The 2024 World Series kicks off at 8 PM EDT, 5 PM PDT on Over the Air Fox. Gerrit Cole takes the mound for the Yankees against Jack Flaherty of the Dodgers.

Cole owns an impressive post-season record, 11-6 in twenty starts for Pittsburgh, Houston, and New York. That record comes thanks to a 2.98 ERA in 120 2/3 innings. He struck out 146 batters and walked just 32. Keeping a very selective Dodgers team from earning free passes will likely be an important skill for the Yankees staff in this post-season. With the Yankees he stands 5-2 with a 3.44 ERA in ten starts, but with equally impressive K and BB numbers.

Mookie Betts hit Cole well in his regular season career, six for fourteen, all singles. Freddy Freeman is seven for twenty with three doubles and a home run, but his ankle injury appears to have hurt his power. Ohtani stands four for 20 with a double and a home run, as well as a walk and seven strikeouts. Teoscar Hernandez is just 5 for 26 with two walks and seven K.

Flaherty stands two and five in the post season with a 4.91 ERA. That’s not a constant number, however. Flaherty tends to have very good starts or very poor starts, and that was on display in the NLCS. He shutout the Mets for seven innings in game one, then got smoked for eight runs in game five.

Juan Soto stands one for eight against Flaherty, but with five walks and a double. Anthony Rizzo is easily the best hitter against him, 9 for 21 with a double, three home runs, and five walks. Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge appear to have never faced Flaherty.

I suspect this will be the most watched World Series in a long time. While there are plenty of people who might not watch because of the teams involved, Ohtani and Judge sell a lot of jerseys, a sign of fan popularly . MLB, accused for years of not promoting players, has made the most of Ohtani’s unique skill set. People also tend to be very curious about someone who makes that much money! Fifty home runs season remain rare, with on 50 in the 105 seasons since Babe Ruth first broke the barrier in 1920. Judge own three of those, and Ohtani one. It the type of matchup that should bring in fans from areas outside Los Angeles and New York.

One top of that, the teams have two huge fan bases. It’s been a good year so far for the TV ratings, and I don’t see that going away with this series, especially if it is close. No records, but likely much higher than in recent years.