For a lot of baseball fans, the thought of the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees playing in the World Series made them groan. These were the favorites seven months ago. They are also two of the biggest spenders in baseball, and after a season of talking mostly about the Dodgers and Yankees, for the next week, we will talk about nothing other than the Dodgers and Yankees.
But if you are a baseball fan, and not necessarily a Yankees or Dodgers fan, there are still plenty of reasons to watch this series, get excited about this series, and bet on this series.
There will be five former MVPs on the field – Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Giancarlo Stanton, and Aaron Judge. That is the most in World Series history, and we haven’t had as many as four MVPs in the same World Series since 1971. And when you add Clayton Kershaw, who will be on the Dodgers bench, there will be six MVPs in this one.
This is also the first World Series between two players who hit more than 50 home runs in a season, Ohtani and Judge. And their participation makes it the first World Series battle between each league’s home run champion since 1956, when Duke Snider of the Brooklyn Dodgers faced Mickey Mantle of the Yankees.
And assuming that Ohtani and Judge win the National League and American League MVPs — which is a pretty safe assumption — this will be the first World Series between the two current MVPs since 2012, when Buster Posey and the San Francisco Giants played Miguel Cabrera and the Detroit Tigers.
Aaron Judge Game 1 Home Run
Judge is the fifth player in Major League Baseball history to have three 50-home-run seasons, and the first since Alex Rodriguez did it a third time in 2007. It’s also no surprise that after 58 home runs in the regular season, Judge is the favorite to hit a home run in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday.
Judge is paying +200 to hit a home run in Game 1, and if he hits a second home run, you’ll have odds of +1400. Two hits in the game and Judge makes +280, and a three-hit game for Judge pays +1100.
Judge last hit multiple home runs in a game on August 25, which was the sixth time he hit two home runs in the same game during this regular season. In 53 career playoff games, Judge has never hit more than one home run.
Series Home Run Leader
Judge is the pre-World Series favorite to lead everyone in home runs in the Fall Classic. You are getting +260 on Judge, +300 for Ohtani, Stanton is paying +320, and Juan Soto is at +800.
Judge hit two home runs in the Yankees 4-1 American League Championship Series win last week over the Cleveland Guardians, and he hit two home runs in the 2022 five-game Division Series win over the Guardians. His one-and-only, three-home-run postseason series was in the 2017 American League Championship Series.
Judge vs. Ohtani
Maybe next season, we will actually see a head-to-head World Series battle between Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, when Ohtani is expected to be pitching again. For now, we’ll just compare them as hitters, and wager on which of the two MVPs will have the better World Series at the plate.
When it comes to which of the two sluggers will out-homer the other, it’s a dead heat on the odds board, -115 to -115. For hits in the series, the edge goes to Ohtani, with him paying -165 to have more hits, and Judge paying +135 to have more hits.
The total base bet also has Ohtani favored, -130 to +100 for Judge.
Other Judge Props
You can wager on what Aaron Judge will do in his first career World Series at bat. He is +750 to hit a home run, +600 to single, +1200 to hit a double, and +215 to strike out. An in-play out is the favorite at +195.
Judge is the favorite to hit the most home runs in the World Series, and he is tied with teammate Giancarlo Stanton to have the most RBI, paying +400. He is also +400 to have the most total bases in the series, which places him second on the odds board.
You can get +200 on Judge to steal a base in the series. He is a heavy -295 favorite to hit at least two home runs in the series, and at three home runs, you will get a payout of +120. A four-home-run World Series for Judge is on the board at +320.
The most home runs hit in a single World Series is five, done three times. First came Reggie Jackson in the 1977 Dodgers-Yankees series, then Chase Utley in the 2009 World Series between the Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies, and last by George Springer in the 2017 World Series between the Dodgers and Houston Astros.
With over 25 years of experience as a distinguished sports writer for renowned platforms such as Fox Sports and ESPN, Kyle Garlett is a sports betting specialist who has been at the forefront of documenting the global surge in sports betting and online gaming. Based in Denver, Colorado, Kyle hosts an NFL betting YouTube show and podcast. Kyle also has two sports books published by HarperCollins.
Kyle graduated the Azusa Pacific University in 1996 with a B.A. Degree in Communication and Journalism.