Author: Rowan Kavner

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The ground in the visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium had barely started drying up before the hot stove got cooking. 

Free agency is here, and teams are already wheeling and dealing. On Thursday, the day after the World Series, the Braves traded Jorge Soler to the Angels. Over the next few days, teams will begin negotiating with their own free agents and tendering qualifying offers. On Monday afternoon, players can start signing with new clubs as unrestricted free agency begins. 

While it might take a couple of months for the biggest pieces to start moving, now’s a good time to start looking at the talent available before the action takes place. Below are the top 30 players from the 2025 free-agent class. 

Note: This list only includes free agents and players with opt-outs who seem likely to test the market. It does not include Roki Sasaki, the 23-year-old Japanese pitching standout who has expressed interest in pitching in the majors next season but has not yet been posted by his NPB team. Players with an asterisk below have an option for next season. Players’ ages in 2025 season are listed in parentheses.

Let’s dig in. 

1. Juan Soto, OF, New York Yankees (26)

I mean, was there any question? I guess there is one: How many hundreds of millions will it take? Five? Six? More? And seeing what he means to the Yankees’ lineup, how high are they willing to go to keep him in pinstripes? It’s not every day that a 26-year-old superstar becomes available, and he’ll be far and away the most desired free agent on the market. 

Possible fits: Yankees, Mets, Giants, Dodgers, Nationals  

2. Corbin Burnes, RHP, Baltimore Orioles (30)

If there’s one person who can’t be blamed for the Orioles’ October shortcomings, it’s Burnes. Even if his strikeout rate was down, he was still every bit the ace they traded for and went out on a high note with an eight-inning, one-run wild-card performance that should have been enough for his team to secure a win. His year-to-year consistency should make any pitching-needy team feel confident in him headlining a rotation. 

Possible fits: Orioles, Dodgers, Mets, Giants, Red Sox 

3. Blake Snell*, SP, San Francisco Giants (32)

Snell didn’t get the type of multi-year offer many expected coming off his second Cy Young Award-winning campaign, but he didn’t sulk about it. Instead, the left-hander delivered again, posting an even higher strikeout rate than he had the previous year. After signing in late March, injuries limited him in the first half. But these were his numbers in 14 starts after an IL stint: 5-0, 1.23 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, 38.1 K%. He was the only pitcher in baseball to have a WHIP under 1.0 and strikeout rate above 33% during this span (minimum 10 starts), and he also tossed a no-hitter. Here’s assuming he’ll opt out and get offered something a little closer to what we expected last winter. 

Possible fits: Giants, Dodgers, Mets, Braves, Rangers

4. Alex Bregman, 3B, Houston Astros (31)

It feels weird that Bregman could play somewhere other than Houston, where the two-time All-Star has been a fixture for nearly a decade. But there will be plenty of suitors for the veteran infielder who has hit 32% better than league average over his nine years in Houston (and has hit at least 13% better than league average every season). While Bregman chased more and walked significantly less than normal last season, he’s still an offensive difference-maker who hits for average, packs some pop, rarely whiffs or strikes out and plays elite defense. 

Possible fits: Astros, Tigers, Mariners, Mets, Red Sox

5. Willy Adames, SS, Milwaukee Brewers (29)

Want the best shortstop on the market? Look no further. A major component of a surprise division winner in Milwaukee, I’m not sure enough people talked about how good Adames was this season. In a career year, Adames upped his launch angle, launched 32 homers, knocked in more runs than any shortstop in the majors and also swiped 21 bags while playing plus defense (even if it didn’t grade out as highly this year as it did the previous season). 

Possible fits: Dodgers, Giants, Braves, Blue Jays, Tigers 

6. Max Fried, SP, Atlanta Braves (31)

Forearm issues are never what you want to hear in a contract year, but Fried pushed through to make 29 starts and deliver his second All-Star season. About as steady as they come, the lefty doesn’t miss many bats, but he’ll consistently keep the ball on the ground and limit hard contact. He posted his highest ERA since 2019 this year, and yet it was still the 15th-best mark in the majors among qualified starters. 

Possible fits: Red Sox, Giants, Mets, D-backs, Padres 

7. Pete Alonso, 1B, New York Mets (30) 

The Polar Bear saved some of his best work for last. Will his late-season heroics be enough for Steve Cohen to pay up to keep him in Queens? A reunion might be the most likely scenario. Alonso has been durable, but as enticing as his 30-plus homers might be, his defensive deficiencies, rising strikeout rate and a batting average that has plummeted the past two years bring risk as he approaches his age-30 season. 

Possible fits: Mets, Astros, Mariners, Yankees, Giants 

8. Teoscar Hernández, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers (32) 

Hernández never got the long-term offer last offseason that he expected after a down year in Seattle, so he decided to reset his market on a one-year flier in Los Angeles. The move is about to reward the Home Run Derby champ handsomely, whether it’s back in L.A., where he rebounded in an All-Star season as a key cog for the champs, or elsewhere. Considering what an additive presence he was to the Dodgers both on and off the field, and how much he enjoyed the winning environment, a return makes a lot of sense. 

Possible fits: Dodgers, Phillies, Royals, Braves, Red Sox 

9. Anthony Santander, OF, Baltimore Orioles (30)

Here are the hitters with more homers than Santander over the past three seasons: Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Schwarber, Pete Alonso, Matt Olson. That’s it. It’ll be interesting to see how similar the market is for Hernández and Santander, a fellow All-Star corner outfielder coming off a career-high 44-homer season. While Santander won’t provide much with his glove or his legs, he supplies a rare amount of power for someone who doesn’t strike out a ton. 

Possible fits: Orioles, Blue Jays, D-backs, Reds, Royals 

10. Christian Walker, 1B, Arizona Diamondbacks (34)

One of this year’s biggest All-Star snubs, Walker had an .838 OPS and 22 homers in the first half before his numbers dipped late after an oblique issue. Walker’s age will be a deterrent for teams, but he hasn’t demonstrated any signs of slowing down. He can still mash — this was his third straight season hitting more than 20% above league average — and is one of MLB’s best defenders at his position. 

Possible fits: Astros, D-backs, Mariners, Yankees, Mets  

11. Jack Flaherty, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers (29)

Flaherty’s career didn’t unfold the way many expected after he finished fourth in Cy Young voting as a 23-year-old in 2019, but a bounce-back season this year demonstrated what’s still left in the tank. A sensational first half in Detroit made him the best pitcher available at the deadline, and while he had a volatile second half and postseason stretch with his hometown Dodgers, he raised his stock considerably. The eight-year big leaguer just turned 29 and posted the best strikeout-to-walk ratio of his career. 

Possible fits: Angels, Dodgers, Mets, Red Sox, Cubs

12. Tanner Scott, RP, San Diego Padres (30)

Just take a look at his Statcast page. The only blip is his walk rate, but this is the most electric reliever on the market, a left-hander any contender could use at the back end of the bullpen. 

Possible fits: Padres, Orioles, Blue Jays, Rangers, D-backs

13. Nathan Eovaldi*, SP, Texas Rangers (35) 

A vesting player option kicked in this year for Eovaldi when he tallied more than 300 innings over the past two years in Texas. At 34, he’s still plenty productive, and his history of postseason success should make him an attractive short-term add for a contender. 

Possible fits: Rangers, Orioles, Mets, Braves, Red Sox 

14. Cody Bellinger*, OF/1B, Chicago Cubs (29)

This one’s the closest call on the list in terms of whether or not he’ll opt out. Bellinger didn’t command the type of contract he might have expected last offseason coming off a year in which he produced an .881 OPS and finished 10th in MVP voting. A more pedestrian follow-up season leaves him with an interesting decision to make. 

Possible fits: Cubs, Angels, Astros, Giants, Blue Jays

15. Gleyber Torres, 2B, New York Yankees (28)

This wasn’t the walk year Torres probably envisioned. But while his performance can fluctuate and his defense can confound at times, he’s still one of the most talented middle infielders on the market. He’ll also be just 28 when next year begins, and he flourished toward the end of 2024 after moving into the Yankees’ leadoff spot.  

Possible fits: Mariners, Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Giants 

16. Yusei Kikuchi, SP, Houston Astros (34)

The Astros caught a lot of flak for what they surrendered to get Kikuchi at the deadline. Then the former Blue Jay did nothing but reward his new team, going 5-1 with a 2.70 ERA and a 5.43 strikeout-to-walk ratio after making some prudent arsenal tweaks. He can be prone to hard contact, but 200-strikeout arms don’t grow on trees. 

Possible fits: Astros, Twins, Brewers, Rangers, Nationals

17. Michael Wacha*, SP, Kansas City Royals (33)

He didn’t get the attention of rotation mates Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans, but Wacha’s changeup looked as good as ever as he quietly produced a 3.35 ERA and his lowest hard-hit rate since 2017. That’s now three straight years with a sub-3.40 ERA — and for three different teams. After pitching for six different teams over the past six years, he can decide if he wants to stick in Kansas City for $16 million in 2025 or explore other options. 

