The 2024 MLB postseason is currently underway and the Wild Card Series round has already been completed. Six of the nine Wild Card Series games were decided by two or fewer innings, and three featured changes in the eighth inning or later. It was a blast. The best-of-five Division series kicks off this weekend. Here are the confrontations:
American League
ALDS1: Kansas City Royals at New York Yankees
ALDS2: Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Guardian
National League
NLDS1: San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers
NLDS2: New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies
There are still eight teams standing, the equivalent of 16 potential World Series games, and one of them is not a rematch in 2023. The Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers both missed the postseason. It is the first time since 2007 (Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals) that the two pennant winners will return home in October.
After all, there are 16 possible postseason games and none of them are bad! Each one is exciting in its own way, but some are more compelling than others. Sometimes there’s history (recent or otherwise), sometimes new players join the mix, and so on.
With that in mind, we’re here to rank all 16 potential World Series matchups. What exactly are these classifications based on? History, viewability, emotions, etc. There is no need to obtain scientific information. Now here are our rankings for the 2024 World Series matchup.
The bottom four
16. Phillies vs. Tigers
15. Guardians vs. Phillies
14. Dodgers vs. Guardians
13. Mets vs. Tigers
I can’t say I expected the Phillies to show up multiple times in the bottom tier, but there’s a bit of shared history with the Guardians and Tigers, so what can you do? I suppose the World Series could be the final word on which team wins the Matt Ferling trade. The Phillies vs. Guardians would have been more interesting if Terry Francona had stuck around for one more year before retiring (and then not retiring), but alas. Mets vs. Tigers would be fun, even though there’s not a lot of history here. Not unless you want to reconsider the Yoenis Cespedes trade.
The next three
12. Dodgers vs. Royals
11. Padres vs. Royals
10. Phillies vs. Royals
This will make it sound like we hate the royals, but I honestly don’t mean it that way. Cole Ragans is great, Seth Lugo is a lot of fun in a “I have no idea what he’s going to throw next” way (not a lot of fun for hitters, of course), and Bobby Witt Jr. is simply the best all-around player. In baseball. If he has a flaw, I don’t know what it is. The Royals aren’t in the ALDS by accident. It’s just that someone has to be near the bottom of these rankings, and this year it’s Kansas City. The Phillies vs. Royals game will be a rematch of the 1980 World Series, an important date at this level.
class class
9. Guardians vs. Padres
Emmanuel Klass is the best in baseball and, once upon a time, was a minor leaguer for the Padres. They signed him as an amateur international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2015, traded him to the Rangers for journeyman catcher Brett Nicholas (!) in 2018, and then Texas sent him to the Guardians in the 2019 Corey Kluber trade. Cleveland also has Joey Cantelo and Josh Naylor They play prominent roles. They came from San Diego in the Mike Clevinger trade. Maybe outfielder Matt Waldron will be on the Padres’ World Series roster? He was in that trade too. The Padres have their fingerprints all over this Guardians roster.
8. Dodgers vs. Tigers
Jack Flaherty vs. Trey Swinney at a big venue in late October would provide some fun in the baseball theater. These two were traded to each other at the deadline and now Flaherty is the Dodgers’ best shortstop and Swinney is Detroit’s starting shortstop. This was a mutually beneficial trade. The Dodgers got the starter they needed, and Swinney, while not tearing the cover off the ball, was a huge upgrade at shortstop for the Tigers. It’s been an important and sneaky part of their recent success. The Dodgers and Tigers have basically been around forever, though they’ve never met in a World Series, if you can believe that.
Replays of notable World Series matches
7. Mets vs. Royals
The latest World Series matchup between the clubs in this year’s remaining postseason field. The Royals beat the Mets in five games in 2015, and only one player from that series remains with those teams: Salvador Perez (who else?). Beyond that, there are two former Mets in Kansas City’s rotation (Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha), a former Royals prospect in New York’s rotation (Sean Mania, who was traded for Ben Zobrist during the 2015 title run), and two Best shortstops in baseball. This will be a great World Series matchup. I may be too low on these rankings.
6. Padres vs. Tigers
The closest the Padres came to winning a World Series was in 1984, when they lost in five games to the Tigers. This is also the last time Detroit won the World Series. There’s little overlap between the two current teams — Tigers manager AJ Hinch ran San Diego’s scouting staff from 2010-14 and that’s about it — but Padres vs. The Tigers will ensure their long postseason drought ends. Either the Padres win their first championship or the Tigers win their first championship since 1984, ending the seventh-longest title drought in baseball. Plus, both teams are really fun and should provide some exciting baseball.
