2024 MLB playoffs: Ranking the possible World Series matchups - ESPN

We're down to four teams: Three big-market teams with payrolls funded by Fort Knox plus those scrappy Cleveland Guardians. Three of our teams finished in first place in their division and two of them had the two best records in the majors. With the NLCS kicking off Sunday night in Los Angeles, let's rank the four possible World Series matchups. Our criteria: How interesting are the teams? Do they have star players? What is the history of the franchises? How good were they in the regular season (no offense to the Texas Rangers or Arizona Diamondbacks last year, but an all wild-card matchup isn't the preferred World Series clash for some of us)?

This year, the good news is we can't go wrong: All four teams have intriguing storylines. We could have a historic World Series drought on the line — and the potential of seeing the greatest superstar showdown of all time.

Significance: It wouldn't get any more old-school than this one, a matchup between not only the two most celebrated franchises in the sport, but the two most important in North American sports history. With 27 World Series titles, spanning Babe Ruth to Joe DiMaggio to Mickey Mantle to Reggie Jackson to Derek Jeter, the Yankees have ruled the headlines of America's national pastime for more than 100 years. The story of baseball is the story of the Yankees. But they haven't even been in a World Series since they last won in 2009.

When they were in Brooklyn, the Dodgers broke the color barrier when they signed Jackie Robinson. They moved to Los Angeles in 1958, the lure of the palm trees and a booming new market too hard to resist, and quickly became the preeminent organization in the sport. They became one of the first franchises to invest heavily in Latin America