Possible fits: Royals, Brewers, Cubs, Orioles, Guardians

18. Tyler O’Neill, OF, Boston Red Sox (30) 

It wasn’t that long ago when O’Neill finished eighth in MVP voting as a Gold Glove 26-year-old outfielder in St. Louis. Injuries diminished his production his final two years with the Cardinals, but a healthier season in Boston yielded huge power numbers again. 

Possible fits: Red Sox, Phillies, Royals, Tigers, Reds 

19. Jurickson Profar, OF, San Diego Padres (32)

The former top prospect, who never developed into what many scouts envisioned, put together a surprising career year at 31. How will teams weigh that late breakout compared to his first 10 seasons? 

Possible fits: Padres, Royals, Reds, Pirates, Phillies

20. Sean Manaea, SP, New York Mets (33) 

A lower arm slot turned him into a different kind of force down the stretch and the Mets’ top option in October. 

Possible fits: Mets, Twins, Brewers, Rangers, Orioles 

Best of the Rest

21. Ha-Seong Kim, SS, San Diego Padres (29)
22. Walker Buehler, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers (30)

There might not be anyone who benefited more from October baseball than Buehler. After a forgettable return from a second Tommy John surgery, he turned back the clock and thrived in the postseason, as he tends to do. Even if he doesn’t replicate his old form during the regular season, the perennial playoff standout demonstrated again what a difference he can still make on the biggest stage for a team with World Series aspirations. 

23. Shane Bieber, SP, Cleveland Guardians (30) 

Tommy John surgery wiped out most of Bieber’s 2024 season, but because it took place in April, there should be a good chance he plays most of next season. If he can replicate the elevated whiff rate he achieved in his first two starts of 2024 before his elbow blew out, his next team will be getting a difference-maker. But, of course, there is risk. 

24. Luis Severino, SP, New York Mets (31) 
25. Nick Martinez, SP, Cincinnati Reds (34) 
26. Carlos Estévez, RP, Philadelphia Phillies (32)
27. Joc Pederson, DH, Arizona Diamondbacks (33) 
28. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals (37) 
29. Nick Pivetta, RP, Boston Red Sox (32)
30. Alex Verdugo, OF, New York Yankees (29) 

Honorable Mentions: Blake Treinen, Matthew Boyd, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Kirby Yates, Clay Holmes, Jose Quintana, Jeff Hoffman, Jose Quintana, Danny Jansen, Jesse Winker, Carlos Santana, Kyle Higashioka, Alex Cobb, Michael Conforto, Randal Grichuk, Josh Bell, Kenley Jansen, Justin Turner, Andrew Heaney

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Dodgers had heard the minimizing and belittling of their short-season championship in the hours and days and months and years since they dogpiled between the mound and home plate at Globe Life Field four seasons ago. They believed what they did in 2020 amid adverse circumstances and a Texas bubble might have been harder and required even more than the typical season. Every other team, after all, had the same chance they did. 

And yet …

“You want the full season one, just to get that whole narrative out of the window,” Gavin Lux said. “I think it kind of bugs everybody a little bit that you don’t get the recognition that you deserve.”

For the past four years, it served as fuel, a little extra motivation to acquire the franchise’s first full-season World Series championship since 1988. The Dodgers had gone to the postseason 11 straight years before this one, with only one pandemic-shortened title to show for it. Many of the same characters from 2020 remained, craving a championship no one could question and a celebration that evaded them the last time they won in the middle of a pandemic. 

Thanks to seven relievers and the first five-run comeback in a World Series clincher Wednesday night in the Bronx, that parade they missed in 2020 will take place Friday in Los Angeles — on what would have been Fernando Valenzuela’s 64th birthday.

“I’m going to enjoy the heck out of this one,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I’m sure there’s no asterisk on this one.”

In a season defined by persistence, the Dodgers outlasted the Yankees in Game 5 of the World Series, battling back from an early five-run hole, falling behind again, then coming through with the go-ahead runs in the eighth inning of a 7-6 win that embodied their resilience en route to a second championship in five years. 

“Now it’s two, baby, what are you gonna say about that?” Max Muncy said. “World Series champions. Get that Mickey Mouse s- out of your mouth. We got a full season. It’s here.”

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series] 

At 1:18 a.m. in the Bronx, as Wednesday night bled into Thursday morning and the Dodgers’ eighth World Series championship celebration shifted from a champagne-soaked clubhouse onto a family-filled field at Yankee Stadium, a shirtless Walker Buehler, pants still drenched from the postgame libations, lifted up Will Smith’s 2-year-old daughter for a hug before embracing his catcher for the second time that night. The first, a couple of hours prior, came as more of a surprise. 

Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior had not discussed Buehler pitching at all in the deciding Game 5 of the World Series. That Buehler, an October star again after a turbulent return from his second Tommy John surgery, nonetheless secured the final out of the 2024 season represented a fitting finish to a year that took a path they never could have imagined after their billion-dollar offseason splurge. 

If the chance to celebrate with a parade wasn’t incentive enough, they would find plenty more sources of motivation as their juggernaut roster began to crumble piece by piece. Injuries tattered their rotation to the point that only one pitcher from their Opening Day rotation still remained upright by October. Of the three starters they entrusted to get them through the postseason, one, Jack Flaherty, didn’t arrive until the deadline and was chased after recording four outs in the final win of the World Series. Another, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, missed nearly three months with a shoulder injury. The third, Buehler, had an ERA over 5.00 in a season marred by inconsistent command and mechanics. 

Even the star-studded offense had taken its hits. Shohei Ohtani, the prize of the offseason who finally got his long-awaited opportunity on the sport’s biggest stage, partially dislocated his shoulder during the World Series. Before that, Freddie Freeman suffered a late September ankle sprain that was supposed to keep him out for 4-6 weeks. Freeman’s father, Fred, had to drive him to Dodger Stadium every day for physical therapy because Freddie couldn’t use his injured right foot on the pedal. 

“It was beyond what any human should do,” Freeman’s father said from the field at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, where he celebrated with his son. “I don’t know any other person that could have done that. Maybe Shohei, what he’s been doing right now. Shohei’s a warrior, also.”

Both players pushed through, though Freeman did a lot more than just survive en route to being selected World Series MVP. He set a major-league record with home runs in six straight World Series games (dating back to his 2021 championship run with the Braves) after homering in each of the first four games of this year’s World Series. The streak ended in Game 5, but his production did not. Freeman delivered a two-run hit as part of the Dodgers’ five-run fifth to tie the game. A medley of Yankees errors and miscues opened the door. An opportunistic Dodgers club knocked it down. 

“Get dealt a couple blows, come back from it,” Muncy said. “Get dealt some more blows, come back from it. This game was literally our season in a nutshell.”

Given their dearth of starting options, the Dodgers needed to rely on a cavalcade of relievers to persevere, as they had all October. Their postseason run included 22 more innings from their bullpen than from their starters. 

“I’d be one to tell you there would never be a bullpenning team that won the World Series,” said Blake Treinen, who recorded seven outs on Wednesday, marking the first time in six years that he’d gone more than two innings in an outing. “I’m eating crow.”

So depleted of starting pitchers, and needing to keep their highest-leverage arms fresh, the Dodgers and manager Dave Roberts chose to punt on certain playoff games when his team got down in a bullpen game. Roberts would live to fight another day, saving his most trusted relievers for more positive game scripts, so the opponent wouldn’t get as many looks at them. The dangerous strategy ultimately triumphed. Maligned for his decision-making in postseasons past, Roberts navigated a treacherous road deftly. 

“Doc,” Smith said, “pushed all the right buttons.” 

The most important might have come two weeks before the playoffs, when the team’s mounting injuries seemed to be taking a toll on the club both physically and mentally. In mid-September, after the Dodgers learned All-Star Tyler Glasnow’s season was over, Roberts read the room and saw a team that looked demoralized. The Dodgers had just dropped two straight games in Atlanta, and the Padres were clawing into their division lead. 

Roberts rarely calls for team meetings, but Teoscar Hernández said the timing of this one changed everything. The skipper told his players that he couldn’t believe in them more than they believed in themselves, and the change needed to begin that night. 

Buehler responded by bouncing back from a five-run outing to hold the Braves to one earned run in six innings. It was one of 11 wins in the final 14 games of the regular season for a Dodgers team that would be playoff bound for a 12th straight year, and it set a tone for a team that would then rebound from a 2-1 deficit in the National League Division Series against the Padres. It was around that time when Roberts realized this group, which would run through the Mets and Yankees, was different from recent iterations. 

“I believe in this team,” Roberts said before a do-or-die Game 5 of the NLDS, “more than any team I’ve had.”

After winning the 2020 World Series, the past three years didn’t go the way the Dodgers planned. In 2021, they couldn’t dig out of another 3-1 NLCS hole against Freeman’s Braves, who would go on to win the whole thing. In 2022, a historic team that won 111 games bowed out in the first round in a stunning upset against the upstart Padres. A year later came another shocking first-round shellacking at the hands of a division foe, this time with the Diamondbacks blitzing the Dodgers.

Getting swept yielded sweeping changes. 

The Dodgers opened the bank to bring in the most talented player in the game. A third MVP atop the lineup could, ideally, help stabilize an offense that had recently sputtered in October. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was at his son’s soccer game on a Zoom call recruiting another player when he got the news that Ohtani was on board, ending an emotional roller-coaster for a Los Angeles franchise that had long coveted the two-way sensation.

