No more cute underdog stories. The World Series is here and the Goliaths are set to battle for the trophy. It’s a marquee match-up — at least in the line-ups — with the game’s presumptive league MVPs set to square off. There’s a lot to be excited about, even if this series is missing those premier starting pitching match-ups that October classics have been built on.

The last time the Yankees were in a World Series, bullpen games weren’t a thing, Sully Sullenberger was landing jet planes in the Hudson River, and Derek Jeter was still five years away from retirement. The Dodgers haven’t won a World Series with fans at full capacity in the stands since people made their crushes mix tapes, the disks were still floppy, Kirk Gibson hobbled around first base and Orel Hershiser became allergic to allowing runs. This World Series match-up of coastal behemoths may have seemed inevitable but it has, in fact, been a rarity in the expanded playoff era.

For the last time in 2024, our panel of experts will look deep in their crystal balls to see which blue blood MLB franchise will be crowned the king of baseball. Here are our picks…

(Note: Playoff seed in brackets)

New York Yankees (1) vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (1)

Eno Sarris (Yankees): The Yankees seemingly have three Babe Ruths in the lineup. The longer this series goes, and the more times they see those Dodgers relievers, the more likely it is that they will break through and put some big numbers on the board.

Zack Meisel (Dodgers): Rob Manfred’s October dream won’t end until Shohei Ohtani delivers a walk-off hit in Game 7.

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Sam Blum (Yankees): The Dodgers have a very good bullpen, but they’ve been relied on so much. And their relievers will be needed even more in this World Series. That usage hasn’t caught up to them yet, but it stands to reason that, in this series, it will.

Jen McCaffrey (Dodgers): Their offenses are both juggernauts and their rotations are both flawed. The bullpen is always relied on more heavily in the postseason and the Dodgers have the edge there. In what figures to be a tight series, the Dodgers seem to have a slight advantage, but it won’t be easy.

Kaitlyn McGrath (Yankees): This series feels like a toss-up. It’s two teams, full of stars, that are relatively evenly matched. The Yankees might have the edge pitching-wise, and I’m predicting that Aaron Judge will bust out of this postseason slump and be the difference-maker on the biggest stage.

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C. Trent Rosecrans (Dodgers): It’s the depth of the lineup. There are so many questions with each team about where the innings come from on the mound that, in the end, I’m going with the offense and the Dodgers’ lineup is longer. In the end, runs win games and the Dodgers can put up a ton of runs.

Keith Law (Yankees): I think the Yankees enter the World Series a much healthier team, and I think their offense will be too much for the Dodgers’ bullpen games — which in turn might spill over into games where the Dodgers’ regular starter can’t work deep into the outing because the Yankees’ lineup is so patient.

Brittany Ghiroli (Yankees): This seems like a coin flip of a series to me, and it would be amazing to end an incredible playoff month with a World Series that goes to seven games. I do think the Yankees’ rotation edge is significant, especially as bullpens start to wear down from being push to the brink again and again. Dave Roberts may be doing his best managerial work to date. If we’re lucky, we’ll get an epic clash across coasts. Still, give me New York in seven, complete with Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani exchanging blows and Juan Soto adding zeroes to next year’s paycheck.

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Brendan Kuty (Yankees): The Yankees have better pitching and Giancarlo Stanton is going to go off playing at Dodger Stadium, not far from where he grew up.

Andy McCullough (Dodgers): The four-day layoff could be huge for the Dodgers, if key relievers Alex Vesia and Brusdar Graterol have time to recover from injuries. The Dodgers can use Yoshinobu Yamamoto twice in this series, unlike in the NLCS against the Mets. With a better rested pitching staff, the group should be able to subdue the Yankees. But it should be fun!

Tyler Kepner (Yankees): While the Dodgers have a much more dangerous offense than Cleveland, their pitching sets up the same way: minimal starting and a lot of bullpening. The Yankees broke the Guardians’ formula, and they’ll do it again to the Dodgers.

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Will Sammon (Yankees): The Dodgers’ pitching situation looked concerning during the NLCS. Can they continue to expertly shield top relievers from exposure and high workloads while doing more bullpen games? Against a Yankees lineup featuring these sluggers?

Sahadev Sharma (Yankees): The Dodgers run out of pitching and Yankees will barely have enough to get by.

Chandler Rome (Dodgers): The Dodgers have traveled the more difficult path while displaying more depth in both their lineup and bullpen. An extra five days of rest for Freddie Freeman will only help, too.

Stephen Nesbitt (Yankees): This is the best team in the American League against the best team in the National League. We’re splitting hairs with any comparison. Both lineups are loaded. Both pitching staffs are supremely talented, and undeniably flawed. It just feels like there’s no other way Juan Soto’s first (only?) season in the Bronx will end — with him raising the World Series MVP trophy.

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Patrick Mooney (Yankees): This World Series is a total coin flip.

Steve Berman (Dodgers): We heard about all of L.A.’s supposed problems, particularly the health questions about Freddie Freeman and the rotation as the postseason drew near. Then the October games started and none of it mattered — every time you looked up, Dodgers were sprinting around the bases and doing that silly arm-wave thing. Since the Yankees’ rotation isn’t overwhelmingly dominant, it’s tough to see why we should expect that to change.

Ken Rosenthal (Yankees): The Yankees have more stable pitching.

Noah Furtado (Dodgers): They have Shohei Ohtani.

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(Photo of Mookie Betts batting against Luis Gil: Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)