Final Thoughts From an Overhyped World Series

Finally, it’s over. And it didn’t take as long as we thought, did it?

Joining Red Sox-Dodgers in 2018 and Yankees-Phillies in 2009 as the most overhyped World Series in recent memory, this one did not really deliver as promised, and given the matchup, I am okay with that.

As we put a wrap on the 2024 MLB season, here are some closing thoughts in what felt like an inevitable Hollywood ending:

The Yankees NEVER had championship DNA

To me, this series was more about what the Yankees DIDN’T have than what the Dodgers did have. For all the talk about the Dodgers’ starting pitching woes, the depth of the bullpen compensated beautifully. The Yankees struggled all year with defense, clutch hitting, and baserunning, and these problems surfaced throughout this entire series. The American League was by far the inferior league, and if you think about it, leagues and divisions are arbitrary and the World Series never truly ensures we are getting the two best teams. Rather, my gut all along was that the winner of the Dodgers-Padres NLDS was going all the way, and that proved to be true. Mental lapses in Games 1 and 5 put the final nail in the Yankees’ coffin.

Game 1 was the early dagger and proved that World Series omens are real

For anyone thinks that World Series omens are not real, recent history has proven otherwise. From Alcides Escobar’s leadoff inside-the-park home run in 2015, to Jorge Soler’s leadoff World Series homer and subsequent MVP in 2021, to Houston’s series-altering Game 4 no-hitter in 2022, to Corey Seager’s Game 1 heroics leading to series MVP last year, there are moments that demoralize a team beyond recovery. Gleyber Torres’ inexcusable mental error in Game 1, followed by him missing a redemption home run by inches, and capped by Freddie Freeman’s back-breaking grand slam, all meant a two-game series swing and felt like a telling sign that this was the Dodgers’ series all the way.

Once the Yankees began to unravel in the fifth inning of Game 5, it was just a matter of time before the house of cards came crashing down to seal New York’s fate.

Starting pitching is overrated in October

Part of the “worry” about the Dodgers was their lack of starting pitching, and in fairness, it almost derailed their historic Game 5 comeback. But October is about pitching staffs as a whole, and the Dodgers had perhaps the deepest in baseball with elite leverage arms in their ‘pen. Even without the services of Evan Phillips, the returns of Brusdar Graterol and Alex Vesia made up for it, and both pitches not only posted stellar numbers in the Fall Classic, but made incredibly clutch pitches when the situations called for it. Gerrit Cole was stellar for New York, but his own defensive lapse and Aaron Boone’s over-reliance on key arms backfired in the end.

Money can still buy championships

Yes, the overplayed and perhaps “lazy” narrative rang true. The Dodgers built an absurdly talented — and expensive — roster, headlined by Shohei Ohtani’s historic contract. The 2024 payroll number is deceiving considering that most of Ohtani’s record-setting deal was deferred, and Los Angeles went all in with the complementary additions of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Teoscar Hernandez. They also added key pieces at the deadline in NLCS MVP Tommy Edman, Michael Kopech, and Jack Flaherty. The Yankees’ massive payroll and Juan Soto acquisition got them through a weak American League as well, and erased pleasant memories of a fresh-faced 2023 World Series between Texas (who admittedly had a big payroll too) and Arizona, who knocked out the Dodgers in an NLDS sweep.

A dynasty could just be getting started

Let’s face it, for over a decade, the Dodgers have basically been a dynasty without the championships. 2020 was a major asterisk, and LA had become a punchline for its October failures. But the Dodgers and their massive wallet were not to be denied, and all the huge offseason additions, coupled with finally getting that “full-season title” monkey off their backs, may open the door to a late-90’s-Yankees-esque run over the next several years. Ohtani will return to the rotation next year, and you can’t close the door on a possible big addition or two (Soto? Corbin Burnes?) this winter. The rest of the NL West — and all of baseball, for that matter — has a lot of catching up to do in order to prevent a few more years of this kind of championship-level dominance.