Sports
Rob Manfred finally got his marquee World Series. Here’s how he plans to capitalize
This World Series gives baseball a chance to reclaim its own moniker, for the national pastime to again be national. And maybe even more.
Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball’s commissioner, has been gifted a marketer’s dream. Two of the sport’s most iconic brands, the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, are squaring off in the best-of-seven championship round. Those metropolitan areas happen to carry more television viewers than any other in the country, and their teams are wildly good.
Now in his 10th season leading the sport, Manfred believes baseball is positioned to capitalize on the moment, to propel Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers and Aaron Judge of the Yankees further into the sporting fan’s consciousness.
“This is trying to market to the whole nation and internationally, and it is different than what has been done in the past,” Manfred said in an interview with The Athletic.
A surreal collection of talent will be on display at Dodger Stadium when the series begins Friday. Ohtani, of Japan, enraptured at least two countries this season by becoming the first player to reach 50 home runs and steal 50 bases. Judge hit 60 home runs two years ago and he fell just two short of the mark this year. But Los Angeles’ Mookie Betts might be the game’s most complete player not named Ohtani, and the young Yankees slugger Juan Soto could command a $500 million or even $600 million contract as a free agent this winter.
“There’s a lot to capitalize on here,” said Jim Andrews, a sports sponsorship expert and founder of A-Mark Strategies. “It comes down to the very specific execution. How do you literally produce the right content on the right channels? The core fans are probably very excited for a lot of reasons. But how do you use this opportunity to bring in new fans? That, I think, is the key.”
Manfred and baseball’s teams have long been told they fall short in promoting their stars. On Wednesday, he said that some of that criticism has been fair, and some of it hasn’t.
“When you hear something enough, I think it takes a certain level of arrogance to ignore it, and it certainly was something that was being said,” Manfred said. “As a result, I paid attention to it. It’s a question of focus. The clubs locally did a lot of marketing, and we relied on that local marketing. I think what I’m talking about here is an entirely different focus.”
Manfred outlined four main pieces to the league’s plan to wrangle hearts and minds, with some crossover.
The first is leaning into the obvious: the players. One campaign features Judge and Ohtani with the tagline, “Once in a Generation. Twice.” There’s league content designed around them individually — “All Rise” for Judge, “Sho Time” for Ohtani — as well as others, distributed everywhere from social media and TV, to out-of-home billboards and signage.
The second effort isn’t surprising either, an acknowledgment of history.
“Joe DiMaggio and Jackie Robinson played against each other in a Yankee-Dodger World Series. So did Mickey Mantle and Sandy Koufax,” Manfred said. “This one is a continuation.”
Both Manfred and Clayton Kershaw stand to benefit from the Dodgers making it back to the World Series. (Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
The third goes overseas. The most-watched MLB postseason game in Japan all-time was earlier this posteason, in the Dodgers’ decisive Game 5 win over the San Diego Padres in the National League Division Series. More estimated average viewers watched the game in Japan on TV, 12.9 million, than in the U.S. One of the two starting pitchers from that game, Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers, is set to pitch Game 2 of the World Series.
“I think our ratings in Japan are going to be awesome,” Manfred said. “That’s an important market where you can make real money.”
Earlier in the postseason, MLB took out 113 billboard ads around Tokyo, a nod to the combined number of home runs and stolen bases Ohtani reached.
And the fourth part of the league’s plan is domestic, built around a hope that the World Series is regarded as more than just a bicoastal, big-city party.
“We’re in a lot of non-LA, non-New York markets promoting. We got a thing going in Las Vegas at the Sphere,” Manfred said. “Why are we doing that? That’s part of, we want the World Series to be an event where people across America, not just in the two cities, are watching.”
A through-line in the effort is an attempt to focus on younger fans via social media and music, to meet fans where they are. MLB worked with El Alfa, a Dominican music artist, to create a song about Soto heading into the playoffs. Andrews said social media is an area where MLB has historically lagged behind the NBA and NFL.
