Nine-inning games in the World Series averaged 3 hours, 19 minutes in the second year of the pitch clock, up from 3:01 in 2023.
The Series average was 3:24 in 2022 and 3:38 in 2021, the last season before the PitchCom electronic pitch-calling device. The 2023 average was the fastest since 1996.
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Mid-inning pitching changes increased to 5.2 from 3.8 in 2023 and 2.5 in 2022. World Series runs per game rose to 10.0 from 9.3 in 2023 and 5.8 in 2022. Pitches increased to 315 from 298, the highest total since 2018.
The overall postseason game average remained at 3:02, down from 3:23 in 2022 and 3:37 in 2021.
This season’s regular-season average of 2:36 declined four minutes from 2023 and 28 minutes from 2022. It had not been this low since 1984’s 2:35.
MLB shortened the pitch clock with runners on base by two seconds to 18 ahead of the 2024 season while keeping it at 15 seconds without runners on base.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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Keyshawn Johnson asks former MLB player Dontrelle Willis to rank Freddie Freeman’s World Series MVP performance. They delve into the impact of his play on the Dodgers’ championship win and discuss what it means for Freeman’s legacy in baseball.
Things move fast in the world of professional sports.
Not even a day after the 2024 season came to an end, with the Dodgers winning the World Series over the Yankees 4-1, it’s time to turn the page to free agency.
And the biggest free agent on the market is Yankees superstar Juan Soto.
During the Yankees’ postseason run, Soto hit four home runs and totaled nine RBIs in 14 games.
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Who will next acquire Soto’s services? Let’s take a look at the odds at DraftKings Sportsbook as of Oct. 31.
Juan Soto next team:
Yankees: -225 (bet $10 to win $14.44 total) Mets: +380 (bet $10 to win $48 total) Dodgers: +650 (bet $10 to win $75 total) Blue Jays: +1500 (bet $10 to win $160 total) Cubs: +1500 (bet $10 to win $160 total) Giants: +1800 (bet $10 to win $190 total) Red Sox: +1800 (bet $10 to win $190 total) Nationals: +2500 (bet $10 to win $260 total) Mariners: +2500 (bet $10 to win $260 total) Padres: +2500 (bet $10 to win $260 total)
Soto is a four-time All-Star and twice was named to the All-MLB first team. He played for the Washington Nationals from 2018-2021 and part of 2022, before being traded to the San Diego Padres, where he finished the 2022 season and played a full season in 2023.
Soto was once again traded, this time to the Yankees, and he’s spent the last two seasons in New York.
Over the last two seasons, he’s hit 76 home runs and amassed 218 RBIs. He was walked more than any other player in the major leagues in 2023, and in 2024, he led the American League in runs.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers already crushed the New York Yankees‘ spirit by rallying from a five-run deficit Wednesday to clinch the 2024 World Series in five games. It was a series in which the Dodgers outplayed the Yankees in all facets, according to FOX Sports analyst and Yankees legend Derek Jeter, a point driven home by New York’s stunning defensive miscues in the fifth inning of Wednesday’s Game 5.
But there is one way in which the Dodgers could really pour salt into the Yankees’ wounds — by signing Juan Soto in free agency — and Colin Cowherd argued Thursday that it would be great for the sport if L.A. did just that.
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“[Freddie] Freeman, [Mookie] Betts, [Clayton] Kershaw, Soto — it would be the ultimate villain [team] outside of Los Angeles,” Cowherd said. “Couldn’t take your eyes off it. Major League Baseball has not had a dynasty since the early 2000s and, by the way, go look at the NBA. Last time they got great ratings — [Michael Jordan’s] Bulls, [the] Kobe [Bryant]-Shaq [O’Neal Lakers], Steph [Curry]’s Warriors. I think the Dodgers should make a run this [offseason]. The Dodgers led baseball in home attendance, and they also led it in road attendance. They’re interesting. It’s a star-studded machine. Add another star. We’re all distracted — you have to create urgency.”
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Cowerd continued to talk about the value of the sport having a villain.
“[It] would create a special and unique experience you can’t get anywhere else. Everybody got mad when [Kevin Durant] went to the Warriors — they watched. [The Warriors] were a villain. It was unique. We were calling them the greatest basketball team of all time. There’s a million platforms, a million channels, a million places for your eyeballs to go. People are not watching good — they’re watching Caitlin Clark because there’s never been anything like it in women’s basketball.”
Cowherd’s argument is rooted in the belief that the only way for MLB to make a resurgence in popularity is to have a dynasty like the NBA teams he outlined, or the Tom Brady-led New England Patriots and Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL. MLB has not had back-to-back World Series champions since the Yankees won three World Series in a row from 1998-2000.
