Just the perfect recipe for a great series, and I think it will be.”
(Top photo of Luis Gil pitching to Shohei Ohtani: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
