Freeman’s dominance, Judge’s struggles and Ohtani’s status: What we’ve learned about Dodgers, Yankees so far
Two games into the 2024 World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers have taken a 2-0 lead on the New York Yankees.
First the Dodgers took the opener in dramatic fashion, winning an instant classic on Freddie Freeman‘s 10th-inning walk-off grand slam.
Then, in Game 2, the Dodgers rode a strong outing by starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a 4-2 victory — though concerns surrounded superstar Shohei Ohtani after he exited in the seventh inning with an apparent shoulder injury. However, Ohtani will be playing in Game 3, manager Dave Roberts told ESPN.
As both teams make their way to New York for Game 3 at Yankee Stadium on Monday night, our MLB experts break down what we’ve seen — and where this World Series will go from here.
What has surprised you most so far in this World Series?
Jorge Castillo: Aaron Judge‘s struggles. Judge wasn’t the out-of-this-world MVP version of himself in the ALDS or ALCS, but he still worked his walks and hit that crucial game-tying home run against Emmanuel Clase in Game 3 in Cleveland. The logic here was that Judge, who did the best peak Barry Bonds impersonation we’ve seen during the regular season, would eventually snap out of his October funk and fuel the Yankees’ offense. Instead, he’s been worse this series. Judge has gone 1-for-9 with six strikeouts in the first two games. He has whiffed on 32 of his 59 swings over the past five games.
Alden Gonzalez: The strength of the Dodgers’ starting pitching. Jack Flaherty got into the sixth inning in Game 1 and gave up only a two-run homer to Giancarlo Stanton. Yoshinobu Yamamoto recorded 19 outs in Game 2 and allowed just one hit — a solo home run to Juan Soto. Starting pitching was supposed to be the Yankees’ strength; the Dodgers would attempt to overcome it with a deep bullpen and an even deeper lineup. And though Gerrit Cole pitched very much like an ace in Game 1, Carlos Rodon struggled mightily for the Yankees on Saturday. Stealing both those games, particularly the way they did, is a boon for the Dodgers, who have Flaherty and Yamamoto lined up to pitch again if this series extends.
Jesse Rogers: Without a doubt, it was Aaron Boone’s decision to bring in Nestor Cortes when he did in Game 1. Clean inning? Maybe. Dirty inning, tied in the 10th? No way. That game was so critical for the Yankees because they mostly held the Dodgers off the scoreboard until Freeman’s historic home run. There have been only a few times this postseason that L.A. hasn’t been running on all cylinders at the plate, so sneaking away with a victory would have been a huge boost for New York. In Game 2, the Dodgers went back to what they usually do: coming at teams in waves of offense. Cortes should have been Boone’s third option behind Tim Hill and Mark Leiter Jr. with a chance to take the series opener. Instead, it was his first, and it cost him.
How will this series change when it gets to New York?
Castillo: For one, it’ll be colder in the Bronx. The Yankees, on paper, also will have a clear pitching advantage in Game 4 with Luis Gil starting opposite a bullpen game for the Dodgers. Winning a World Series with a scheduled bullpen game is a tall task, but that’s where the Dodgers are with their pitching staff. It’s on the Yankees to chase Walker Buehler early in Game 3 and expose the Dodgers’ bullpen before unleashing a line of relievers the next night.
Gonzalez: That will depend on how Game 3 goes. On Monday night, the Yankees will confront Buehler, who has had a hard time generating swing-and-miss since coming back from his second Tommy John surgery but also has a reputation for stepping up in big games. If the Yankees can get to Buehler early, they might force Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to use some of his high-leverage relievers, which will limit his options in Game 4. In other words: The Yankees have a chance to set themselves up to tie this series within the first few innings Monday night.
Rogers: Rabid crowd, colder temps and pitching question marks for the visitors should shift some momentum the Yankees’ way. It’ll be critical to get as many Dodgers relievers into each game as possible, especially considering the teams play three straight days. New York has an uphill battle, but not an impossible one. The only problem is the short porch in right will benefit the Dodgers as much as it has the Yankees all season, so someone is going to have to keep L.A. in the park — or the Yankees are simply going to have to outscore the Dodgers.
How will the Dodgers need to adjust if Ohtani is not at his best?
Castillo: Ohtani is irreplaceable atop the lineup, but the Dodgers won 100 games last year without him — they can win two of the next five if they need to. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, two future Hall of Famers, are still around. Max Muncy and Kiké Hernández, an October monster, will continue bouncing around the diamond. Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman, two significant contributors enjoying stellar playoff performances, are shining in their first postseason in Los Angeles. While Ohtani is slated to play in Game 3, if he were to miss any time, it would ignite a series of lineup changes that could include Freeman, who has been battling a sprained ankle since the end of the regular season, moving to designated hitter. It’ll remove a power source and a base-stealing element to the Dodgers’ offense. But the Dodgers have more than enough firepower to survive.