That Ohtani, determined to be part of a winning organization for the first time in his unmatched six-year big-league career, decided to set up his contract in an extraordinary way, deferring most of the $700 million he was owed over the next 10 years, freed up the Dodgers to continue adding. They made fellow NPB standout Yoshinobu Yamamoto the highest-paid pitcher in baseball history with a contract that was $1 million more in total value than Gerrit Cole, the ace who took the mound for the Yankees on Wednesday in Game 5 of the World Series. 

The Dodgers kept going, trading for and extending Glasnow and bringing in even more offensive firepower by adding Hernández on a one-year deal. They had formed what seemed to be an inexorable machine, one capable of exorcising their recent postseason failures and delivering their city the parade they never got. 

But more work would be required from the Dodgers’ front office to acquire the pieces necessary to get them over the top. 

In one of the most vital trade deadlines in franchise history, they acquired the best pitcher available on the market in Flaherty, the local Los Angeles product who did just enough for his hometown team in a volatile postseason to help his club survive. Just as importantly, they also swung a three-team deal for versatile defender Tommy Edman, who hadn’t played a game this year to that point as he rehabbed wrist and ankle injuries, and reliever Michael Kopech, who was languishing on the worst team in modern baseball history. Kopech would slot in among the bevy of relief arms Roberts would come to rely upon. 

Amid the injuries, the Dodgers knew they still possessed talent. And as they clawed through the postseason, they learned more about their ability to overcome adversity. There was perhaps no better example than the player who threw the final pitch of the season. 

Earlier in the day, Buehler told the Dodgers’ coaching staff and front office he’d be available in the bullpen. 

“Like, yeah, Walk, that’s awesome,” Friedman said, shaking off the thought. 

“Well, what if it gets wonky?” Buehler asked. 

With Flaherty departing in the second inning, things got wonky. 

The Dodgers had already deployed all those high-leverage arms they were saving, forcing Treinen to record seven outs as the bullpen options dwindled. From there, the Dodgers had a couple of options. They could turn to Daniel Hudson, who threw 20 pitches the night prior, one of which resulted in a grand slam, and had grinded through another grueling year that would end with the 15-year big leaguer declaring his retirement late Wednesday night. 

Or, they could go to Buehler, who had already made his way to the bullpen. With the Dodgers leading by one run in the ninth, after he threw four scoreless innings in Game 3 of the NLCS and five scoreless innings in his lone start of the World Series just two days prior, Buehler, in what could have been his final act as a Dodger, emerged and added another spotless frame. 

“What Walker did right there, he’s etched in Dodger royalty for the rest of his life,” Clayton Kershaw said. 

“I can’t say enough about him,” Friedman added. “It shouldn’t be surprising. Time and time again, what he’s done in October cements his legacy as an all-time Dodger great.”

It was also a fitting microcosm of the Dodgers’ year of fortitude. After recording the final out of the 2024 season, Buehler raised his hands in the air with his palms to the sky, in a motion that was less “I can’t believe it” and more “What else would you expect?” 

In a season that didn’t go the way Buehler hoped, he was still the October hero. 

In a year and a game that didn’t go the way the Dodgers scripted, they were still victorious. 

This time, four seasons after the previous title, a parade will mark the accomplishment. And there’s nothing anyone can say to diminish it. 

“First one’s just as much as this, in my opinion, Smith said. “People can say whatever they want, but this is No. 2 for us, No. 2 for me. Hopefully, we get a few more.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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NEW YORK — Before a do-or-die Game 4 at Yankee Stadium, Jazz Chisholm thought about wearing Timberlands on the field for batting practice. They were gifted to the team by outfielder Alex Verdugo, who “just wanted to do something cool for the boys.” 

For three games to start the World Series, a Yankees offense that had launched more homers and taken more free passes than any team in baseball looked like a shell of itself. At the time Freddie Freeman launched another go-ahead first-inning blast in Game 4, he had knocked in more runs during the series than the entire New York lineup.

The Yankees entered Tuesday night with a total of seven runs through three games and only four hits with runners in scoring position. They looked tight. Verdugo, whose ninth-inning homer the night before provided their only runs in Game 3, sought to loosen things up. Well, that, plus he “felt like Timberlands just feel like New York” and he “wanted to get the boys some steppin’ shoes.” 

“Mine was more just give them that, give them something to lighten it up,” Verdugo said. 

Whether the gift helped at all, or the Yankees offense simply enjoyed seeing a Dodgers bullpen game featuring a parade of their lower-leverage arms, the group finally ignited in an 11-4 rout. 

A mindset change was part of the equation. 

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series] 

“The situation we were in, I think that we just kind of needed to say, ‘Screw it,’ and go after it and have fun because some guys may never come back to the World Series again,” catcher Austin Wells said. “So, enjoying the game, I think that allowed us to play a lot looser tonight.”

Anthony Volpe’s go-ahead grand slam, which finally gave Yankee Stadium a reason to erupt, didn’t hurt, either. Wells said he thought that hit allowed the rest of the lineup to take a deep breath. 

It also forced Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to think long term. He essentially punted the rest of the way, the same way he did in Game 2 of the NLCS when the Mets jumped ahead early in a bullpen game, so as not to overwork the relievers he trusts the most or allow the opposition to see them in a game they were unlikely to take anyway. It worked then. 

The danger of that decision on Tuesday is it helped a group of scuffling Yankees hitters to break out and gain confidence. 

Wells, who was 4-for-43 to begin the postseason and was given the previous game off, followed three innings after Volpe’s blast with a home run. Then came a five-run barrage in the eighth, when Gleyber Torres put the game away with the Yankees’ third home run of the night. 

A Yankees offense that had not scored more than three runs in a game during the series broke out with nine hits and six free passes against a medley of Dodgers relievers. The bottom of the lineup provided a spark, but eight of the nine players in the lineup reached base. Perhaps most encouragingly for the Yankees, Aaron Judge demonstrated some promising signs, reaching base four times and knocking in a run in his final at-bat of the game. 

“Once he’s on base, I feel like everybody gets going,” Chisholm said. 

The World Series had gone 11 straight years without a sweep. The Yankees awoke from their slumber to run that streak to 12. The 11-run fusillade was tied for the second-most ever by a club facing elimination in the World Series. 

The offensive approach that got them to the World Series finally showed up to help them keep their season alive.

“Knowing that this was the last guaranteed day of baseball for the season, definitely didn’t want to take it for granted and wanted to enjoy the moment,” Wells said. “I think if you put too much pressure on it at this point, like, it’s just going to … you’re going to fail yourself, and you’re not going to enjoy the journey.”

That journey will now continue on Thursday, when the Yankees have to feel good about their chances of sending the series back to Los Angeles. 

If they’re able to do that, they’ll make history in the process. The Yankees are the 25th team to face a 3-0 deficit in the World Series. Twenty-one of the previous 24 teams to face that margin were swept. The other three lost in Game 5. 

But the other three didn’t have Gerrit Cole on the mound. 

“Every time G goes out there, we feel we’re in a great spot,” Chisholm said. “He’s like the best pitcher in the world. You see him out there, you see confidence.”

Cole allowed just one run and only four baserunners in six innings to start the series. He departed with the lead in a game that ended with a walk-off grand slam off the bat of Freeman, who has made his mark in every game this series. Freeman followed those late-game heroics with a solo homer in Game 2, then quieted the Yankees’ crowd with a two-run shot that sapped the energy from the stadium in Game 3. 

When Freeman did the exact same thing again in Game 4, setting a major-league record with a home run in his sixth straight World Series game, it looked like he might have delivered the dagger to the Yankees’ season. 

This time, though, they answered back. 

The 2004 Red Sox are the only MLB team to dig its way out of a 3-0 hole in a best-of-seven series, when it did so against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. 

But the Yankees, with three more games to play for their lives, aren’t thinking that far ahead. Anthony Rizzo, whose 2016 World Series champion Cubs emerged victorious from a 3-1 deficit in the World Series — where the Yankees find themselves now — knows the danger of that. 

“It was all about just getting to Game 6,” Rizzo said. “We knew Game 5 was going to be really hard.”

If the offense that showed up Wednesday reveals itself again, especially with Cole on the mound, the Yankees have a real chance of extending the series. Even if they can’t wear Timberlands to batting practice. 

“We’ve got to focus on, ‘Win another game,'” Judge said. “We’ll look up at the end of it and see what happens.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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NEW YORK — Walker Buehler wishes he could feel this way all the time. 

He wishes the velocity and characteristics on his fastball, which guided his gem Monday night in the Bronx and moved the Dodgers to within one win of a World Series sweep, could have emerged earlier when he was searching for answers in a rocky transition back to the mound after his second Tommy John surgery. 

He wishes the mechanics that finally came together, which helped him stretch his streak of postseason scoreless innings to 12 after his latest Fall Classic masterpiece, could have been there all year when his command was in disarray. 

He wishes that extra boost of epinephrine, the one that comes from pitching and thriving in October, could be channeled the same way during the six months prior. 

But he can’t help it. 

The postseason, and the World Series in particular, brings out a different version of him. 

