The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers meet in the World Series for the first time since 1981 to revamp the most common Fall Classic matchup in MLB, and there’s no shortage of storylines.

New York vs. Los Angeles. Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman vs. Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton. Dave Roberts, the 2004 Boston Red Sox postseason hero, takes on Aaron Boone, the 2003 Yankees postseason hero, in the managerial battle of wits. And many more talking points that will certainly come up in the series.

The Dodgers took two of three from the Yankees when the teams met at Yankee Stadium in June, but both rosters have undergone significant changes since then. And of course, the World Series games are managed very differently than in the summer.

Here’s your guide to the most anticipated fall classic in years, as the Sports illustrated The staff picks x-factors for both teams and predicts how it will all play out in the country’s two most populous cities.

1. What is the biggest x-factor for the Dodgers to win?

Tom Verducci: Blake Treinen. His sweeper is insanely good at video games. He’s Dave Roberts’ best arm, which means he’s someone Roberts won’t be able to bail out before the ninth inning. Time to reject the Law of Exposure. Roberts needs to put Treinen on Soto, Judge and Stanton in every meaningful spot starting in the seventh inning. His stuff is so good that you don’t have to worry about hitters seeing him multiple times in a series.

Stephanie Apstein: Whether Alex Vesia can throw effectively after missing the NLCS with an intercostal injury. As the Dodgers’ left-handed reliever, he is their best chance to navigate the lineup, which also includes Juan Soto. If he can’t go, or if he struggles, it will ask a lot from Anthony Banda, their only other southpaw.

Emma Baccellieri: Start pitching. LA has a full rotation of starters on the IL. Of course, having a great bullpen helps, but only so much. The Dodgers will still need that some quality work from the trio Jack Flaherty, Walker Buehler and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Can Flaherty bounce back after his last disastrous outing against the Mets in the NLCS? Can they get any meaningful length from Buehler? The Dodgers don’t need their starters to be excellent. But they do need them to be at least adequate.

Laws of will: How will Freddie Freeman look after an ankle sprain that forced him to miss Games 4 and 6 of the NLCS? He went 1-for-15 in his last three games while trying to play through the injury. Los Angeles scored well without him against the Mets, but the Yankees’ pitching staff is a different beast, and the former NL MVP makes the Dodgers’ lineup much more fearsome when they are at full strength.

Nick Selbe: Can any starting pitcher resign? The Dodgers’ bullpen has been excellent in the NLCS, but they need at least two serviceable starts from Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto or Walker Buehler. The Cleveland Guardians’ vaunted bullpen wasn’t enough to overcome the lackluster starting pitching against the Yankees (Cleveland starters accounted for just 38% of the innings during the ALCS). Los Angeles doesn’t need Sandy Koufax 2.0 to show up, but he will something from his starters.

2. What is the biggest x-factor for the Yankees to win?

TV: Gleyber Torres. He was great at getting to base for the middle of the lineup. You know he’s feeling good when he throws fastballs for line-drive singles to right field. His defense and base running can be problematic, but the offense can make a difference.

SA: How deep the starting pitchers can go. The Yankees have a typically impressive bullpen made up of other teams’ castoffs, but it is less deep than in years past, and the Dodgers become vastly more dangerous every time they face a pitcher. New York needs to limit how many opportunities Los Angeles gets to see its leverage weapons.

EB: Whether they can meaningfully attack LA’s bullpen. The relief corps has been a huge force overall in this playoff run for the Dodgers, but they’ve had to carry a pretty heavy workload, and it won’t get any lighter in the World Series. They’re pretty much guaranteed to have at least one (more) bullpen game here. Will the Yankees be able to make adjustments and benefit from repeated exposure to this group? This is especially important if this series is long.

WL: Carlos Rodón’s starts have a particularly wide range of outcomes, as we’ve already seen this postseason. If New York’s likely Game 2 (and Game 6, if necessary) starter can pitch like he did in his first ALCS appearance, New York will be in great shape. If he looks more like he did in the ALDS, it will put a lot of pressure on a bullpen that was already a bit exposed last round.