Gonzalez: Freeman, hobbled all month, would probably get the start at DH. That would move Muncy to first base, Hernandez to third and Tommy Edman to center field against a right-hander. The Dodgers would also put Betts in the leadoff spot. Their lineup would still be pretty good. But they would be without both their best power hitter and their best base-stealer at the top of the lineup. And though they have shown all year that they can overcome injuries — to Betts, Muncy and Freeman in particular — this would be an entirely different level.
Rogers: The sudden emergence of a postseason starting staff for L.A. helps take some pressure off the offense — plus, the Dodgers did win Games 1 and 2 with little help from Ohtani at the plate. Muncy might be the key to their offense if Ohtani is not at his best. The Dodgers have won without Betts and Freeman, so they should be OK regardless. Having said that, if the series is more high-scoring in hitter-friendly Yankees Stadium, the Dodgers certainly will need Ohtani’s firepower.
What is the biggest adjustment the Yankees need to make?
Castillo: Get back to grinding pitchers down. The Dodgers have three starting pitchers. They’re expected to cover Game 4 with only relievers. If the Yankees force high pitch counts, they should eventually tax the Dodgers’ bullpen and increase their chances of putting up crooked numbers. They were on track for that in Game 1 after making Jack Flaherty throw 40 pitches over the first two innings. But he threw just 20 over the next two innings, which allowed him to get through 5⅓ innings. Yoshinobu Yamamoto needed just 86 pitches to hold the Yankees to one run over 6⅓ innings in Game 2. Walker Buehler will take the ball in Game 3 for Los Angeles after throwing 90 pitches in four scoreless innings in his last start. Chasing him early and placing a heavy burden on the Dodgers’ relief corps, with a bullpen game the next day, could change the series.
Gonzalez: Simply put: Make more contact. The Yankees thrived on luring pitchers into the strike zone and doing damage this season. Through the first two games of this series, they’ve done a nice job not chasing but are simply swinging and missing way too often. Judge, of course, has been the biggest culprit, but the Yankees as a whole have a swing-and-miss rate of 35.4%, way up from their regular-season total of 23.8%. Yes, of course, hitting is far more difficult this time of year. But the Dodgers are whiffing basically half as often as the Yankees right now.
Rogers: Um, get the MVP hitting like an MVP again? The Yankees simply can’t afford any of their stars to slump the way Judge is right now. Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton leading the way won’t be enough without something from the captain. Judge looks like a guy putting way too much pressure on himself. Perhaps going home will get him and his team to relax. In fact, the Game 1 pitching debacle might have impacted them in Game 2, so a day off and a change of scenery might be what the Yankees need.
Freddie Freeman is the easy choice for World Series MVP so far — will he win the award?
Castillo: My answer here is no just because I still don’t expect a quick series. The more games, the more opportunities for someone else to claim the award. Freeman has been superb so far, but remember, he’s playing on a sprained ankle. Continuing the production will be a challenge. If he does, he’ll be the clear winner — especially if Ohtani misses significant time.
Gonzalez: I would guess no, simply because playing three consecutive games in the frigid temperatures of New York might be an issue — as we witnessed in the National League Championship Series, when Freeman struggled while playing at Citi Field — and because this series might still possess enough twists and turns to create distance from his iconic moment in Game 1. Freeman is certainly capable of continuing to produce and taking home the MVP trophy, which would be storybook, but I’d still take the field at this point.
Rogers: Yes. Hitting triples, walk-off grand slams and, ya know, other home runs, is going to get him the honor. He’s moving well, so that there’s no major concern about his ankle, so he’s going to continue to get chances to tee off against right-handed pitching and some suspect lefties in the Yankees pen. See Nestor Cortes for evidence. It’s kind of a cliché to say, but it might apply here: New York has no answer for Freddie Freeman.
Would you like to revise your original pick for this Series based on what we’ve seen?
Castillo: Yep. I picked the Yankees in seven, and while I believe that is still very possible, I’m going to switch it over to Dodgers in seven. The Yankees squandering two leads in Game 1 makes it feel like they now must win five games to win the series. That was a gut punch. They could still recover, but the Dodgers are too good not to capitalize on that lead.
Gonzalez: I picked the Dodgers to win in six and would stick with that. Ohtani’s shoulder injury is certainly concerning, but watching the way Flaherty and Yamamoto pitched and watching how off Judge seems gives me no reason to think the Dodgers — already up 2-0 — won’t take the series. They even have some really cool symmetry on their side thanks to the Freeman-Kirk Gibson comps: Gibson’s walk-off homer in Game 1 of the World Series was part of the last time the Dodgers won a full-season championship in 1988. You can’t write this stuff.