“I think, as kind of brutal as it is to say, it takes that adrenaline and stuff to kind of really get me going mentally,” Buehler said after quieting a crowd of 49,368 fans at Yankee Stadium in a 4-2 win. “I wish I would have felt that all year. I could tell you I’m excited to pitch every single game I’ve ever gone out there, but there is something different in the playoffs.”

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series] 

After a forgettable start to Game 3 of the National League Division Series marred by defensive miscues, he tossed three scoreless innings in San Diego to end that outing. Then he tallied four scoreless innings in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, riding his secondary pitches to more swings and misses than he had in any game since the 2021 season. 

And on Monday, he kept the Yankees off the board for five innings. He has now allowed just one run in 18 innings over three career World Series starts. 

“I think it’s just in his DNA,” Gavin Lux said. “Some guys have it like that.”

This time, it was Buehler’s fastball — the one that helped him rise to fame, the one that used to overpower opponents, the one that had suddenly lost its bite after his latest elbow procedure — guiding his success. 

Hitters had annihilated his four-seamer as he tried to figure out how to pitch with the new version of his surgically-repaired arm. But he relied on it against a Yankees lineup that whiffed six times against the pitch and watched another nine go by for called strikes. 

They did not record a hit against it. 

“Kind of like it used to be,” Buehler said, “or a little bit closer.”

The Yankees did not have a hit at all against him until a Giancarlo Stanton double in the fourth inning. Stanton was thrown out at the plate by Teoscar Hernández trying to score from second on an Anthony Volpe single to left field, extinguishing the Yankees’ only real threat against Buehler, who was removed only because the lineup turned over a third time through. 

Hernández wasn’t on the Dodgers when Buehler first developed his penchant for clutch performances, but he watched enough baseball to know what to expect from the starter when the calendar flipped to October. 

“This is how it is, every time,” Hernández said. “He’s locked in, and just does that. He’s got three games in the World Series, all three games, he wins. It’s Walker.”

In what might have been his final showing before free agency, in a season diminished but not defined by inconsistency, Buehler again saved his best for the most important time of year. 

He is the only Dodgers starter ever to throw five shutout innings while allowing two hits or fewer in a World Series game. And he has now done it twice. 

“At least long term, for me, to get through the playoffs in the way that I have, it’s really encouraging for me personally because I know it’s in there, and I’ve just got to unlock it a little bit,” Buehler said. “But that feeling of, ‘there’s an organization relying on me today to win a playoff game,’ I think it’s kind of the weight that I like feeling and kind of gets me in a certain place mentally that it’s kind of hard to replicate.”

Buehler’s 2024 debut didn’t come until May. Knowing there might be some limitations this year coming off his second elbow reconstruction, he did not want to start and stop his season. He expressed a desire to be available in October, when the team would need him most. 

He’s there now, performing to his capabilities once again, even if it took a winding path to reach this familiar finish. 

“Second TJ takes guys a lot longer to figure out who they are,” Max Muncy said. “For him, the timing wasn’t there for a while. But his last couple games going into the postseason, he looked more like himself. Some guys live for the moment. He’s definitely one of those guys.”

There were often times during Buehler’s rehab when he didn’t want to look at the radar gun, knowing he’d be underwhelmed. His four-seamer averaged 95 mph this year, not the 96-97 he was throwing four years ago, but not far off from where he was at in 2021 and 2022. Still, it wasn’t missing bats. Opponents hit .342 against the pitch. They had nearly as many homers (eight) as strikeouts (nine) against it.  

In a contract year, it made for an uncertain future. But Buehler was more concerned with getting right than looking ahead. 

“Obviously, it’s my free-agent year and whatnot,” Buehler said this spring, “but at the end of the day, I just want to play and be good again.”

In the midst of the mediocrity, a hip issue this summer stunted his progress further. He had a 5.84 ERA before missing a month of the season. He spent part of that time at a private facility in Florida trying to find a way to get right again. His first few starts back were just as inauspicious. 

But while the results weren’t there, Buehler began to find some consistency in his mechanics during an August bullpen session in St. Louis. He had a 4.44 ERA in September — hardly the Buehler of old, but enough to demonstrate to the Dodgers that he deserved a postseason role in their depleted rotation. 

The way his regular season ended, with Buehler holding off the team that was chasing the Dodgers in the standings, there was a building block. The Dodgers won the division on Sept. 26 when he limited the high-powered Padres to one run in five innings. 

The October stage, his baseball haven, beckoned. 

“This,” Buehler said after his regular-season finale, “is what I live for.” 

It’s where he thrived in 2018, when he began to develop his playoff reputation. Then, as a 23-year-old rookie, he was the pitcher the Dodgers called upon in a Game 163 tiebreaker to decide the division. He held the Rockies to one hit in 6.2 innings in a 5-2 win. Later that postseason, he bounced back from a rough start to October by allowing one run in Game 7 of the NLCS to send the Dodgers to the World Series, where he fired seven scoreless innings in his lone start.

Two years later, in the Dodgers’ 2020 championship run, Buehler kept the team’s season alive with six scoreless innings in a Game 6 win against Freddie Freeman’s Braves. He followed that up with 10 strikeouts in six innings of one-run ball against Tyler Glasnow’s Rays. 

“He just always shoved,” Glasnow recalled. “The moment was never too big.”

Monday was just the latest example of his October prowess. After posting a 5.38 ERA in the 2024 regular season, Buehler has a 3.86 ERA this postseason.

When he takes the mound this time of year, you can throw his regular-season stats away. 

“You just see that different look in his eyes,” Lux said. “He doesn’t care, man. This guy’s the most confident human being in the world.”

Buehler’s work this October, at the end of his most grueling season as a big leaguer, has been especially notable. 

And while it might not fully erase his regular-season struggles in the minds of potential suitors, it demonstrates what still remains from the 30-year-old pitcher who was, just a few years ago, the Dodgers’ ace the last time they won a World Series.  

Now, this version of Buehler epitomizes a Dodgers pitching staff that has risen far above expectations. 

If the Yankees had one main advantage over the Dodgers entering the series, it was, seemingly, the depth of their rotation. But in Game 2, Yoshinobu Yamamoto outpitched Carlos Rodón. And in Game 3, the Dodgers knocked Clarke Schmidt out before Buehler had even given up a hit.

“When it’s going good, there’s not much else you’d rather do on this earth,” Buehler said. 

Buehler has now thrown the second-most playoff starts of any player in his franchise’s illustrious history, behind only Clayton Kershaw. He has a 3.07 ERA in those 18 outings.

If Monday was his last as a Dodger, it was one hell of a parting gift. 

“There’s no one I’d want more in a big game,” Muncy said, “than Walker Buehler.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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LOS ANGELES — When Yoshinobu Yamamoto joined the Dodgers last December, he made a strong declaration: He would stop admiring the players he looked up to and instead “strive to become the player that others want to become.”

Ten months later, manager Dave Roberts leisurely emerged from the dugout in the seventh inning Saturday night at Dodger Stadium and took the ball from Yamamoto, but not before shaking the 26-year-old’s hand and giving him a quick hug on the mound. In his first career World Series appearance, in the midst of his first big-league postseason, facing a Yankees lineup featuring the presumptive American League MVP and a pending free-agent superstar set to test the boundaries of every competitive owner’s pocketbooks, Yamamoto delivered the type of outing the Dodgers dreamed about when they made him baseball’s wealthiest pitcher last offseason. 

“From pitch one, you knew he had his good stuff all night,” Freddie Freeman, the previous night’s hero, said after Los Angeles’ 4-2 Game 2 win. “Just an awesome first start in a World Series, everything we needed out of him. He delivered.”

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series] 

Yamamoto had already dominated the Yankees once in New York, supplying seven scoreless innings in a performance many pointed to as a case study in his ability to handle the sport’s highest-pressure environments. Nearly five months later, three of which were spent rehabilitating a shoulder injury that might have stemmed from that overpowering outing, he did it again at home in the most consequential start of his career, moving the Dodgers two wins away from the ultimate prize by carving up a Yankees team that had once envisioned him wearing pinstripes. 

A standing ovation from 52,725 fans, many chanting “Yo-shi,” awaited Yamamoto on his walk off the mound after allowing one run in 6.1 innings in his longest start since his tour de force in the Bronx. 

“I’m really proud of him,” Mookie Betts said. 

Beyond the significance of the stage, there was one considerable difference Saturday compared to his previous start against the Yankees: This time, he had to face Juan Soto. If not for the Yankees lefty, Yamamoto would have held New York off the scoreboard again. 

The only blemish on Yamamoto’s night came in the third inning, when Soto turned on an inside fastball on the sixth pitch of the at-bat for a solo shot. That was the only hit Yamamoto would surrender. He retired the next 11 batters he faced, which included striking out Aaron Judge a second time, before Roberts handed the game over to the Dodgers’ bullpen. 

The outing was the first time Yamamoto had gone more than five innings since returning from his shoulder injury on Sept. 10, seven starts ago. 

“Obviously, coming over to this league can be a big-time culture shock,” reliever Daniel Hudson said. “This country, this league, is completely different than what he was growing up in, playing over there, so everybody kind of figured there was kind of going to be some growing pains there. But he’s got elite stuff, he’s got a good head on his shoulders. … We were pretty pumped to get him back there at the end of the year.”