Last year’s World Series, between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers, did not present the same opportunity. But once any match-up is set, there’s a limit to how much MLB can newly devise to power a series, Andrews said. Success is largely a test of plans already in place.
In that vein, Jon Einalhori, vice president of marketing for the player agency Apex, believes the Series can go so far as to revitalize the game.
“No, it’s not hyperbolic, because there really is an opportunity here,” said Einalhori, who represents several of the series’ participants. “You look at all the data on how many fans came through, the TV ratings, the eyeballs, the social-media impressions, there’s trends going upwards. Everything’s been building up for years.”
The league said the median age of ticket purchasers had dropped to from 51 to 46. FOX, which broadcasts the World Series, has seen a 39 percent increase in the 18 to 34 demographic for this postseason compared to last year, their best since 2017.
SponsorUnited, a platform that tracks sponsorships across sports, published a report Thursday that said the number of Japanese brands in MLB stadiums has risen 218 percent in two seasons, a development tied at least in part to Ohtani’s stardom.
The Dodgers and the Yankees combined for an estimated $300 million in sponsorship revenue this year, which makes for a big-money match-up in ways other than payroll. SponsorUnited’s founder, Bob Lynch, described their meeting as the “equivalent of the Dallas Cowboys competing against the Golden State Warriors: two entities that generate more sponsorship revenues combined than any other two that have ever played each other, in the U.S.”
“The way I look at this World Series is that we’ve had two really good years in a row,” Manfred said. “Attendance is up, our ratings are good, our demographics — both ticket purchasing and broadcast audience — are really improving. … And I think that this World Series provides an opportunity to appeal to a national audience because of the matchup and the players involved.”
The start of the 2023 season is a line of demarcation. Manfred bucked traditionalists and introduced a pitch clock, forcing faster game action and making games snappier.
Lynch said too that he’s noticed the league has boosted its own internal business operations, which advise the clubs. MLB teams saw a collective 20 percent increase in sponsorship revenue this season.
“They had an amazingly successful season off the field,” Lynch said. “This is a lucky culmination of a great year in business.”
Not everything will be in MLB’s control for the next eight days, the maximum amount of time the series can run. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Einalhori said he understands MLB is being flooded with requests from celebrities to attend the games.
“You’re going to have hundreds of millions, if not — I kid you not — billions of social-media impressions from outside the baseball sphere,” Einalhori said. “That’s the most immeasurable thing I think as far as capitalizing, but it’s probably going to bring the most value.”
FOX also will have a large say in how the game is received. From the presidential election, college football and NFL and now NBA seasons, it’s a crowded news cycle baseball has to break through, Andrews said.
“Clearly, your broadcast partner needs to be helping you out,” he said.
MLB and FOX did give consideration to one special accommodation that didn’t wind up being necessary.
For the first time this year, the World Series had two possible start dates: Oct. 25, or Oct. 22. The earlier date would have helped avoid a long layoff if both series of the prior round, the National League and American League Championship Series, finished in five games or fewer.
But when both the Dodgers and the Yankees were both entering their fifth game with a chance to close out that round, MLB and FOX considered keeping the World Series on the later schedule anyway, so it could marinate.
“That was really, in large measure, driven by the desire of our broadcast partners to have a little more time to sell,” Manfred said of the discussion.
In the end, because the Dodgers needed six games to advance, the conversation was moot. But an L.A.-New York meeting is a boon for FOX, which is tapping into fan bases from the two most populous cities in the country.
Naturally, some fans in smaller markets will in turn complain that those teams, and their large payrolls, are the last two standing. But Manfred defended the state of competition and parity across the sport.
“Our record on competitive balance is darn good,” Manfred said. “I just don’t think you can scream about the Yankees and the Dodgers given the matchups that we’ve had in recent years.”
In this hallmark World Series, Manfred said “long term efforts are starting to bear a lot of fruit.” Quickly, the question will be how long it can stay ripe. MLB in coming years may try to launch a national streaming package with a major digital company. How much money it can make from those media rights will depend on how well it commands attention across the country.
