Talk to any baseball enthusiast, and they would want the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers to face off at the championship. Fan or not a fan, undoubtedly! But it’s been a hot minute—43 years of dreams in the making. Each time, this dream remained a dream, but it seems like this time things can shape up exactly how most one. The reason? Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge. MVP vs. MVP!

Shohei Ohtani, at 30, has met every challenge with historic brilliance. He is the first player in history to reach the 50-50 milestone. And even this time his jersey sales have topped the charts, proving that he is indeed a fan favorite. Judge, well, he is a powerhouse and hit 52 home runs three times, standing alongside Babe Ruth to be able to do so. Picture this: Judge and Ohtani face off at the World Series. And this is the reality even MLB insiders Sean Casey and Rich Ciancimino are picturing.

Shohei Ohtani vs Aaron Judge might skyrocket viewership!

The last time the men in blue and the pinstriped faced off in the World Series was in 1981! And even then it was a monumental event, drawing 41.4 million viewers—the third biggest audience in World Series history. Just three years earlier, these two teams set a record with 44.3 million views. Today, the media landscape surrounding MLB is kind of fractured. In the past two decades, the most significant World Series audiences were fueled by the Red Sox with a mere 15.8 million viewers and the Chicago Cubs with 12.9 million. So if the Dodgers and Yankees meet again, you bet the ratings will skyrocket. Sean Casey says it will be like Super Bowl viewings. The recent NCLS game 1 drew a whopping 8.48 million viewers, the most an LCS opener in 15 years!

In the recent episode of “The Mayor’s Office with Sean Casey,”  hosts Sean Casey and Rich Ciancimino talked about the dream matchup and how much money MLB and Fox would make if it were indeed the Dodgers vs. Yankees. “I have been working in baseball in some capacity from ESPN til now for 25 years. And every single year, people have said, ‘Can you imagine what the ratings would be if it were Dodgers-Yankees'”  Ciancimino said. He further added, “That is the most ideal postseason World Series matchup that will get Super Bowl-type numbers.” And given his years in baseball, he knows his game. 

There’s no doubt about it: Dodgers-Yankees is the ultimate World Series matchup that the world just might be waiting for. Even MLB themselves!

Will MLB’s dream matchup come true?

But here’s the twist: what if neither the Yankees nor the Dodgers make it to the playoffs? Does MLB suddenly sweep that ad campaign under the rug? And if they both do make the World Series, you can bet the conspiracy theorists will be out in full force, claiming the league rigged it for the drama. But this isn’t a scripted fairytale, and reality rarely unfolds like a storybook. Ohtani isn’t exactly crushing it at the plate lately, and the Yankees are still searching for that perfect groove.

So while fans might already be dreaming of a Judge-Ohtani slugfest in the World Series, it’s far from guaranteed. The path to that epic showdown is fraught with challenges, and as much as MLB may want it, nothing’s set in stone. Buckle up—this postseason could be full of surprises.