A big market World Series filled with stars is set to begin (plus World Series facts)

On the one hand, some complained about a lack of star-power last year when No. 5 seed Texas played No. 6 seed Arizona in a World Series matchup featuring teams that played in the Wild Card round.

This year is very different.

For just the fifth time since 1995, the World Series features the winningest clubs in each league. It is the first World Series pitting the major markets of New York and Los Angeles since 1981.

While some fans may not be excited about a Yankees-Dodgers matchup, the ratings figure to be good, maybe great. Last year’s five-game World Series with the Rangers and Diamondbacks was the least watched with an average audience of 9.08 million viewers.

According to a Forbes article, the TV ratings have been mostly good this year.

The Wild Card round games averaged 2.82 million viewers, up 25 percent from last year. The Division Series games averaged 3.56 million, up 14 percent. The AL Championship Series (Yankees-Guardians) averaged 4.99 million, actually down one percent. But the six-game NL Championship Series (Dodgers-Mets) averaged 5.64 million and was up 20 percent.

Big markets, big games, big star-power. This World Series has it

According to MLB Network, this is the first World Series that will feature five players that have won Most Valuable Player Awards. In fact, this Series features an MVP winner for every season since 2017, save for 2019.

The Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton won with Miami in 2017 and the Dodgers Mookie Betts in 2018. Freddie Freeman of LA won in 2020 with teammate Shohei Ohtani winning in 2021 and 2023 while the Yankees Aaron Judge won in 2022.

Judge, who led MLB with 58 homers and Ohtani, who was second with 54, are favored to win MVP awards for this season too when they are handed out next month.

And while these clubs are big market, big payroll teams, they have combined for 21 playoffs appearances since 2010 with just one championship. The Dodgers won the 2020 World Series in the pandemic-shortened 60-game season.

The Dodgers have seven WS wins, the last coming in a full season in 1988. The Yankees last won the WS in 2009, their 27^th championship.

More World Series facts:

* In the previous 119 World Series, the series result was a four-game sweep 19 times and 29 times went five games. The WS went six games 27 times and the full seven games 40 times.

The World Series was a best-of-nine in 1903 and also from 1919-1921 and each time went eight games. 

* The AL has won four of the last seven since 2017 including the last two years. In 2022, Houston beat the Phillies in six games and Texas won in five over Arizona last year.

* The winner of Game 1 has won the World Series 75 times (63.0 percent). Only four teams in World Series history have won Game 1 and been swept in the next four. They are the 1915 Phillies, 1942 Yankees, 1969 Orioles and 1983 Phillies. So the O's have been in on the last two. 

* The Orioles played in the first night game in WS history. The O's played at Pittsburgh on Oct. 13, 1971 in Game 4. 

* The largest attendance for a WS that went five games was Orioles-Phillies in 1983, a series seen by 304,139 fans.

* The MVPs for the three O's WS wins were Frank Robinson in 1966, Brooks Robinson in 1970 and Rick Dempsey in 1983.

* Corey Seager of the Texas Rangers won the WS MVP last year becoming a two-team MVP in the World Series. He also was MVP in 2020 with the Dodgers. He joins three other players that have won the World Series MVP multiple times - Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson.

* The youngest World Series MVP was Bret Saberhagen, who won Games 3 and 7 of the 1985 World Series for Kansas City. He was 21 years, six months and 16 days old. The oldest MVP was Willie Stargell, who won the award at the age of 39 years and 225 days in 1979. Yep, too soon for that one!

* There are 21 players that have hit a World Series grand slam. The most recent was the Braves Adam Duvall in 2021. The list includes O's pitcher Dave McNally in 1970 against the Big Red Machine.

Who is favored to win the 2025 World Series?: SportsBetting.ag released 2025 World Series lines earlier this week, and, since we are not even through this year yet, the favorites are no big surprise really.

+350 – Los Angeles Dodgers

+750 – New York Yankees

+800 – Atlanta

+1200 – Orioles, Philadelphia, Houston

+1400 – San Diego

+2000 – New York Mets

+2200 – Texas

+2500 – Minnesota, Seattle