It’s hard to imagine a more star-studded and magnetic World Series matchup than this – both a throwback to the days when baseball reigned supreme in the US, while also showcasing the greatest talents in the game today.

The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers represent the two largest markets in Major League Baseball. They entered the season with the second-largest payroll in the sport (Yankees) and the fifth-largest (Dodgers). They now meet in the World Series for a whopping twelfth time, the most of any two teams.

Decades ago, the leading actors included such luminaries as Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Roy Campanella and Jackie Robinson.

Legends of the game, for sure, and now that star power has returned in 2024.

Shohei Ohtani – who just rewrote the history books with baseball’s first season of 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases – certainly seems to have a feel for the dramatic, crushing a three-run homer in his postseason debut.

Ohtani, the big name in the sport, was part of the Dodgers’ $1 billion overhaul this offseason, replenishing a star-studded roster with two pitching aces: Japanese compatriot Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow, acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays.

On the Yankees side, general manager and senior vice president Brian Cashman made a major leap forward this offseason by acquiring 25-year-old phenom Juan Soto, considered by many to be the most complete hitter in baseball, which adds to a lineup that already features American players. League home run king Aaron Judge and the fearsome Giancarlo Stanton.

Not only did Soto deliver with a career season of 41 home runs and 109 runs batted in, but he also just unleashed one of the most epic at-bats you’ll see in postseason play: He challenged Cleveland Guardians pitcher Hunter Gaddis to give him a fastball into extra. innings Saturday, then vaulted the center field fence to send the Yankees past upstart Cleveland to their first World Series since 2009.

Judge and Ohtani, meanwhile, are both making their Fall Classic debuts, a fact that may seem difficult to fathom given their already robust resumes. Judge and Ohtani are both MVP winners and are the favorites to win again this season. Judge flirted with the Triple Crown by hitting .322 with 58 home runs and 144 RBIs. Ohtani nearly matched those numbers, with a .310 average, 54 home runs and 130 RBIs.

“This is sweeter, it’s even sweeter,” Judge said on Fox Sports about reaching the World Series and whether reality lived up to expectations.

“This group we have is something special,” he said. “You know, all the work they put in in the offseason, the ups and downs during the regular season, there’s no better group. … That’s what you crave all season long – moments like this.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts echoed those sentiments after his team ousted the magical New York Mets and reached their fourth World Series in the last seven years, albeit with just one ring to show for it, in the Covid-shortened 2020 season .

“I’ve never believed in a group of guys more than I believe in these guys,” Roberts said ahead of the upcoming clash of the titans. “The most important thing is that they believe in each other.”

This season’s playoffs were a hit with fans as TV viewership is at its highest level in years.

The last time the two teams faced each other in the World Series was 1981 (the Dodgers won), and Tyler Kepner, a longtime baseball writer now at The Athletic, reflected on the rarity of what we’re seeing.

“There was a period of 40 or 41 years, from 1941 to 1981, where we saw that game (in the World Series) 11 times … but in the last 41 years we haven’t had one.”

And with Judge and Ohtani starring in the two big ones, another feat that has also spanned more than four decades is happening.

“For two Hall of Fame-type players to make their World Series debuts against each other in MVP seasons has only happened once,” Kepner said. “That was George Brett and Mike Schmidt in 1980 – so it’s kind of a perfect storm of fun things that would happen if it were Yankees and Dodgers.”