John Flaherty accurately predicted that the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees would meet in the 2024 World Series almost a year before the clash happened.
Back in December 2023, with the MLB offseason well underway, Flaherty and his co-hosts were asked about their season prediction and who would win the MVP of the series. Considering the star power of both teams, it would be difficult to pick one player from each team to fight for the award.
However, Flaherty did so, choosing to pit Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge against one another. Speaking to his co-hosts back in December, the YES Network analyst described what he expected to happen in the World Series 10 months from that time.
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“My prediction: Yankees are going to go to the World Series,” he began. “They’re going to face the Los Angeles Dodgers. Your buddy Ohtani, who you just talked about being in the National League. Aaron Judge and Ohtani are going to go back and forth for the MVP of the World Series.
“I’m feeling a little nostalgic tonight. I love Red Sox-Yankees, I love Dodgers-Yankees in the World Series. It brings me back to my childhood in the 70s.” And while his prediction for the World Series matchup was correct, his thoughts on who the World Series MVP would be have been a swing and a miss.
While Ohtani and Judge are the frontrunners to win the MVP in their respective leagues, their performances in the World Series have left much to be desired. Through three games, both stars are hitting under .100, a dismal number, especially on the biggest stage in the sport.
In 12 at-bats, Judge has one hit, one walk, and seven strikeouts, good for a .083 average. It appears as if the Dodgers pitching staff has ramped up their use of offspeed and breaking pitches, as Judge is hitting just .071 on those types of pitches in the playoffs.
If Judge gets a fastball, he does damage, hitting .364 with a 1.429 OPS, per ESPN. Considering how vulnerable he looks at the plate, it stands to reason that Los Angeles will keep throwing him anything but a fastball to see if he can adjust.
On the Dodgers side, Ohtani is hitting .091 with one double, two walks, and three strikeouts. Much like Judge’s conundrum, the Yankees are being extremely cautious when it comes to pitching to Ohtani as his immense power makes one bad pitch a souvenir item in record time.
However, part of Ohtani’s struggles could be attributed to his recent shoulder injury. Late in Game 2 in Los Angeles, Ohtani was caught stealing and after the inning ended, the Japanese star lay on the dirt, clutching his left arm.
Soon after, it was revealed that he partially dislocated his shoulder and his status for the rest of the series was left in question. After further testing, Ohtani was inserted back into the lineup in Game 3 and drew a walk in his first plate appearance.
Freddie Freeman then brought home Ohtani on a two-run home run in the first inning. Of note, Freeman has hit a home run in five straight World Series games, with three coming this year, further cementing his spot as the frontrunner for World Series MVP.
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