“The NFL has just done such an amazing job of really creating year-round content and things to talk about, whereas baseball tends to fade away in the depths of winter until spring training starts,” Andrews said. “Lean into your socials and say, we’ve got these stories of, ‘Hey, if you missed it, here’s a reminder of all of the exciting stuff that happened last fall, and make sure you don’t miss out in 2025.’”
(Illustration by Meech Robinson / The Athletic; Photos: Heather Barry, Todd Kirkland, Rob Tringali, Kevork Djansezian /Getty Images)
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The group stage is the first step toward World Cup glory.
All 48 nations playing in the 2026 FIFA World Cup have been divided into 12 groups (labeled A-L) of four teams.
With the expanded knockout format of 32 teams advancing past the group stage, winning the group has become more important than ever.
After Germany’s dominant 7-1 win over Curaçao, its odds to win Group E have increased from -210 to -320. Getting three points, combined with gaining a +6 goal differential, has put them in an ideal position after matchday 1.
Ivory Coast also made up a ton of ground after its 1-0 win over Ecuador on Sunday, seeing its odds to win Group E climb from +550 to +260.
Additionally, the U.S. men’s national team’s odds to win Group D saw major movement after its 4-1 win over Paraguay.
USA’s group odds continued to spike after Australia’s upset over Türkiye on Saturday night. Because Türkiye originally had the second-best odds to win the group, their loss had a major impact on the outlook of Group D.
The Stars and Stripes are now -210 to win their group.
Not only did USA’s odds jump, but Australia’s odds to win Group D skyrocketed from +1200 to +300 after its win.
The two nations will play next Friday night at Seattle Stadium for sole possession of first in the group.
Let’s check out the latest odds for all 12 groups at FanDuel Sportsbook, as of June 14.
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Group A winner
Mexico: -165 (bet $10 to win $16.06 total)
South Korea: +170 (bet $10 to win $27 total)
Czechia: +1600 (bet $10 to win $170 total)
South Africa: +8000 (bet $10 to win $810 total)
Group B winner
Switzerland: +110 (bet $10 to win $21 total)
Canada: +160 (bet $10 to win $26 total)
Bosnia: +440 (bet $10 to win $54 total)
Qatar: +2700 (bet $10 to win $280 total)
Group C winner
Brazil: -165 (bet $10 to win $16.06 total)
Morocco: +240 (bet $10 to win $34 total)
Scotland: +600 (bet $10 to win $70 total)
Haiti: +15000 (bet $10 to win $1,510 total)
Group D winner
USA: -220 (bet $10 to win $14.55 total)
Australia: +340 (bet $10 to win $44 total)
Türkiye: +700 (bet $10 to win $710 total)
Paraguay: +3000 (bet $10 to win $310 total)
Group E winner
Germany: -320 (bet $10 to win $13.13 total)
Ivory Coast: +260 (bet $10 to win $36 total)
Ecuador: +1400 (bet $10 to win $150 total)
Curaçao: +35000 (bet $10 to win $3,510 total)
Group F winner
Netherlands: +100 (bet $10 to win $20 total)
Japan: +230 (bet $10 to win $33 total)
Sweden: +370 (bet $10 to win $47 total)
Tunisia: +1200 (bet $10 to win $130 total)
Group G winner
Belgium: -260 (bet $10 to win $13.85 total)
Egypt: +480 (bet $10 to win $58 total)
Iran: +700 (bet $10 to win $80 total)
New Zealand: +2200 (bet $10 to win $230 total)
Group H winner
Spain: -475 (bet $10 to win $12.11 total)
Uruguay: +440 (bet $10 to win $54 total)
Saudi Arabia: +5000 (bet $10 to win $510 total)
Cape Verde: +5500 (bet $10 to win $560 total)
Group I winner
France: -230 (bet $10 to win $14.35 total)
Norway: +300 (bet $10 to win $40 total)
Senegal: +750 (bet $10 to win $85 total)
Iraq: +10000 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Group J winner
Argentina: -260 (bet $10 to win $13.85 total)
Austria: +380 (bet $10 to win $48 total)
Algeria: +750 (bet $10 to win $85 total)
Jordan: +7000 (bet $10 to win $710 total)
Group K winner
Portugal: -210 (bet $10 to win $14.76 total)
Colombia: +220 (bet $10 to win $32 total)
DR Congo: +2000 (bet $10 to win $210 total)
Uzbekistan: +2700 (bet $10 to win $280 total)
Group L winner
England: -260 (bet $10 to win $13.85 total)
Croatia: +340 (bet $10 to win $44 total)
Ghana: +1200 (bet $10 to win $130 total)
Panama: +3000 (bet $10 to win $310 total)
CHICAGO — Dodgers left-hander Jack Dreyer rubbed a new baseball between his hands as he walked back to the mound, a sold-out Rate Field coming alive around him.
