LOS ANGELES—Major League Baseball and its broadcast partners have exactly what they want in the upcoming World Series: the New York Yankees vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The biggest TV markets on the East Coast vs. the biggest on the West Coast.
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Aaron Judge vs. Shohei Ohtani, the game’s two biggest stars, both presumptive league MVPs, who will grace the Fall Classic for the first time.
“I really feel like we finally arrived, I finally arrived at this stage,” Ohtani said Sunday night at Dodger Stadium.
The clubs are the two top-priced teams, according to Sportico’s own most recent valuations. They are among the top revenue generators and biggest spenders.
To get to the best-of-seven World Series beginning Friday evening at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers eliminated the New York Mets, 10-5, in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series on Sunday, using an opener and six relievers. The Yankees had previously defeated Cleveland in Game 5 on Saturday night to wrap up the American League championship.
The Yankees are going to the World Series for the 41st time and have won 27 of them. The Dodgers have won it all six times. It’s the 12th time the Yanks will be facing the Dodgers in the World Series, but first since 1981. New York has won eight of the first 11 between the two teams.
Mark Walter and Guggenheim Baseball bought the Dodgers from Frank McCourt in 2012 for $2.15 billion. The club is worth $6.3 billion now, second in Major League Baseball behind the Yanks at $7.93 billion. The Mets team they beat is worth $2.91 billion.
“This feels great, but we still need four more wins,” Walter said on the field at Dodger Stadium after accepting the Warren Giles Trophy for winning the NL pennant.
The club’s value has increased by 20% just since 2023 when they generated a second-in-MLB $637 million in revenue, again just behind the Yankees, who earned $720 million.
Both teams spared little expense to get this far. The Dodgers spent $339.8 million on player payroll this season, second in MLB and about $11 million behind the top-spending Mets. The Yankees were third at $314.7 million.
In the offseason, LA spent $1.025 billion sign on free agents Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ohtani for 10 years at $700 million with $680 million of it deferred, Yamamoto for 12 years at $325 million.
“The goal was to get this far,” Ohtani said. “And I also pictured myself getting this far with the contract that I signed. … All the games were really…