Rogers: Yes. My prediction of Yankees in seven could still materialize, but the Dodgers’ offense is just too much. Maybe there’s a game where New York scores double digits because L.A.’s bullpen implodes, but losing Game 1 was such a killer, I don’t think they recover. They say a series really doesn’t begin until a team wins on the road. L.A. will do that at least once in New York, setting themselves up for a World Series title.
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David Hale
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Duke defensive end Wesley Williams said he heard the refrain throughout the run-up to Saturday’s ACC championship game: A Blue Devils win would be “a doomsday scenario.”
At 7-5 and unranked, Duke arrived in Charlotte with a chance to win the conference and, in doing so, knock the ACC out of the College Football Playoff entirely, with two teams from the Group of 5 — Tulane and James Madison — potentially making it instead.
Well, doomsday has arrived, thanks to a series of fourth-down calls by Duke coach Manny Diaz, including one in overtime that resulted in the game-deciding touchdown in a 27-20 Blue Devils victory over No. 17 Virginia.
“Coach Diaz said this week, ‘If you think people hate Duke now, just wait until we win the ACC,'” Williams said.
The ACC’s fifth tiebreaker — combined win percentage of conference opponents — sent Duke to the league’s title game from among five teams tied for second place in the standings, including No. 12 Miami, a team on the fringe of an at-large CFP bid that could have benefited significantly from an extra game to wow the selection committee.
Instead, it was Duke that got the chance to avenge a Nov. 15 loss to Virginia and make its own case for playoff inclusion.
“I’m not going to take anything away from James Madison,” Diaz said. “They had a really great season. … The Sun Belt has been a really good conference in years past, but most of their top teams are having a down year. So when you start comparing strength of schedule — you can’t just look at wins and losses. It’s who you play against. That’s the whole point of playing a Power 4 schedule. There’s a reason all these coaches are all leaving for Power 4 jobs. There’s recognition that’s where the best competition is.
“The ACC champion should go to the College Football Playoff this year and every year. And we’ll be very excited to see how they rule on that tomorrow.”
James Madison coach Bob Chesney has accepted the head coaching position at UCLA, but he is expected to stay with the Dukes through any potential playoff run.
The Dukes finished the season 12-1 but lost their lone game against a Power 4 foe, Louisville, in September. James Madison beat Troy 31-14 on Friday to win the Sun Belt championship.
James Madison athletic director Matt Roan offered a counterpoint, noting that Dukes quarterback Alonza Barnett III was just coming back after a long-term injury and the Dukes still played Louisville close before losing 28-14.
“The next week, we started what is now the second-longest winning streak in the country,” Roan said. “This team is clicking since that time and separated itself as one of the five best conference champions in the country after winning the Sun Belt. JMU led the nation in wins over bowl-eligible teams with seven, matching Indiana and Ohio State. We can score points and stop points with anyone in the country. Our second halves, and fourth quarter in particular, have been untouchable. Who you play matters, but more important is how you play. Our players and our coaches have been elite all season and are deserving of this opportunity.”
James Madison was No. 25 in the most recent CFP rankings. Duke was unranked.
Diaz said after Saturday’s win, however, that the committee now has a more complete body of work to consider.
According to ESPN’s metrics, James Madison has the No. 18 strength of record but the No. 123 strength of schedule. Duke entered Saturday’s game with the No. 59 strength of record and No. 74 strength of schedule. Two of the Blue Devils’ losses were to teams outside the Power 4: playoff hopeful Tulane and 9-3 UConn.
“Having been on the selection committee, I understand it’s complicated,” Duke athletic director Nina King said. “I think we’re deserving when you look at some of these numbers like strength of schedule, number of Power 4 teams we’ve played and won. I think we’re deserving, but I fully appreciate the challenge [for the committee].”
The ACC’s doomsday scenario was in some ways more of a “Mission: Impossible.” After Duke lost to Virginia in Week 11, the Blue Devils were +1800 to win the conference and, according to ESPN’s FPI, had a 3.8% chance of winning the ACC.
Now, the conference will wait for the committee to deliver a verdict on both Duke and Miami on Sunday. The Hurricanes are 10-2 but have consistently been ranked behind several other two-loss teams, including Notre Dame, a team they beat in Week 1.
“Miami should get in,” Diaz said after Saturday’s win. “The head-to-head should matter. And so should we, because we’re the conference champion.”
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips argued the same before Saturday’s kickoff, but he declined to comment after Duke’s win over Virginia that might have left the conference with no playoff bids.