Fireworks crackled over the center-field scoreboard. Digital pinwheels spun. Dreyer had just surrendered his second home run of the inning, transforming a low-scoring battle into a lopsided White Sox advantage.
The Dodgers’ recent bullpen problems persisted in a 6-4 loss Sunday, overshadowing a bounce-back effort from Emmet Sheehan. The Dodgers tried to come back in the ninth, but fell short.
“We’ve gotten bit by the long ball, obviously in Pittsburgh, and here tonight,” said bench coach Danny Lehmann, filling in Sunday for manager Dave Roberts while he attended his daughter’s college graduation. “But overall, it’s more the strike throwing and just getting ahead of guys and doing what they’re supposed to do.”
The Dodgers dropped the series 2-1, marking their first series loss since May 8-10 against the Braves.
Sheehan was charged with three runs in five-plus innings, a massive turnaround coming off the second-shortest start of his career, only rivaled by a planned one-inning outing at the end of last season.
Against the Angels last week, Sheehan threw 49 pitches and recorded just four outs before being pulled.
On Sunday, he didn’t give up a hit until the fourth inning.
“He got strike one and then understood when to leave the zone when he needed to,” catcher Dalton Rushing said. “He did a great job of that. I think a couple of those guys picked up on tendencies, jumped on a pitch. I felt they were good pitches. I thought he did his job today and gave us a chance to win.”
Sheehan’s velocity has been an indicator of how synced up his delivery has been on any given start this season.
On Sunday, his 95.1-mph average fastball velocity was 0.7 mph above his season average, according to Statcast — a promising sign. Results followed.
Sheehan retired 11 of the first 12 batters he faced, just a hit batter away from perfection. With two outs in the fourth, he gave up a double to Colson Montgomery, on a low line drive up the first-base line, just out of reach of Freddie Freeman as he made a diving attempt.
Dodgers starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan delivers against the Chicago White Sox in the first inning Sunday.
(Nam Y. Huh / Associated Press)
Then against Braden Montgomery, Sheehan worked back from a 2-1 count for an inning-ending strikeout.
Out of Sheehan’s hand, the pitch looked like it was going to cross the plate on the inside corner, about belt high. But as Montgomery started his swing, the firm changeup veered away from his bat at a sharp downward angle.
Montgomery swung over the pitch. A fired-up Sheehan buried his fist in his glove and shouted. With that strikeout, he preserved the Dodgers’ one-run lead.
Freeman provided that run with a solo homer in the first inning. And Sheehan gave the Dodgers plenty of time to extend that lead. In the sixth inning, however, the White Sox finally got to him.
“I definitely felt better early,” Sheehan said. “And then more of the same towards the end. Just pretty frustrating.”
Sheehan’s fastball to Sam Antonacci wasn’t in a bad spot. But in an 0-2 count, he could have put it a little higher or farther inside. Antonacci drove it over the right-field fence.
A single, a stolen base and an RBI double later, Sheehan walked off the mound, the Dodgers trailing 2-1.
Just a few weeks ago, turning the ball over to the Dodgers’ bullpen was a promising move. They were still riding a franchise-record streak of 38 consecutive scoreless innings.
Lately, however, it’s been a rocky ride. The bullpen entered Sunday with a 6.71 ERA since ending that scoreless streak on May 25. Only the Giants and Rockies produced a worse mark over that stretch.
