Here’s who our writers see winning Game 1.
Cody Stavenhagen: Yankees
Jack Flaherty’s latest outing was concerning. He’s been terrific all year but threw his most regular-season innings since 2019. He dealt with a back issue in July. His ERA crept to 3.67 for the month of September. For the Dodgers to win, they will need Flaherty at his best. Given the results in two of Flaherty’s three postseason starts, the Yankees have the edge.
C. Trent Rosecrans: Yankees
I like the Dodgers to win the series, but any exercise about an individual game starts with the starting pitchers. Yes, it’s easy to say the Yankees have the advantage here, so I’m going with the Yankees to win the first game.
Rustin Dodd: Yankees
You can picture the ledes of the Game 1 stories already. “Local boy Gerrit Cole goes six-plus innings. The death of the starting pitcher has been greatly exaggerated. Etc, etc.”
Sam Blum: Yankees
This simply boils down to the pitching matchup. After watching Jack Flaherty in Game 5 of the NLCS, it wouldn’t be prudent to predict a Dodgers victory.
Stephen J. Nesbitt: Yankees
Candidly, I picked them to win this series, and that’s a much harder road if you lose the Gerrit Cole start.
Chad Jennings: Dodgers
Look at my colleagues picking the Yankees. Cowards! Sure, on his best nights Gerrit Cole is the best pitcher in baseball. And yeah, Juan Soto’s a modern Ted Williams motivated by the promise of a championship and a generational payday. And, of course, the Yankees have the game’s greatest slugger (Aaron Judge) hitting in front of this postseason’s greatest slugger (Giancarlo Stanton). But have we forgotten that Freddie Freeman’s had some time to rest his ankle, and Mookie Betts got hot in the last series, and Shohei Ohtani is — well — Shohei Ohtani? I also like this matchup for Jack Flaherty, who’s pitched well at Dodger Stadium and threw a seven-inning gem in his Game 1 start in the NLCS. I think the Dodgers take Game 1 at home, and if I’m wrong, then I meant to say what Cody said.
Kaci Borowski: Dodgers
What is Los Angeles made of if not comeback stories? Things may have gone south quickly in Jack Flaherty’s last start against the Mets in the NLCS but he’s on home turf this time around and the LA native will have something to prove in Game 1. And more notably, this will be Shohei Ohtani’s first-ever World Series appearance, with thousands of adoring fans in the stands and millions more watching back home in Japan. I’m expecting fireworks, both literally and figuratively.