Mind-boggling stats and facts about historic Yanks-Dodgers World Series

The 2024 World Series matchup is set and it is particularly star-studded this year. We are so lucky to witness the individual careers of Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Mookie Betts, Gerrit Cole, Freddie Freeman, Giancarlo Stanton and so many others, and now we get to see them come together on the sport’s biggest stage.

Here’s a look at 10 reasons this World Series is historic.

1. MVPs everywhere
With Ohtani, Betts, Freeman, Judge and Stanton, there are five players who have won MVP in their careers who will take the field in the Fall Classic. If all five appear, that would be the most former MVPs to play in a World Series, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Nine previous Fall Classics had featured four former MVPs, and even that hasn’t happened since 1971 with Boog Powell, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson and Roberto Clemente. Our count of five doesn’t even include Clayton Kershaw, who will not appear in this series but is certainly a part of the Dodgers’ story.

• These stars won MVP and World Series in same season

2. Expect a lot of slug
Plenty of power will be on display. Judge hit 58 home runs this season and Ohtani hit 54. This will be the first World Series between two players who each hit at least 50 home runs in that year’s regular season.

3. Like, a lot of slug
Those home run totals were enough for each to lead his league. This will be the sixth World Series between each league’s home run leader and the first since 1956, with Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider. The other five were 1937 (Joe DiMaggio and Mel Ott), 1936 (Lou Gehrig and Ott), 1928 (Babe Ruth and Jim Bottomley) and 1921 (Ruth and George Kelly), per Elias.

4. A trio of elite hitters
And we could never forget about Soto. He ranked third in MLB among qualified players in wRC+ this year at 180, behind Judge (218) and Ohtani (181). This will be the first series in postseason history to have the top three qualified players in wRC+ from that season. In other words, it will be the first time that the three top all-around offensive performers will share a field in the postseason.

5. The data agrees
That trio also led the Majors in barrels this year: Judge had 105, Ohtani had 103 and Soto had 91. This will be the first postseason series since Statcast began tracking in 2015 to feature each of the top three from that regular season in barrels. Just another way to quantify how much raw power will be on display all in one place.

6. Elite exit velocity
Of course, Stanton hits the ball very hard as well. Over the last four seasons, including playoffs, the three players with the most 110+ mph home runs are Judge (89), Ohtani (82) and Stanton (70). No other player has more than 65 during that span. If we up it to 115+ mph home runs, the leaders are Ohtani (24), Stanton (23) and Judge (11).

7. Feel bad for the baseballs
If we look at just this season, including playoffs, the most 110+ mph home runs in baseball have been hit by Ohtani (29), Judge (28), Stanton (23) and Soto (17). Baseballs, be warned.

8. Rare matchup of each league's best
It isn’t just former MVP prowess on display in this series; we also have the expected MVPs for this season in Judge and Ohtani. While those won’t be announced until after the World Series, it seems very likely that this will become the seventh World Series in the divisional era (since 1969) to feature that year’s MVPs. The last time it happened was 2012, with Buster Posey and Miguel Cabrera. Before that, it was 1988 (Jose Canseco, Kirk Gibson), 1980 (George Brett, Mike Schmidt), 1976 (Joe Morgan, Thurman Munson), 1975 (Fred Lynn, Morgan) and 1970 (Boog Powell, Johnny Bench).

9. An MVP double dip?
And what if Judge or Ohtani wins World Series MVP as well? There have been just five players to win World Series MVP in addition to regular-season MVP in the same year. It hasn’t happened since Mike Schmidt in 1980. Before that, it was Willie Stargell in 1979 (he also won NLCS MVP that year), Reggie Jackson in 1973, Frank Robinson in 1966 and Sandy Koufax in 1963.

10. Hall watch
With all of this talent on the field, it’s hard not to wonder how many future Hall of Famers we will be watching in this World Series. With Soto, Judge, Stanton, Cole, Ohtani, Betts and Freeman, it’s fair to say there are at least seven players on strong Hall of Fame tracks. And that doesn’t even count Kershaw, as noted above, who will not appear. The last World Series with seven or more Hall of Famers was 1996 with nine: Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux, Fred McGriff, John Smoltz, Wade Boggs, Derek Jeter, Tim Raines and Mariano Rivera. And who knows which other players on either team might end up on the same track one day, especially with a 2024 championship under their belts.