First Pitch: What the Yankees and Dodgers must do to win the World Series

The World Series matchup is officially set, and it's hard to imagine how it could be much better. The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, two of the most storied franchises in MLB history, are set to face off for all of the marbles.

The two MVP favorites, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, will battle for the World Series trophy. Other superstars like Juan Soto, Mookie Betts, Gerrit Cole, and Freddie Freeman will try and grab the spotlight as they attempt to will their team to the title.

This series should be as entertaining as any in recent memory, given the teams and the star power involved. With how stacked these teams are, it wouldn't be shocking to see either the Dodgers or Yankees win it all. This article will preview what each team has to do to defeat the other and win it all.

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What the New York Yankees must do to win the World Series

The Dodgers defeated the Mets in six games, scoring an absurd 46 runs in those six games. That's an average of over seven per game. A big reason for this success is the Dodgers were able to get to New York's starting pitching, forcing them to rely heavily on its weakness - the bullpen.

This Yankees bullpen has performed better than that of the Mets, but outside of Luke Weaver, there are some question marks there. With that in mind, the Yankees must take advantage of their obvious strength over the Dodgers and have their starting rotation steal the show.

Reigning AL Cy Young award winner Gerrit Cole will start at least twice, and potentially three times in this seven-game series. The Yankees need him to look like Gerrit Cole. They need Carlos Rodon to pitch like a pitcher who is on a $162 million contract. Saving the bullpen, especially early in this series, is crucial.

In addition to the Yankees needing length from their starters, their lineup is under the microscope. Earlier this season, Luis Severino made a comment saying that the Yankees have only two good hitters, essentially calling out everyone not named Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. At the time, Severino wasn't wrong. This Yankees offense was stagnant, and nobody other than Judge or Soto was contributing. That has changed, especially in October. Gleyber Torres has found a home in the leadoff spot. Giancarlo Stanton has continued to be a postseason monster. Anthony Volpe has hit over .300 in October. Even Anthony Rizzo has been tearing the cover off the ball.

The Yankees need Judge and Soto to be Judge and Soto, obviously, but they also need length from the rest of their lineup. Can struggling left-handed hitters Austin Wells and Jazz Chisholm turn it on? There's a good chance that in a big spot, Dave Roberts won't roll over and let players like Soto, Judge, and Stanton beat him if he can avoid it. The bottom of the order stepping up would go a long way in helping New York outlast the Dodgers.

What the Los Angeles Dodgers need to do to win the World Series

The reason why the Dodgers weren't thought of as invincible is because of the pitching injuries that they're dealing with. Tyler Glasnow, Tony Gonsolin, Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May, and Gavin Stone make up an entire rotation's worth of starters currently on the IL. Those injuries have left Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Walker Buehler as their only healthy starters. The lack of options will force Roberts to throw at least one bullpen game in the World Series, which is something that no manager wants to do.

With their starting pitching situated the way it is, getting length from the starters they have healthy right now is crucial. With how mightily Walker Buehler has struggled this season it's tough to expect much from him, but for the Dodgers to beat the Yankees, they're going to need Flaherty and Yamamoto to step up. We've seen them do this over the course of the Dodgers' playoff run, but we've also seen them have rocky outings as well. The Dodgers bullpen is deep and excellent, but there's only so much they can do.

The Dodgers were able to rest their bullpen at the beginning of the NLCS thanks to Flaherty's seven shutout innings in Game 1. Getting that kind of performance or something similar from the right-hander again would go a long way.

In addition to the Dodgers getting something from their limited rotation, they'll also need for their role players to step up. Similarly to the Yankees, this Dodgers team is built around its stars. Getting something out of players like Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman should be a given, but there're questions as the lineup progresses.

Can established veterans like Max Muncy and Tommy Edman keep up their red-hot Octobers? Can Kiké Hernandez continue to be a postseason legend? Can All-Stars Will Smith and Teoscar Hernandez get going?

The Dodgers beat the Mets in large part because their offense was unrelenting. Their elite plate discipline forced Mets starters out of games early, and players like Muncy, Edman, and Kiké Hernandez doing what they did made their lineup impossible to pitch to.

With where their pitching is right now, the Dodgers are going to have to outscore the Yankees, much like they did the Mets. If the role players are producing, it'll be virtually impossible for the Yankees to pitch to them, and tough for their lineup to keep up against a formidable Dodgers bullpen.

Scoring early and often is how this Dodgers team can win.