Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani make Yankees-Dodgers World Series a dream matchup
Aaron Judge (left) and Shohei Ohtani will have the world's attention during the World Series. Credit: Jim McIsaac; AP/Julio Cortez
LOS ANGELES — In the Bronx corner, wearing pinstripes, is Aaron Judge, the 6-7 larger-than-life, homegrown Yankees slugging machine who hails from Linden, California, a small town just outside the Bay Area.
And representing Chavez Ravine, in Dodger Blue, is Shohei Ohtani, the 6-4 unicorn, the first of his kind since, ironically enough, Babe Ruth. He became the sport’s first member of the 50-50 club this season and is the pride of Oshu, Japan, a mountainous city roughly four hours north of Tokyo by train.
The 120th World Series, which begins with Friday night’s Game 1 in Los Angeles, is a showdown between the Yankees and Dodgers — baseball’s most storied franchises, two former New York rivals and the true Goliaths of the game. It’s MLB’s dream matchup, a TV ratings bonanza with the richest re-sale ticket prices the Fall Classic has ever seen.
But ask anybody across the globe what’s getting them to tune in, or shell out big bucks for a ticket, and you won’t necessarily hear Yankees vs. Dodgers.
It’s Judge vs. Ohtani.
Baseball easily lends itself to boxing analogies. Innings are similar to rounds, and a game-deciding home run is often described as a knockout blow.
But rarely do we get a prize fight like this: Judge, the likely American League MVP, trading swings with Ohtani, who should be close to a lock for MVP of the National League. No one hit more homers than Judge’s 58 this season, but Ohtani wasn’t far behind with 54. Judge led the majors with 144 RBIs and Ohtani was next at 130.
Slugging percentage? Judge was No. 1 at .701, followed by Ohtani’s .646. Thumb through most offensive categories and you’ll find these two at the summit, even for the Statcast crowd: Judge is tops for average exit velocity with 96.2 mph, Ohtani is next at 95.8.
MLB’s cutest dogs? Judge has a dachshund named “Gus” who occasionally can be spotted frolicking in the Yankee Stadium grass with his owner. Ohtani has “Decoy,” a Dutch kooikerhondje who regularly attends games with Shohei’s wife, Mamiko. Decoy also has thrown out a first pitch and has his own bobblehead, which is going for $500 on eBay (the gold-colored version is up to $11,000).
Anyway, you get the idea.
There is one notable distinction, however. With Ohtani limited to DH duties as he rehabs from last year’s Tommy John surgery, Judge — the Yankees’ everyday centerfielder — earned a sizable edge in the FanGraphs’ calculation of WAR, outpacing Ohtani 11.2 to 9.1 (Royals shortstop Bobby Witt ranked second at 10.4).
Still, that didn’t stop Judge from leading the majors in humility when asked earlier this week what he admires about Ohtani.
“Other than the obvious?” Judge said, smiling. “I feel like everything’s obvious. Hits for average, hits for power, the speed, doing what he did this year with the [59] stolen bases — that 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. What an ambassador for the sport.”
It was a magnanimous statement by Judge, as plenty of people would make a case for the Yankees’ captain, particularly in a year when Ohtani isn’t a member of the Dodgers’ rotation. But that’s the beauty of this World Series. What happens during this next week could break the tie, maybe sway fans in the Ohtani camp to Judge’s side, or vice versa. And up to this point, neither MVP has been the brightest star on the two pennant-winners.
Judge enters this World Series hitting .161 (5-for-31) with two homers, six RBIs, 13 strikeouts and a .704 OPS through nine postseason games. What everyone thought was Judge’s signature playoff moment came in Game 3 of the ALCS with his tying two-run homer in the eighth inning, but the Yankees’ bullpen implosion turned that into a footnote.
Instead, it was Juan Soto who hit the clinching 10th-inning blast in Game 5 that sent the Yankees to the Fall Classic, and Giancarlo Stanton earned ALCS MVP honors — each of his four hits were homers — as Judge took a back seat for his first career World Series trip. When the curtain goes up Friday night against Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty, we wouldn’t expect that to continue.
“The journey is always a tough one,” Judge said. “But I think that’s the fun in all this — enjoying the good times, the bad times, learning from them, trying to improve from them so you can get to this point. Now getting to this point, this is where the real fun starts.”
Ohtani, running neck-and-neck with Judge all season, also got off to a slow start in his first October trip after missing the playoffs during his first six years with the Angels. But he rebounded in the NLCS win over the Mets, getting up to .286 (12-for-42) with three homers, 10 RBIs and a .934 OPS through 11 games.
For all of Judge’s attention playing for the Yankees, Ohtani carries the weight of two baseball-crazed populations on his back every time he steps to the plate — Japan as well as Dodgers Nation — and that’s easy to forget until you’re in the same zip code with him. The stands are packed with Ohtani’s No.17 jerseys, and after games, he’s surrounded by a media crowd in the triple-digits.
Like Judge, Ohtani has a flair for the dramatic. Closing fast on the 50-50 threshold toward the end of the regular season, he put the pedal down and delivered an epic performance, going 6-for-6 with three homers, two stolen bases and 10 RBIs in a 20-4 rout of the Marlins.
This World Series — and the possibility of being a champion with the Dodgers — also has the potential to unleash an Ohtani the world hasn’t seen yet.
“I feel like we finally arrived,” he said through his interpreter, “and I finally arrived at this stage.”
Now that stage is set. Yankees vs. Dodgers. Judge vs. Ohtani.
Truly a World Series befitting its name. Because people from all over the planet will be watching.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.