Last year in Japan, Yoshinobu Yamamoto built a reputation for bouncing back, most notably on the country’s biggest stage. He allowed seven runs in Game 1 of the Japan Series only to rebound with a 138-pitch, series-record 14-strikeout complete-game masterpiece. 

In his first taste of the big-league postseason, it looked similar. He labored through three innings against San Diego in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, then helped the Dodgers vanquish their first-round demons with five scoreless innings in the deciding Game 5. Gavin Lux noted then that Yamamoto had “a little Walker Buehler in him,” referring to his big-game prowess. 

In the most pivotal performance of his big-league career Saturday night, Yamamoto didn’t need a feeling-out process. There was no need for a rebound. He was nails all night, just as Dodgers vice president of player personnel Galen Carr, who scouted Yamamoto multiple times in Japan, predicted before the start. 

“It’s hard to really put yourself in these guys’ shoes when they’re changing leagues, changing countries, changing cultures and everything about it is different — the ball, the mound, the schedule, the travel,” Carr said. 

Yamamoto said he considers last year’s Japan Series experience as wholly different from his first major-league postseason, in large part because this is his first season in a new league. What Yamamoto and the people close to him believed, according to Carr, is that after an adjustment period, he would thrive. 

After allowing five runs in three innings in his first playoff start, Yamamoto held the Padres scoreless his next time out. Then he struck out eight in his lone start of the NLCS versus the Mets before registering a nearly flawless World Series outing against one of the most patient and powerful lineups in the sport. 

“Every time I pitch, the last three games, I become more comfortable,” Yamamoto said through a translator before Game 2 of the World Series. 

This time, he triumphed in a different way against the Yankees. Back in June, he featured more of his slider than ever before. It was that pitch that helped guide his success in his lone start of the NLCS, too.

But he didn’t need it to flourish again in his sequel against the Yankees. His slider was responsible for only two of his 12 whiffs in Game 2 of the World Series. Yamamoto relied heavily on his four-seamer, which he commanded erratically early on before locking in the second time through the lineup, and a curveball that dropped in for six called strikes. 

“He seems a little bit more in control trusting his stuff,” shortstop Miguel Rojas said. “Especially at the beginning of the year, he didn’t know the hitters, he didn’t know the league. But it’s not a surprise for me because I know the pedigree of this guy, where he’s coming from, what he did in Japan. I’m excited for him because games like this in the first year, when he comes to the United States, it’s going to give him a great boost of energy and confidence.”

A home run from NLCS MVP Tommy Edman gave Yamamoto an early lead. When Solo’s blast tied it up, the depth of the Dodgers’ lineup became apparent. Teoscar Hernández answered immediately with a two-run shot, followed by a solo homer from Freeman. 

Both of Freeman’s blasts in this series have conjured memories of past Dodgers World Series winners.  

His Game 1 launch was eerily similar to Kirk Gibson’s iconic 1988 Game 1 pinch-hit home run. On Saturday, Freeman’s latest feat hearkened back to the Dodgers’ 1981 Fall Classic triumph over the Yankees. That was the last time the Dodgers had hit back-to-back homers in a World Series game, courtesy of Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager. 

Freeman didn’t get much sleep Friday night. He was tossing and turning, in part because all three of his kids were overtired and awake, in part because he had just deposited the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history. On Saturday, he received a quick boost of energy. Freeman received the first standing ovation of the night. 

“Walking up to the plate, my first at-bat today, hard not to have a smile on the inside,” Freeman said. 

The second went to Yamamoto, after his final pitch of the night. Roberts’ trip to the mound to remove him came at a leisurely pace. 

In the bottom half of the frame, Roberts’ departure from the dugout was more hurried and concerned. The Dodgers took a commanding 2-0 lead in the series, but it might have come at a cost. Shohei Ohtani suffered a subluxation of his left shoulder when he was caught stealing in the seventh inning. 

Roberts was encouraged by Ohtani’s strength and range of motion and at this point is expecting him to be in the lineup when the series shifts to New York, though he won’t know more until further scans are completed. 

It makes the nearly flawless work from their other major offseason signing, the $325 million man, all the more important. 

“Yamamoto,” Freeman said, “was absolutely incredible.” 

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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LOS ANGELES — It was a sprained ankle, not a banged-up knee or hamstring. It was 10 innings of gritting through pain, not an improbable pinch-hit appearance off the bench. It was a lift of the bat toward the sky and a roar on his trot around the bases, not a pump of the fist. 

But 36 years after a hobbled Kirk Gibson made the impossible happen in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, Freddie Freeman authored the latest iconic World Series-opening blast for the Dodgers, delivering the first walk-off grand slam in the history of the Fall Classic and sending 52,394 fans into a frenzy. 

“I love the history of this game,” Freeman said. “To be a part of it, it’s special. I’ve been playing this game a long time, and to come up in those moments, you dream about those moments, even when you’re 35 and have been in the league for 15 years. You want to be a part of those.”

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series]

Freeman joined Gibson and Joe Carter (1993) as the only players to ever hit a walk-off homer in the World Series with their team trailing. 

As he strolled around the bases, having delivered the Dodgers a 6-3 Game 1 comeback victory against the Yankees, Freeman said he felt like he was floating. Teammate Max Muncy, who hit a walk-off homer in Game 3 of the 2018 World Series, is one of the few who understands the feeling. 

“You black out in the moment,” Muncy said. “From a personal feeling, you don’t remember a lot of it. I’m going to remember this one a lot more than I remember mine.”

With the Dodgers trailing by a run, down to their final out in the bottom of the 10th, the Yankees intentionally walked Mookie Betts to load the bases and set up the lefty-lefty matchup. 

On the mound was Nestor Cortes, who was added to the playoff roster after missing each of the Yankees’ first two playoff series with an elbow injury. At the plate was Freeman, whose right ankle sprain and bone bruise had produced a hindered version of the eight-time All-Star.

“You walk a first-ballot Hall of Famer,” Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux said, “to get to another first-ballot Hall of Famer.” 

Freeman was unable to play in two of the Dodgers’ last three games of the National League Championship Series and held without an extra-base hit through his team’s first two postseason series. But the break before the World Series offered Freeman a needed reprieve. 

Throughout the playoffs, each day produced uncertainty regarding Freeman’s availability. Occasionally, like at team breakfast before Game 4 of the NLDS and the off day before Game 6 of the NLCS, the Dodgers would make the call ahead of time to sit Freeman in his best interest. Often, though, manager Dave Roberts would not know until shortly before first pitch whether he could keep Freeman’s name in the lineup.

He began the playoffs 6-for-17 — all singles — before a 1-for-15 stretch. Over those eight games, he had scored just one run. In Game 1 of the NLCS, he crossed the plate and needed Betts to hold him up to stop his momentum. The more Freeman played, and the longer a series went, the more limiting his ankle became. The issue was starting to leak into his swing. 

“Back then, a week or so ago, I could get through four, five innings before I was having trouble walking,” Freeman said. “In Game 5, it started happening pretty much right after my first at-bat. It was just progressing to making it really hard for me to get through the game.”

The Dodgers made the call to sit him for Game 6 of the NLCS with this scenario in mind. The week off meant six days that Freeman didn’t have to run, which is usually what causes his ankle to flare up. He still got treatment for 3-4 hours a day at the field. The time off helped. Three days ago, Freeman knew he was “100 percent” go. There was no question, in his mind, he would be in the starting lineup. 

“They don’t make them like that guy anymore,” Lux said. “He’s gritty, he’s old school, he wants to be out there. If there’s kids out there that want an idol, that’s the guy you want to try to be like right there.” 

Around that time, watching his swings, his teammates saw a different version of their All-Star first baseman. 

“I mean, you know,” Kiké Hernández said. “You know your teammates. You know their swings. You know their mannerisms. He took BP a couple days ago and it didn’t look the way it looked a couple days prior.” 

Hernández was not alone. Reliever Daniel Hudson was shagging balls in left field during batting practice with Chris Taylor when he noticed Freeman peppering line drives over shortstop and third base. Freeman was starting to look like himself again. 

“CT looks at me and goes, ‘I think Freddie’s about to go off,'” Hudson recalled. “I was like, ‘Yeah, those are Freddie swings right there.'”

It was at that point that Freeman thought he unlocked a cue in his swing with hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc. It wasn’t necessarily any feats of strength or power that demonstrated it. 

“It’s not about lifting or doing any of that,” Freeman said. “If my swing’s in the right spot and you’re hitting line drives and your swing is in a good spot, that’s where you create backspin. I can’t create the spin. If I do, I’m going to topspin and hook everything. When your swing is good and direct to the ball, that’s how you create the backspin.”

“He runs into power,” Van Scoyoc added. “When he’s on time, he catches it.”

On the first pitch from Cortes, he caught a 92.5 mph fastball on the inner half of the plate and made Dodger Stadium shake. 

“Those are the scenarios you dream about, two outs, bases loaded in a World Series game,” Freeman said. “For it to actually happen and get a home run and walk it off to give us a 1-0 lead, that’s as good as it gets right there.”

After a dogpile with his teammates, Freeman ran behind home plate to celebrate the moment with his father, the man who has thrown him batting practice all his life. 