Top five
5. Phillies vs. Yankees
This will be a rematch of the 2009 World Championship, creating a nice little storyline right off the bat. You also have Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper, Juan Soto and Trea Turner, Gerrit Cole and Zack Wheeler, and more. Great players, all of them, and great players tend to have great series. Also, Phillies manager Rob Thompson was a lifelong Yankees player before joining Philadelphia in 2018. He joined the Yankees as a minor league coach in 1990 and did everything from coaching the minors to running player development to serving as a bench coach in the MLB . I’m sure the New York tabloids will have a field day with Thompson beating his former employee in the World Series.
4. Guardians vs. Mets
In 2016, Francisco Lindor played in the World Series for Cleveland. In 2024, he has a chance to play in the World Series against Cleveland. The Guardians traded Lindor (and Carlos Carrasco) to the Mets in January 2021 for Andres Giménez (and others) and this will be the biggest “star plays for his former team in the World Series” game since… Frank Robinson faced the Reds with the Orioles in 1970? Yes, I think so. Lindor returning to his old stomping ground with his new team and having a World Series title on the line would be really cool. As you know, both teams are looking to end long World Series droughts. Cleveland hasn’t won a title since 1948. The Mets’ drought seems nothing in comparison. They have been untitled since 1986.
3. Padres vs. Yankees
Would there be anything more exciting than the Padres vs. Yankees World Series right after the Juan Soto trade? Talk about a win-win trade. Soto had a breakout season with New York, one that would put him in the top 3-4 of MVP voting, while San Diego had the MVP (Michael King), starting guard (Kyle Higashioka), and top 100 prospect. They flipped to the White Sox for shortstop Dylan (Drew Thorpe). Both teams are thrilled with the end of the trade. There’s also the backdrop of the 1998 World Series, which the Yankees swept. The great Tony Gwynn went 8 for 16 with a homer in that series. It seemed like it never came out. Padres vs. Yankees would be two great teams with World Series history and a tremendous Soto trade story. Fun fun fun.
2. Mets vs. Yankees
We had a World Series Championship Subway Series in 2000, even though the Yankees were in the middle of a dynasty at the time, and the Mets were pretty clearly the No. 2 team in New York. Under owner Steve Cohen and Bobo David Stearns, the Mets are trying to turn New York into a Mets town, and what better way to do that than to beat the Yankees in the World Series? Even outside of the inner city stuff, the Mets and Yankees are two very good teams with some of the biggest starts in the game. Aaron Judge, Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Juan Soto, etc. I think most baseball fans outside of New York will turn their attention to this matchup, but the Mets vs. Yankees World Series will be as brutal a game as any World Series in recent memory. Zero love lost here, and I mean zero.
1. Dodgers vs. Yankees
How could the Dodgers vs. Yankees not be #1? It will be Aaron Judge and Juan Soto versus Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani on the biggest stage of the game. The Cooperstown-bound greatness of Freddie Freeman and Gerrit Cole, the swagger of Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez, and two combustible bullpen that would make the last few innings of each game interesting.
Give the commissioner and television network executives a truth serum, and I’m sure they’ll tell you this is the World Series matchup they want. The Dodgers and Yankees are two prominent franchises in baseball. They play in the two biggest markets and have a long history as well. No two teams have met in the World Series more often than the Dodgers and Yankees.
Here is the summary of the competition. More than one in every 11 world championships throughout history have included these two teams.
1941 World Series: Yankees won 4-11,947 World Series: Yankees won 4-31,949 World Series: Yankees won 4-1
1952 World Series: Yankees won 4-31,953 World Series: Yankees won 4-1 (At age 25, Vin Scully became the youngest World Series announcer ever) 1955 World Series: Dodgers won 4-3 (Jackie Robinson steals home run in Game 1) 1956 World Series: Yankees won 4-3 (Don Larsen threw a perfect game in Game 5) 1963 World Series: Dodgers won 4-01977 World Series: Yankees won 4-2 (Reggie Jackson hit three homers in Game 6) Championship 1978 World Series: Yankees won 4-21981 World Series: Dodgers won 4-2
I gave Dodgers vs. Yankees baseball has some of its greatest and most iconic moments ever, but it’s been a long time coming, which adds to the excitement. An entire generation of baseball fans (2-3 generations in baseball years) never saw the Dodgers and Yankees meet in October. This is as good a year as any to change that.
When the Dodgers and Yankees meet during interleague play, it’s an event. Like the World Championships in the summer. Yankees fans exist all over the world, and there are still plenty of Dodgers fans in New York, where the fandom has been passed down through generations from the franchise’s years in Brooklyn. Dodgers vs. Yankees in the World Series would be a lot of fun.