Dodgers win World Series 4-1 over the Yankees
“Mahomes and Brady’s dominance has not hurt the NFL whatsoever,” Cowherd said. “I think Major League Baseball needs a dynasty, and nobody has the wherewithal and the passion and the attendance and the inertia and the momentum and already a launching pad of a franchise like the Dodgers. I would go after Soto. You’ll probably have to let somebody go. Okay, but when the Warriors went and got KD, Adam Silver was very uncomfortable, and then people stopped watching the Denver Nuggets win a title. I know it makes you uncomfortable — that’s an unfair advantage. Sports is all unfair.”
Ironically, it’s the Yankees who have established themselves as MLB’s preeminent team because of the dynasties they’ve enjoyed virtually constantly from the 1920s to the late 1970s, and again in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They’ve won 27 World Series titles in the process, way more than anybody else — the St. Louis Cardinals are a distant second, with 11.
Keeping Soto in the fold would give the Yankees a much clearer path for a return to that former glory, after they just snapped a 15-year streak of not even reaching the World Series.
Soto is fresh off a superstar first season in the Bronx after arriving in a trade with the San Diego Padres last winter, and is expected to earn one of the biggest contracts in MLB history this offseason. It was a common occurrence to hear Yankees fans, both in Yankee Stadium and at road games, chant “re-sign Soto” during the latter part of the regular season and throughout the Yankees’ playoff run.
The reasons are obvious — Soto, who was already a superstar before arriving in New York, put up the best numbers over a 162-game season in his career this past season. He slashed .288/.419/.569 with a .989 OPS and had the fifth-lowest strikeout rate among all MLB hitters. His Wins Above Replacement on Fangraphs, or fWAR, was the fourth-highest in the majors behind only current Yankees captain Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals, and Ohtani.
Dodgers vs. Yankees: MINI-MOVIE of 2024 World Series
And that was all before a postseason in which he improved on those numbers, including a 1.102 OPS, and hit four home runs, including the decisive blast in the 10th inning of a clinching Game 5 of the American League Championship Series.
But while Soto has expressed fondness for his time as a Yankee, he also spoke about the team in the past tense when talking to reporters after New York’s Game 5 loss and said he would “be available for all 30 teams” in free agency. And the Dodgers are reportedly interested in Soto.
Could he take Cowherd’s advice and spurn baseball’s so-called “Evil Empire” to create a new dynasty out West?
The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in a 4-1 series gentleman’s sweep, claiming their 8th World Series and first since 2020. Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, and Kevin Wildes ask if the Dodgers are on the precipice of a dynasty.
Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees‘ 2024 season ended in heartbreaking fashion on Wednesday night, as they blew a 5-0 fifth-inning lead to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series, then later watched Los Angeles go on to win the series.
Judge’s performance was front and center this postseason, specifically in the World Series, in what was a bumpy five-game stretch for the 2022 — and likely 2024 — American League MVP.
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Here are the World Series highlights and lowlights for Judge, who was playing in his first career Fall Classic.
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Game 1 agony
Judge entered the World Series having struggled the previous two rounds. In New York’s combined nine games in the American League playoffs against the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Guardians, he totaled two home runs, six RBIs and 13 strikeouts, while posting a .161/.317/.387 slash line. For perspective, Judge blasted 58 home runs and posted a .701 slugging percentage in the regular season.
Judge didn’t silence the critics in Game 1 of the World Series.
The Yankees led 3-2 going into the bottom of the 10th inning, and, of course, Freddie Freeman hit a walk-off grand slam with two outs. New York left 11 runners on base, with Judge stranding four of them while striking out three times and finishing 1-for-5.
Mid-series drought
Judge went a combined 0-for-7 in Games 2 and 3, striking out three times.
In Game 2, he left two runners. In the top of the ninth inning, which saw the Yankees draw to within two runs and load the bases with one out, he struck out. Games 2 and 3 were each 4-2 victories for the Dodgers.
John Smoltz breaks down Aaron Judge’s cold playoffs streak
Game 4 life
With New York staring down a sweep — and Judge’s offensive struggles at the center of team scrutiny — the superstar outfielder showed signs of waking up in his final at-bat of the game, hitting a single to left field, which drove in the Yankees’ 11th run of an 11-4 win. Judge had previously gotten on base via base on balls, hit by pitch and an infield error.
He carried that momentum into Game 5.
Yankees come ALIVE in Game 4
Game 5 duality
Game 5 featured Judge early and often — in both a positive and negative way.