“My swing is because of him,” Freeman said. “My approach is because of him. I am who I am because of him.”

Three months ago, his father was there to throw to him, too, in the midst of one of the most taxing moments of Freeman’s life. A turbulent second half of the season for Freeman began in late July, when his 3-year-old son Max became suddenly ill. The deterioration was rapid. By July 22, Max could no longer walk. The Freeman family eventually learned Max was suffering from Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare autoimmune condition. Freeman took 10 days away from the team to be with his son, who is now on the road to recovery and back walking again. 

Two days before returning to the Dodgers, the Southern California native went to his former high school, El Modena, and hit on the field with his father. In his first at-bat back at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 5, he received a standing ovation from not only 48,178 fans but also the Phillies dugout. 

“When I was gone the week and a half with my family, that first day I came back, that’s as special as it gets to make my family and I feel the love and the support,” Freeman said. “I tried to reciprocate it that night and thanking them and all this, but I think they appreciate this one a little bit more three months later.”

Tumultuous times off the field were met with hardships on it, when he fractured his finger in August. He decided to play through the pain. He bounced back from a slow start in September with a .316 average over his final 10 games of the regular season, only to sprain his ankle in the Dodgers’ division-clinching game against the Padres on Sept. 26 while trying to avoid a tag from Luis Arráez. It swelled up like a grapefruit, leaving him in a boot as the Dodgers celebrated. He was told it was a 4-6 week injury. 

Ten days later, he was in the lineup for Game 1 of the NLDS, ankles taped up like a football player. 

“He’s doing something that’s basically heroic,” Hernández said.

That night, he not only played but stole a base, as his manager and teammates held their breath. Freeman’s desire to play became a rallying force within the clubhouse of a team that was trying to move beyond the first-round exits of the previous two seasons. 

“A lot of us are banged up,” Lux said, “so you see this guy can barely walk for a couple weeks get out there and still steal bases, run hard down the line, limping all over the place, it makes you want to get out there and play hard, too.” 

For years, the World Series included a Taco Bell “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco” promotion.

Before Game 1, Freeman threatened to his teammates that he’d go for it. 

“And we all told him, if you steal a base, we’re going to walk out on the field and take you off the field ourselves,” Muncy said. “Sure enough, he gets a triple.”

Freeman started the day legging out a three-bagger against Cole. He ended it trotting 90 feet further in a walk-off winner for the ages. 

“Might be the greatest baseball moment I’ve ever witnessed,” Roberts said. 

“For him to have that moment, with everything he’s been through,” Lux said, “you couldn’t be happier for the guy.”

Right as the grand slam left Freeman’s bat, Hudson looked up from the bullpen toward the banner that shows the exit velocity. It flashed 109. He knew the game was over. 

Not long after, Hudson thought about Gibson’s blast. 

“I was probably one of two people in here who was alive when it happened,” the 37-year-old reliever joked. “You see it on TV, the side-by-sides on social media as soon as it happens. It was a really special moment for all the fans here, for everybody, especially for Freddie. I know that meant a lot to him.” 

At least for a few hours. 

On Friday, Freeman got to the stadium at 10:30 a.m. to begin treatment. 

On Saturday, he’ll do it again. Game 2 awaits. 

“This trophy is what makes you go through the grind every day,” Freeman said. “When you step into spring training in February, your eyes are on that, to do everything you can. That’s what’s worth it for me.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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LOS ANGELES — Yankees–Dodgers is a World Series matchup made in history, so it’s fitting that Game 1 was an instant classic. Here are four takeaways from the Dodgers’ 6-3 win in 10 innings.

1. Freddie Freeman delivers a swing for the ages

All he needed was the fist pump.

In a swing reminiscent of Kirk Gibson’s iconic blast in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, Freddie Freeman, unable to play in the last game of the NLCS due to his injured ankle, conjured memories of Gibson’s blast with a walk-off home run in the first game of the 2024 World Series.

Freeman missed both Games 4 and 6 of the NLCS because the issues with his injured ankle, which he had dealt with all postseason, was starting to leak into his swing. In the days leading up to Game 1, however, he said there was no doubt he’d be in the lineup. He had just six hits this October, all singles, prior to Friday night.

He delivered his first extra-base hit of the postseason with a surprising triple off Gerrit Cole in the first, then saved the best for last. With the Dodgers down to their last out in the 10th inning, Freeman delivered the lasting blast in a Game 1 thriller with a grand slam off Nestor Cortes.

2. In battle of Los Angeles products, Giancarlo Stanton delivers

It was clear from Jack Flaherty’s first pitch, a 96.4 mph fastball out of the gate to Gleyber Torres, that this start would be different for the local kid pitching for his hometown team.

Coming off seven scoreless innings in Game 1 of the NLCS, Flaherty didn’t have it his last time out. The Mets tagged him for eight runs in three innings in Game 5. He walked four, didn’t record a strikeout, and perhaps most troublingly saw his fastball velocity descend to 91.4 mph, which he usually attributes to a timing issue.

With a week off to rest and figure out any mechanical tweaks needed, he figured it out.

At least, until another local product unloaded. 

Friday night was setting up for a dream outing for Flaherty, who once dominated the fields of Sherman Oaks Little League. Through five innings, he had bested last year’s American League Cy Young winner, leading 1-0 while going toe-to-toe against Cole.

And then came one gigantic swing from a different Sherman Oaks legend.

Giancarlo Stanton, as he so often has at the stadium he used to attend growing up, authored his own homecoming party.

In 25 career regular-season games at Dodger Stadium, Stanton had a 1.086 OPS. He once hit a ball out of the stadium. Two years ago, he obliterated a 457-foot home run into the left-field pavilion, where he used to sit as a kid hoping to get balls thrown to him from any player roaming the outfield, to earn All-Star Game MVP honors.”

“That Cali air, man,” Stanton quipped before the start of the World Series. “Grew up with it.”

On Friday, there wasn’t any ballpark in the major leagues that would have contained his game-changing shot. Once again, he was the one sending a souvenir to a fan in left field when he tagged a Flaherty curveball 116.6 mph off the bat 412 feet into the sky for a go-ahead two-run shot. There was no doubt about it, as the Yankees slugger continued a torrid October stretch. He has now homered in four straight playoff games and leads all players this postseason with six.

3. With all the focus centered on two patient, powerful offenses, Game 1 was a pitchers’ duel

Flaherty’s fastball wouldn’t sit at 96 mph all night, but even somewhere between 93-94 mph would represent a marked improvement from where it was and plenty to give the Dodgers an opportunity against Cole.

More importantly, he commanded it well, which made his curveball — which got 12 swings and misses — all the more effective against a patient Yankees lineup until Stanton’s blast.

That was all the support Cole needed to depart with a lead after six innings.

It did not appear, from the start, that it would go that way.

Shohei Ohtani crushed the first pitch he saw from Cole 373 feet and 106 mph off the bat, but it died in center field. One batter later, Mookie Betts sent a deep drive that was tracked down at the warning track. Then came the unlikeliest of triples as Freeman, whose right ankle was too hurt to play on in the NLCS clincher, booked it around the bases with some assistance in left field from Alex Verdugo. The Dodgers couldn’t bring Freeman home, but it appeared they were seeing Cole well.

Then the Yankees veteran ace, in his 21st career playoff start, locked in.

Cole retired the next 11 Dodgers batters until another triple, this one off the bat of October sensation Kiké Hernández, who legged it to third after Juan Soto tried to make the catch instead of play the ball off the wall. A sacrifice fly from Will Smith plated the first run of the night. That’s all the Dodgers would scratch across against Cole. After allowing four free passes his last time out in the ALCS, he was not as forgiving against the hardest lineup he has faced this October. He has now allowed two runs or fewer in 14 of his 21 career postseason starts.

The defense behind him, however, continued to offer costly gifts to the opposition.

Cole departed with a lead after Stanton’s sixth-inning blast that lasted until the eighth inning, when Ohtani sent a changeup from Tommy Kahnle off the right-field wall. He should have been held to a double, but Torres misplayed Soto’s throw to second base, allowing Ohtani to take third. The Dodgers, who didn’t have a hit with a runner in scoring position until Freeman’s blast, didn’t need one to score their second run of the night on a game-tying sac fly by Betts.

Verdugo, however, would make up for his earlier gaffe with an incredible grab that sent him head-over-heels into the stands with a crucial play against Ohtani in the 10th to bring the Yankees within an out of victory.

4. Watch your fingers

Torres nearly won the game in the ninth inning with a two-out drive off Michael Kopech that reached the seats … with some help.

The ball was caught by a Dodgers fan, who reached over the wall to make the play. Upon review, fan interference was ruled and Torres returned to second base. The Dodgers then elected to walk Juan Soto, who had reached twice on the night, to get to Aaron Judge with Blake Treinen set to come in. The Dodgers’ decision paid off, as Treinen got an inning-ending popout from Judge, who finished 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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LOS ANGELES — Yankees–Dodgers is a World Series matchup made in history, so it’s fitting that Game 1 was an instant classic. Here are four takeaways from the Dodgers’ 6-3 win in 10 innings.

1. Freddie Freeman delivers a swing for the ages

All he needed was the fist pump.