NS: Base running may seem like a boring answer, but it can prove to be the difference. The Yankees ranked last in FanGraphs’ base running statistic, 24th in stolen bases and 29th in speed rating. They had so many blunders against Cleveland that radio broadcaster John Sterling exclaimed that they were running the bases “like drunks.” In a series that looks tight, the little things can determine who comes out on top.

3. Which manager is under more pressure to win?

TV: Dave Roberts. It has nothing to do with ‘stories’ and the crappy psychobabble that dominates ‘analysis’ this time of year. Roberts is getting fewer innings out of his starting pitchers than Boone. He still needs to play one or two more bullpen games after already playing three. The more buttons to press, the more likely you are to get it wrong. That’s busy.

SA: I don’t actually think either of them are under a lot of pressure personally at the moment – by coming here they almost certainly both secured their jobs – but organizationally the window seems shorter for the Yankees, with Soto calling on him as soon as possible free agency. the World Series ends.

EB: Dave Roberts. The fact that he has yet to win a World Series in a full season still leaves a mark on his record with the Dodgers. Yes, a lot of that was out of his control, but it is part of his legacy nonetheless. This group was always expected to play for the championship this year. (That standard was complicated by injuries, but certainly not compromised.) Reaching the World Series was always the goal. To meet the pressure, Roberts will actually have to win.

WL: Dave Roberts has the ready-made excuse that he has a terribly depleted pitching staff, which he has done a great job of accomplishing just to get here. This might be Aaron Boone’s best chance to become a champion in the Bronx, especially considering Juan Soto could head south to Queens in the offseason.

NS: Aaron Boone. It came in a pandemic-shortened season at a neutral site with limited fan attendance, but Roberts still gets (and deserves) credit for guiding Los Angeles to the 2020 title. As Dodgers fans increasingly worried about so many great seasons falling short in this decade-plus span, the Yankees have more urgency to end their fifteen-year championship drought.

4. What is your World Series prediction?

TV: Yankees at 7. Toss a coin. There is no clear edge here. (The Dodgers are the better starting team, but I don’t see that as a deciding factor.) Both offenses can be brutal: the two most disciplined lineups in baseball. Both bullpens are excellent, which is where most of these series will be decided. The difference? Read below.

SA: Dodgers in 6. I think their lineup and bullpen are a bit deeper, which will offset a more ripped rotation.

EB: Dodgers in 6. These clubs are so closely matched that it could easily go either way, but while the Yankees have some clear advantages over the Dodgers, LA’s bullpen, slugging and base running push it over the edge for me .

WL: Yankees in 6. In a postseason dominated by bullpen talk, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón have the talent to get through Los Angeles’ lineup largely unscathed a few times. And if New York’s three big sluggers can get support from the rest of the lineup, the Dodgers’ bullpen will have a hard time continuing its dominance.

NS: Dodgers in 7. Yamamoto has been sharp the last two times, throwing 73 pitches in his most recent start. He will provide the boost this starting rotation needs to save the bullpen some extra wear and tear, making Roberts’ life much easier in the late innings.

5. Who do you think will win the World Series MVP?

TV: Giancarlo Stanton. It’s his time. He had the fourth-longest wait among active players to get to the World Series, and now it’s starting in the ballpark where he went to games as a kid, where he won All-Star MVP and where he has the second-highest slugging- percentage. of anyone in Dodger Stadium history. He doesn’t hunt. He looks like he’s on a Corey Seager-esque run.

SA: Shohei Ohtani. In his worst NLCS game, he reached base twice.

EB: Sometimes the most obvious choice is the best. Come on: Shohei Ohtani. And I’m still hopeful that we’ll see him make a miraculous bullpen performance.

WL: I go down the board and choose Jazz Chisholm Jr. Is this because I’m foolishly holding on to a bold prediction I made at the start of the playoffs? Maybe. But his poor postseason performance thus far would only further accentuate a strong World Series, where he is the most likely Yankee to make a difference with his bat. And his speed.

NS: Mookie Betts. There’s no shortage of stars to choose from, and while it’s tempting to veer off the menu and choose a more supportive player (like Tommy Edman after his NLCS showing), Betts will continue his strong showing in the final round continue to take home the MVP.