The two most-valuable teams in the MLB will go head-to-head in the World Series. First pitch is scheduled for 8:08 pm EST Friday.
Baseball fans will see the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers, each worth billions of dollars, take the field Friday evening at Dodger Stadium for what will be the first of up to seven games to claim the World Series title.
The Yankees are worth more than any of the 29 other MLB teams.
Forbes pegged the team’s value at a whopping $7.55 billion in March, landing it the No. 1 spot on the outlet’s 2024 edition of its yearly baseball team ranking. That first-place position has apparently belonged to the Yankees for 26 back-to-back years.
YANKEES-DODGERS WORLD SERIES AMONG MOST EXPENSIVE, FASTEST-SELLING OF ALL TIME ON SECONDARY MARKET
The $7.55 billion figure marked a 6% year-over-year increase in value for the team, per the outlet.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers boastest the second-highest MLB team value of $5.45 billion, according to the Forbes ranking of baseball teams. It saw a 14% jump in its worth from the prior year, driven by the Los Angeles-based team’s fans turning out in large numbers and its local media deal, per the outlet.
The teams vying for the championship title in the 2024 World Series also manage some of the biggest payrolls in the league, according to FanGraphs.
Data from FanGraphs suggested the payroll for the Yankees totaled $302 million and the Dodgers’ amounted to $325 million for 2024. Only one other team, the New York Mets, topped those figures with a $335 payroll projection, according to the site.
The last time the Yankees and Dodgers played each other for the World Series title was over four decades ago. In that 1981 six-game series, the Dodgers came out victorious, winning four games to two.
Winning the Commissioner’s Trophy this year would be a major accomplishment for either team. The Yankees want to notch their 28th time as champions, their first since 2009. For the Dodgers, it would be their eighth, with their last title coming in the shortened COVID season of 2020.
Last year’s World Series went to five games, with the Texas Rangers ultimately beating the Arizona Diamondbacks.
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