The doomsday scenario for the ACC, however, could just as easily turn into a boon with two teams in, should the committee buy into Duke’s sales pitch. Blue Devils linebacker Luke Mergott, who hauled in the championship-clinching interception in overtime, believes it will.
“We represent the ACC, and the ACC is a respected conference,” Mergott said. “I think we’ll be in, and I’m confident our name will be called.”
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Adam Rittenberg
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana assistant coach Ola Adams put his hands on his head in disbelief as confetti fell and the crowd roared at Lucas Oil Stadium.
But the scene unfolding before Adams on Saturday night was very believable. Since the moment coach Curt Cignetti swaggered onto campus two years earlier and outlined a success plan for the losingest program in college football, Indiana has been climbing.
On a magical night 50 miles from their home stadium, the Hoosiers reached the top, outlasting Ohio State 13-10 in a Big Ten championship game that matched the nation’s top two teams, both undefeated. Indiana beat No. 1 to become No. 1.
“We’re going to go in the playoffs as the No. 1 seed,” Cignetti said. “A lot of people probably thought that wasn’t possible.”
The milestones achieved are seemingly endless. The Hoosiers won their first Big Ten championship since 1967 and their first outright title since 1945. They beat Ohio State for the first time since 1988, ending a 32-game losing streak. And quarterback Fernando Mendoza likely clinched the school’s first Heisman Trophy with several heroic throws, rallying his team from a 10-3 deficit.
“It shows everybody: Why not? Why would you not want to come to Indiana?” linebacker Isaiah Jones said. “For any of the doubters out there, this kind of was the final nail in the coffin for any of the Indiana doubters, the Curt Cignetti doubters, the Hoosier doubters.
“This was the last thing that needed to be proved, and we did it.”
Indiana beat a top-ranked team for the first time in 17 tries, holding Ohio State scoreless for the final 40:08 and twice turning away the Buckeyes inside the 10-yard line.
“As a basketball manager, Keith Smart’s shot that won the national championship [in 1987],” Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson, who worked under coach Bob Knight for that title team, told ESPN. “This is right up there with that. This is a big moment.”
Cignetti guided the Hoosiers to a team-record 11 wins in his debut season, but when Indiana faced Ohio State, the eventual national champion, and Notre Dame, the eventual runner-up, its deficiencies were exposed in double-digit losses. Although Indiana faced a tougher regular-season schedule this fall, recorded a signature road win against Oregon and had shown clear improvement in several areas, it still entered Saturday’s game as the underdog.
But the Hoosiers (13-0) were better at the line of scrimmage, recording five sacks against an Ohio State team (12-1) that had allowed six the entire regular season. Facing Heisman Trophy contenders in quarterback Julian Sayin and wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, Indiana’s defense never yielded, making several memorable plays, including linebacker Rolijah Hardy‘s end zone pass deflection to prevent the go-ahead touchdown with 2:51 to play.
“We envisioned it,” defensive lineman Tyrique Tucker said. “We felt like we needed to handle business, especially due to last year. We felt like we had to finish some things and we had some unfinished business.”
Cignetti and his players thought that if they could keep the game close late, they would have an edge. Indiana rallied late to beat Iowa and Penn State and pulled away from Oregon with the score tied early in the fourth quarter. Ohio State, meanwhile, had not faced a second-half deficit this season until Mendoza found Elijah Sarratt for a 17-yard score with 8:02 to play in the third quarter.
“That’s what we dwell on, like, we come out and we take on a challenge,” said cornerback D’Angelo Ponds, who was matched up against Smith in man coverage throughout the game. “They haven’t been challenged all year. … We challenged them.”
Mendoza’s night began with a massive hit by Ohio State’s Caden Curry that left him writhing on the turf and forced him to miss a play. He also threw an interception that led to Ohio State’s only touchdown. But Mendoza steadied himself, even without top wideout Omar Cooper Jr., and found Charlie Becker for completions of 51 and 33 yards, the latter on third-and-6 in the final minutes.
Indiana fans gathered in the north end of the stadium chanted “Heis-Mendoza!” as Mendoza received game MVP honors.
“I don’t want to go in deep depth with the Heisman, but I remember Coach Cignetti brought me in, I think it was after UCLA, and he told me, ‘Hey, the Heisman’s a team game, it’s a team award. It’s not a player award. And if you win, then you can get nominated for it,'” Mendoza said. “Hopefully, I would love the opportunity to get the invite to New York, which would be fantastic.”
The Heisman ceremony awaits Mendoza next week, and Indiana will prepare for its first trip to the Rose Bowl since the 1967 season. But no one associated with the program will forget what happened Saturday night, just a few dozen miles from campus.
“It was just a dream come true,” Ponds said. “It actually didn’t feel real. We believed in ourselves, and we went out there and executed. It all just came together.”
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