In a swing reminiscent of Kirk Gibson’s iconic blast in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, Freddie Freeman, unable to play in the last game of the NLCS due to his injured ankle, conjured memories of Gibson’s blast with a walk-off home run in the first game of the 2024 World Series.

Freeman missed both Games 4 and 6 of the NLCS because the issues with his injured ankle, which he had dealt with all postseason, was starting to leak into his swing. In the days leading up to Game 1, however, he said there was no doubt he’d be in the lineup. He had just six hits this October, all singles, prior to Friday night.

He delivered his first extra-base hit of the postseason with a surprising triple off Gerrit Cole in the first, then saved the best for last. With the Dodgers down to their last out in the 10th inning, Freeman delivered the lasting blast in a Game 1 thriller with a grand slam off Nestor Cortes.

2. In battle of Los Angeles products, Giancarlo Stanton delivers

It was clear from Jack Flaherty’s first pitch, a 96.4 mph fastball out of the gate to Gleyber Torres, that this start would be different for the local kid pitching for his hometown team.

Coming off seven scoreless innings in Game 1 of the NLCS, Flaherty didn’t have it his last time out. The Mets tagged him for eight runs in three innings in Game 5. He walked four, didn’t record a strikeout, and perhaps most troublingly saw his fastball velocity descend to 91.4 mph, which he usually attributes to a timing issue.

With a week off to rest and figure out any mechanical tweaks needed, he figured it out.

At least, until another local product unloaded. 

Friday night was setting up for a dream outing for Flaherty, who once dominated the fields of Sherman Oaks Little League. Through five innings, he had bested last year’s American League Cy Young winner, leading 1-0 while going toe-to-toe against Cole.

And then came one gigantic swing from a different Sherman Oaks legend.

Giancarlo Stanton, as he so often has at the stadium he used to attend growing up, authored his own homecoming party.

In 25 career regular-season games at Dodger Stadium, Stanton had a 1.086 OPS. He once hit a ball out of the stadium. Two years ago, he obliterated a 457-foot home run into the left-field pavilion, where he used to sit as a kid hoping to get balls thrown to him from any player roaming the outfield, to earn All-Star Game MVP honors.”

“That Cali air, man,” Stanton quipped before the start of the World Series. “Grew up with it.”

On Friday, there wasn’t any ballpark in the major leagues that would have contained his game-changing shot. Once again, he was the one sending a souvenir to a fan in left field when he tagged a Flaherty curveball 116.6 mph off the bat 412 feet into the sky for a go-ahead two-run shot. There was no doubt about it, as the Yankees slugger continued a torrid October stretch. He has now homered in four straight playoff games and leads all players this postseason with six.

3. With all the focus centered on two patient, powerful offenses, Game 1 was a pitchers’ duel

Flaherty’s fastball wouldn’t sit at 96 mph all night, but even somewhere between 93-94 mph would represent a marked improvement from where it was and plenty to give the Dodgers an opportunity against Cole.

More importantly, he commanded it well, which made his curveball — which got 12 swings and misses — all the more effective against a patient Yankees lineup until Stanton’s blast.

That was all the support Cole needed to depart with a lead after six innings.

It did not appear, from the start, that it would go that way.

Shohei Ohtani crushed the first pitch he saw from Cole 373 feet and 106 mph off the bat, but it died in center field. One batter later, Mookie Betts sent a deep drive that was tracked down at the warning track. Then came the unlikeliest of triples as Freeman, whose right ankle was too hurt to play on in the NLCS clincher, booked it around the bases with some assistance in left field from Alex Verdugo. The Dodgers couldn’t bring Freeman home, but it appeared they were seeing Cole well.

Then the Yankees veteran ace, in his 21st career playoff start, locked in.

Cole retired the next 11 Dodgers batters until another triple, this one off the bat of October sensation Kiké Hernández, who legged it to third after Juan Soto tried to make the catch instead of play the ball off the wall. A sacrifice fly from Will Smith plated the first run of the night. That’s all the Dodgers would scratch across against Cole. After allowing four free passes his last time out in the ALCS, he was not as forgiving against the hardest lineup he has faced this October. He has now allowed two runs or fewer in 14 of his 21 career postseason starts.

The defense behind him, however, continued to offer costly gifts to the opposition.

Cole departed with a lead after Stanton’s sixth-inning blast that lasted until the eighth inning, when Ohtani sent a changeup from Tommy Kahnle off the right-field wall. He should have been held to a double, but Torres misplayed Soto’s throw to second base, allowing Ohtani to take third. The Dodgers, who didn’t have a hit with a runner in scoring position until Freeman’s blast, didn’t need one to score their second run of the night on a game-tying sac fly by Betts.

Verdugo, however, would make up for his earlier gaffe with an incredible grab that sent him head-over-heels into the stands with a crucial play against Ohtani in the 10th to bring the Yankees within an out of victory.

4. Watch your fingers

Torres nearly won the game in the ninth inning with a two-out drive off Michael Kopech that reached the seats … with some help.

The ball was caught by a Dodgers fan, who reached over the wall to make the play. Upon review, fan interference was ruled and Torres returned to second base. The Dodgers then elected to walk Juan Soto, who had reached twice on the night, to get to Aaron Judge with Blake Treinen set to come in. The Dodgers’ decision paid off, as Treinen got an inning-ending popout from Judge, who finished 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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LOS ANGELES — Aaron Judge paused for a moment as he considered a question this week. The Yankees slugger, whose 2022 MVP season was sandwiched in between two from Shohei Ohtani, was asked this week what he admires about his award-winning counterpart “other than the obvious.”

A smile began to form across his face. 

“Other than the obvious?” Judge repeated with a chuckle before continuing. “I feel like everything’s obvious. He hits for average. He hits for power. The speed, doing what he did this year with the 50 stolen bases, it got talked about a lot, but I don’t think it got talked about enough. He’s an impressive athlete, the best player in the game, and what an ambassador for the sport.”

Ohtani said Thursday, a day before he faces off in a star-studded World Series against the man who paid him the compliment, that he was honored by Judge’s words. 

Most years, no one could question Judge’s proclamation. Because most years, no one in the sport could hit a baseball more than 450 feet while spinning a wicked sweeper and firing triple-digit heat off the mound, the way Ohtani can when he’s functioning at full capacity. 

This year, though, with that latter ability removed from the equation, the title of “best player in the game” is at least up for debate. Unable to pitch, Ohtani still offered a compelling case by delivering MLB’s first ever 50/50 season, finishing his first year with the Dodgers with 54 homers and 59 steals. He led all players in runs scored and total bases in a career year offensively and will soon become the first full-time DH to win MVP. 

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series]

“He stays through the zone for such a long time,” Judge said. “Even when you think you got him, you don’t got him.” 

Judge, meanwhile, outpaced Ohtani in every slash line category and led all qualified players in homers, RBIs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, walks and WAR, among a number of statistics. He finished just four home runs shy of the AL-record mark that he set two seasons ago. 

As staggering as his .701 slugging percentage was, Judge’s career-high .322 batting average was just as noteworthy to Ohtani. 

“Although I’m not as tall as him, I can relate to the fact that being a taller, bigger player, your strike zone’s going to be naturally bigger,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “For him to post a high batting average, he has to be very efficient with what he does, so I’m very impressed at how he’s been able to do both — hit for average and hit for power.”

In doing so, Judge has built a strong case as the best player in the sport this season, even if that’s a title he has already ceded to Ohtani, who will finish the year strictly as a DH. (Despite the progress Ohtani has made in his throwing program this year, manager Dave Roberts confirmed Thursday that there’s “no possibility” he pitches in this Fall Classic.) 

With the two stars now in different leagues, though, it’s a distinction that doesn’t need to be made. They both made a run at a triple crown, and they’re both the runaway favorites to win MVP in their respective leagues, which is one of the many facets that sets this star-studded World Series apart. 

“We had our battles throughout the regular season over the years when he was with the Angels,” Judge said. “It was kind of back and forth, seeing him hit homers over my head and having some good series. But getting a chance to be on the biggest stage in the biggest moments, I think that’s going to be pretty cool to watch.” 

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Juan Soto, already a four-time All-Star and World Series champion, turned 26 years old Friday and could make upward of $600 million in a couple of months. Mookie Betts is an eight-time All-Star and former MVP capable of playing either middle infield spot in addition to right field, where he won six Gold Gloves and is back playing after starting the year at shortstop. Freddie Freeman is an MVP, too, a year removed from leading the majors in doubles. Gerrit Cole, last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner, will take the mound Friday at the same venue where his teammate and fellow Southern California native Giancarlo Stanton, another former MVP, was named the 2022 All-Star Game MVP.

If Freeman is able to suit up, as he intends to do on his hobbled ankle Friday at Dodger Stadium, it will mark the first time ever that five MVPs appear in a World Series. It could have been six had a toe injury not sidelined Clayton Kershaw for the season. 

And yet, in this juggernaut championship matchup, the likes of which the sport has never seen, none of those talents are even the most highly-regarded superstars on their respective teams. 

Because this World Series — in addition to featuring the two top seeds in each league, from the two most populous cities in the country, in the first Fall Classic between the Dodgers and Yankees in 43 years — will feature Judge and Ohtani, baseball’s two premier talents on the sport’s pinnacle in a premier matchup that will draw the attention of millions, whether they love or hate the teams they’re watching. 