None of the Dodgers’ relievers have been dominant in recent games. Tanner Scott has been credited with three saves but also two losses. Kyle Hurt’s ERA has risen from 0.60 to 4.22. Dreyer, who went 10 straight games without giving up a run before landing on the injured list with left shoulder discomfort, has surrendered five home runs in seven appearances since returning on May 31.
Dreyer gave up three runs and three hits. Then Blake Treinen and Jonathan Hernández held the White Sox the rest of the way.
The Dodgers tacked on three more runs, on a sacrifice fly and an RBI double from Alex Freeland, and a solo homer from Mookie Betts. They stranded runners at the corners in the ninth.
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Former NFL pass rusher Aldon Smith’s last act before his death was donating food for the homeless
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Former NFL pass rusher Aldon Smith spent time on what would be the final day of his life donating food to a charity that feeds the homeless.
The San Francisco 49ers announced on Saturday that Smith, who played in 50 games during his six-year career, died at the age of 36. Just hours before he was found unresponsive, Smith unexpectedly dropped off 10 pizzas to CHAM Deliverance Ministry, a San Jose, Calif., charity that feeds the homeless.
Amir Shirazi, a friend of Smith’s who picked up on Saturday to make the surprise delivery, spoke to the San Francisco Chronicle about the charitable donation before sharing the details of finding him unresponsive in his car.
Aldon Smith of the San Francisco 49ers waits between drills at the team’s first training camp practice Thursday afternoon, July 24, 2014, in Santa Clara, Calif. (Karl Mondon/MediaNews Group/Mercury News via Getty Images)
49ERS ANNOUNCE DEATH OF ALDON SMITH AT 36, ONCE THE FASTEST PLAYER TO REACH 30 SACKS IN NFL HISTORY
“He was a very sweet, caring, loving giant,” Shirazi said. “That if you really knew him, you’d know who he truly is.”
After dropping off the pizzas, Shirazi drove them to a grocery store and then back to his home. He explained to the outlet that he quickly ran inside to turn on some lights, and when he returned to the car, Smith was slumped over in his seat.
San Francisco 49ers Aldon Smith runs during practice at the 49ers training facility in Santa Clara, on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014. (LiPo Ching/MediaNews Group/Mercury News via Getty Images)
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“I came out and he was basically dead in my front seat,” Shirazi said. “I’m just in shock.”
While Smith has a history of substance abuse, Shirazi said that he had not seen the former NFL player use drugs on Saturday and had only seen him smoke marijuana occasionally over the years. He said he believed that Smith’s death was a “natural death.”
“My impression was that this is a young man that wanted to help the homeless, which was great,” Scott Wagers, the co-founder of CHAM Deliverance Ministry, told the outlet. “When the 49ers and people like that want to help the community, that’s everything.”
Aldon Smith of the San Francisco 49ers suits up for the team’s first training camp practice Thursday afternoon, July 24, 2014, in Santa Clara, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) (Photo by Karl Mondon/MediaNews Group/Mercury News via Getty Images) ((Photo by Karl Mondon/MediaNews Group/Mercury News via Getty Images))
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Smith was drafted seventh overall in the 2011 NFL Draft out of Missouri, and made an immediate impact as a rookie, picking up 14.0 sacks and forcing two fumbles in 16 games. The next year he set a 49ers’ franchise record with 19.5 sacks and was named a First-Team All-Pro while leading the team to Super Bowl XLVII.
Smith reached 30 career sacks in just 27 games, making him the fastest player in NFL history to do so, breaking a record previously held by Hall of Famer Reggie White.
In 2013, Smith voluntarily entered rehab and missed five games. In 2014, he served a nine-game suspension for violations of the NFL’s substance abuse and personal conduct policies.
In 2015, the 49ers released Smith in August following his third DUI arrest before he was signed weeks later by the Oakland Raiders.
Smith remained indefinitely suspended from the NFL for four full seasons while dealing with legal and personal troubles. He made a return in 2020 and played a full season with the Dallas Cowboys, starting in all 16 games.
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