Judge got the Yankees rolling in the first inning with a two-run home run to right field, giving them a 2-0 lead, which later became a 5-0 lead. Then, Judge made a leaping catch in the palm of his glove at the wall in the top of the fourth inning, robbing Freeman of a potential extra-base hit and the Dodgers of a run.
Dodgers vs. Yankees: MINI-MOVIE of 2024 World Series
But in the top of the fifth, Judge made a consequential error, dropping a line drive in center field. Later in the inning, shortstop Anthony Volpe made a throwing error and starting pitcher Gerrit Cole didn’t get over to first base for Anthony Rizzo to flip him the ball for the would-be inning-ending out. The Dodgers went on to score five runs in the inning to tie the game. While the Yankees regained the lead in the sixth with a sacrifice fly, the Dodgers went in front in the eighth with a pair of sacrifice flies.
Judge doubled in the bottom of the eighth — and also walked twice in the game — to get the tying run in scoring position, but the Yankees couldn’t get even and lost, 7-6.
Judge’s only home run and error in the World Series came in Game 5.
Soler has been a productive power hitter for five teams over the previous 11 major league seasons. The Cuban slugger was the MVP of the 2021 World Series with the Braves, and he also won a ring with the Chicago Cubs in 2016.
He led the AL in homers with the Kansas City Royals in 2019 when he hit a career-high 48. He made his first All-Star team with the Miami Marlins in 2023.
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Soler has two years left on the three-year, $42 million contract he signed with the San Francisco Giants earlier this year. The Giants traded Soler to Atlanta on July 29 for his second stint with the Braves.
He had 21 homers and 64 RBIs with a .780 OPS last season with the Braves and Giants. One year earlier, he hit 36 homers for Miami.
Canning is an Orange County native and a former second-round draft pick who has been part of the Angels’ starting rotation for the past six years when healthy. He won a Gold Glove in 2020 but missed the entire 2022 season with a back injury.
Canning went 6-13 with a 5.19 ERA while making a career-high 32 starts last season for the Angels, who finished with the worst record in franchise history.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are officially World Series champions following a 7-6 victory over the New York Yankees, a victory that included a 5-0 comeback in the 5th inning. Craig Carton, Danny Parkins, Mark Schlereth, and Willie Colon discuss the series and what’s next for the Yankees.
The team announced that it would commemorate its World Series championship on Friday with a downtown parade followed by a celebration at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers earned that right with their World Series-clinching 7-6 victory over the New York Yankees in the Bronx on Thursday night.
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The team said Wednesday that because of logistics, traffic and timing, fans won’t be able to attend both the parade and the celebration at Dodger Stadium.
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Friday’s celebrations, however, will be particularly poignant for both the Dodgers and their fans in Los Angeles.
Their last championship came in 2020, during a COVID-shortened season. Because of restrictions due to the pandemic, the entire World Series was played at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. And after the Dodgers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in six games for the franchise’s seventh championship, the city was denied a parade because of those pandemic restrictions.
The Los Angeles Lakers also won the NBA championship that year, and no public celebration was ever held to commemorate the occasion.
Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen spoke on Wednesday night about how the team wanted to put any stigma attached to the 2020 championship to rest.
“There’s been a lot of people that want to discredit 2020, and I don’t want to harp on this alot, but it’s so great to see the guys that are still here, from Doc [Dave Roberts] to players to front office, being able to finally silence the critics on this,” he said, “because every year has its challenges, everybody has the same playing field. That’s a great team. This team has zero quit in it, and every single night, if we don’t have the outcome we want, there’s always guys out there picking each other up and challenging ourselves to be better. And that’s why we won tonight.”
Blake Treinen on Dodgers’ comeback: ‘What a moment for our team’
When it comes to Friday’s celebrations, the parade will begin mid-morning at Gloria Molina Grand Park in front of City Hall with Mayor Karen Bass in attendance. It will continue on a 45-minute route that culminates at the intersection of 5th and Flower streets, with the Dodgers traveling atop double-decker buses.
The celebration at Dodger Stadium will begin shortly after noon. The parade will be carried on the stadium’s videoboards ahead of the team’s arrival.
Adding to the special nature of the parade for Dodgers fans, Friday is also the birthday of late pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, who died on Oct. 22 at the age of 63. Valenzuela was an iconic figure in Los Angeles and a member of Dodgers championship teams in 1981 and 1988.
A portion of the proceeds from the ticketed stadium event will be donated to the Los Angeles Dodger Foundation.
Dodgers vs. Yankees: MINI-MOVIE of 2024 World Series | MLB on FOX 🎥
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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