You’d have to go back to Duke Snider’s Dodgers and Mickey Mantle’s Yankees, back in 1956 when the former team was still in Brooklyn, to find the last time a World Series was played with the home run leader from each league. 

“You’re talking about two of the classic franchises, two teams that have the sport’s biggest stars,” Max Muncy said. “On our team, you’ve got Shohei, Freddie, Mookie. On their team, you’ve got Aaron Judge, Giancarlo, Juan Soto. You’re talking about the absolute biggest stars in the game, and now they’re going to be playing on the biggest stage? As a fan, how special is this, man?”

It’s been 12 years since the presumptive MVPs from each league battled in a World Series, when Buster Posey faced Miguel Cabrera in 2012. That year, both AL wild-card teams had more wins than Cabrera’s Detroit Tigers, while Posey’s San Francisco Giants had the fewest wins of the three NL division winners. 

That won’t be the case when Ohtani’s Dodgers and Judge’s Yankees, the two best teams in the sport this season, meet in the World Series for the first time since 1981. They’re not exact replicas of each other, especially considering the status of the Dodgers’ ravaged starting rotation, but their strategies for offensive success are similar. They homered more than any team in their respective leagues. They also chased less and walked more than any other teams in the majors.  

And they were carried by the most prolific offensive forces in the game. 

“Obviously, I’ve gotten to see Aaron now for seven years, got to know him well,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.  “Just the reverence I have for the person, excited that he’s going to get to go be on this stage. Of course, I know playing against Shohei what an amazing talent he is, and obviously going to the Dodgers this year and having the kind of season he’s put out there, I think it’s great for the sport, great for baseball.”

The Dodgers designated hitter has dominated the sport since coming all the way back from his first Tommy John surgery. He hit 46 homers and went 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA in an MVP 2021 season. Judge followed by passing Roger Maris for an AL-best 62 home runs in an MVP 2022 season. Ohtani answered back last year, still thriving on the mound while enjoying a career year at the plate to earn his second MVP. 

But despite all the success, Ohtani had never been to the playoffs before this year. And Judge, for all that power and production, had never gotten the Yankees to the World Series. He also, to this point, hasn’t replicated his usual offensive output when the calendar flips to October. 

Both have a chance to write new chapters in their prolific careers, the way the Yankees captain imagined when he decided to stay in pinstripes and the way Ohtani envisioned when he joined the Dodgers on a record deal this offseason, a year after winning the World Baseball Classic for Team Japan. 

“He’s such a great ambassador for this game,” Judge said. “He plays the game the right way. You see him hustling around the diamond, I think that sets such a great example for our youth and all the kids that are going to be watching this series. So, definitely looking forward to this.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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The Dodgers‘ superstars have delivered this postseason, at times overwhelming the competition. That advantage might not manifest or be as pronounced in the Fall Classic, as Los Angeles takes on the American League’s top-seeded New York Yankees.

The heavyweight matchup is sure to test the depth of both rosters. Here are five X-factors who could swing the 2024 World Series in the Dodgers’ favor.  

1. Freddie Freeman, first baseman

Freeman said it’ll be “100 percent go” for him in Game 1, though it’s hard to know exactly what to expect. The Dodgers have survived two rounds of the playoffs despite a clearly diminished and hobbled version of their All-Star first baseman, who returned nine days after an ankle sprain and bone bruise that he said would typically require a 4-6 week recovery.

Every step in the NLDS and NLCS appeared labored. When he managed to truck home from second to score a run in Game 1 of the NLCS, he needed Mookie Betts to catch him after crossing home plate. It’s the only run he has scored this postseason. He has gritted through the pain to start eight playoff games, serving as a source of inspiration within the clubhouse in the process, but he has finished only three of them. He missed two of the last three games of the NLCS, including the deciding Game 6.

RELATED: Yankees’ 5 biggest X-factors vs. Dodgers in 2024 World Series

Though he began the playoffs 6-for-17, all six of those hits were singles. He then went 1-for-15 over his final three games of the NLCS. Manager Dave Roberts noted that Freeman’s ankle appeared to be compromising his swing the longer the series progressed. If the week off can have him looking more like himself at the plate, it would be a gigantic boost to a juggernaut Dodgers offense that just set an NLCS record with 46 runs against the Mets.

2. Walker Buehler, starting pitcher

This year has been a grind for Buehler, who hasn’t missed bats or commanded the baseball the way we’re accustomed to seeing in his return from a second Tommy John surgery. A strikeout rate that hovered above 26% in each of his first five seasons in the big leagues was down to a career-low 18.6% this year, and his 5.38 ERA told the story of a pitcher who could no longer overpower his opponents.

But after a lengthy search to find his mechanics, something seemed to click for him in a bullpen session in late August. He was far from perfect after that, but a 4.35 ERA over his final six regular-season starts represented a substantial improvement — enough for him to earn a spot in the club’s beleaguered playoff rotation. That, plus the Dodgers trusted his postseason pedigree. In 2018, he clinched the NL West for the Dodgers by winning a Game 163 tiebreaker, then threw seven scoreless innings in the World Series. Two years later, he struck out 10 in his lone start of the World Series to help the Dodgers best the Rays.

RELATED: Yankees-Dodgers: Ranking the 24 best players of the 2024 World Series

The bigger the game, the more he tends to rise to the occasion. In his last start of the 2024 regular season, Buehler was on the mound as the Dodgers clinched the division against the Padres. His first start of the postseason looked worse than the six runs in the box score displayed, as he was let down by his defense. In his last start, he found success with his breaking balls and struck out six Mets batters in four scoreless innings while getting 18 whiffs — his most in a game since the 2021 season. That’s a version of Buehler that could win a World Series game and end a sour season on a sweet note before he hits free agency.

3. Kiké Hernández, second baseman

Ever since Hernández started visualizing his postseason success in the 2017 NLCS, when he launched three homers in the game that would send the Dodgers to the World Series, he has been one of baseball’s best postseason performers. This year is no exception.

Really, though, his upward trend this year began shortly after the All-Star break, when he was diagnosed with astigmatism in his right eye and began wearing prescription glasses on the field. He had a .766 OPS in the second half and has carried that crescendo into another extraordinary October. He went from not starting any of the Dodgers’ first three games of the postseason to being a mainstay in the starting lineup after Miguel Rojas went out with injury, homering in a do-or-die Game 5 of the NLDS, going deep again in Game 3 of the NLCS, and hitting .303 overall this postseason. In his regular-season career, he has homered once every 29 at-bats. In his postseason career, he’s homering twice as often — about once every 14 at-bats. 

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Even if Rojas and Gavin Lux are healthy enough to play in the World Series, the Dodgers might have to continue starting Hernández every night, considering the way he has performed. He transforms into an entirely different force this time of year, and odds are he’ll add another defining moment at some point this series.

4. Will Smith, catcher

While Yankees rookie catcher Austin Wells is getting his first taste of the playoffs, Smith is a seasoned veteran this time of year. Smith enjoyed some huge moments in postseasons past, including a home run in Game 5 of the 2020 NLCS against the Braves reliever who shared his same name, a hit that might have saved the Dodgers’ season en route to a 3-1 comeback in the series and a World Series triumph. There was no question at the All-Star break that Smith and Brewers catcher William Contreras were the two best players at their position in the National League.

RELATED: How Yankees, Dodgers should pitch to each other’s stars: Smoltz’s World Series preview

Since then, though, Smith has endured some uncharacteristic struggles. His .838 OPS in the first half was more than 200 points lower the rest of the way. Those struggles continued into October. He enters the World Series hitting .158 this postseason. However, two of his six hits have left the yard, including a home run in the NLCS clincher that could help get the scuffling catcher back on track. He has been one of the best hitters at his position since entering the league in 2019, and his experience and poise in these spots could prove useful.

5. Tommy Edman, shortstop

There was a lot of attention at the All-Star break on the additions of Jack Flaherty and Michael Kopech, considering the way they could help lift the Dodgers’ depleted pitching staff. But it was a more under-the-radar acquisition who became the NLCS MVP. In Edman, the Dodgers added a versatile defensive piece who, at the time of the deadline, had not yet played a game this season as he rehabbed a surgically-repaired wrist and an ankle injury. His ability to play both center field and shortstop was additive to a Dodgers team that needed help at both spots.

RELATED: Who makes Yankees’, Dodgers’ all-time World Series starting lineups?

It then became essential with starting shortstop Miguel Rojas banged up in October. What Edman has provided with his bat, though, has been the surprise. He led all players in the LCS with 11 hits and tied Corey Seager’s NLCS franchise record with 11 RBIs. If a left-hander’s on the mound, Edman is a force. The switch-hitter had a 1.299 OPS against southpaws this year compared to a .523 mark against righties. He went 7-for-12 with four extra-base hits against lefties in the NLCS, taking advantage of his opportunities against left-handed starters Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana, while he was 4-for-15 with no extra-base hits against righties. While he could struggle against the Yankees’ more right-handed heavy rotation, Edman’s matchup against the left-handed Carlos Rodón will be one to watch.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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