Judge, Ohtani and a dream World Series matchup: Could this be MLB’s Magic and Bird?

LOS ANGELES — Did the NBA Finals get LeBron versus Steph every year of the 2010s? It felt like it.

Did Tom Brady or Peyton Manning appear in 20 Super Bowls in a row? It felt like that, too.

But that was no surprise, because in those other sports, their championship games are their version of “Dancing with the Stars.” And the stars always rise to those moments. But in baseball? Not so much …

Until now.

Has your brain fully absorbed what it could mean for the sport to have Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge playing — for the Dodgers and the Yankees — in this World Series? We’re here to help with that, because let’s just say this, as clearly as we can.

This. Never. Happens.

It isn’t just that the two likely MVPs are playing in this World Series, which begins Friday at Dodger Stadium. It isn’t just that the two home run champs are playing in this World Series. It isn’t just that two of the most formidable you-need-to-buy-their-jersey dollar/yen machines of modern times are playing in this World Series.

Yes, it’s all of that. But it’s more. It’s all of that, plus the undeniable reality that the two biggest generators of global baseball star power are playing in this World Series. And have we mentioned lately that …

This. Never. Happens.

We’ve looked back on every World Series matchup in history. We’ve looked back at every set of MVP winners in history. We’ve looked at everyone in history who ever won a home run title. We’ve looked at all the men who have hit 50 homers or more in the same season. We’ve looked at this upside-down and right-side up.

How often do two larger-than-life MVPs show up in the same World Series, on opposing teams, at the peak of their MVP greatness, coming off a home run title and clearly towering above the rest of their sport in terms of star power? Let’s say this one more time.

This. Never. Happens.

We’ll lay it out in more detail in a moment. But first, let’s ponder what a mammoth baseball moment this is … and how it could reverberate beyond these next four to seven games.

“Are we going to have Magic Johnson and Larry Bird all over again?” asked SportsNet LA’s Jerry Hairston Jr. this week.

Whoa. Great question. Speaking on the latest episode of The Athletic’s Starkville podcast, Hairston reflected on a time in basketball, four decades earlier, when two transcendent superstars arrived in the NBA and changed … well, everything.

Look back on what the NBA was before and after Magic and Bird and you’ll get a sense of the impact two charismatic stars can have on one league. So what about baseball? It’s a different sport, and it’s a different time. But what if …

What if Ohtani and Judge are so spectacular and attract so many eyeballs around the planet in the next week and a half? What could happen next? Hairston couldn’t stop dreaming about that.

“I’m hoping that’s what we see — and these guys get a chance to determine their legacy,” said Hairston, who played for both teams. “They’re already legends. But they get a chance to determine their legacy with rings — plural. So I hope this is not a one-year thing.”

Inside the sport of baseball, the powers that be are fantasizing over that very thought. But this is no time to start geeking out over the Ohtani-Judge World Series rematch. It’s special enough just to let the meaning of this one swirl around your imagination. So let’s do that.

What it means for Ohtani

Is it out of line to mention that if this World Series was happening next year, Shohei Ohtani would also be the Dodgers’ Game 1 starting pitcher? OK, sorry. It’s hard not to let your mind go there sometimes.

But even in a season like this one, when his friendly neighborhood elbow surgeon got in the way of his pitching plans, Ohtani has spent the last seven months reminding us he’s probably the most talented human being ever to play baseball — or possibly any sport.

Can you believe there’s a real person, walking around our world, who just hit 54 homers, stole 59 bases and led his league in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, runs scored and RBIs? Just so you know, the last guy before Ohtani to lead his league in all that stuff — while also stealing 50 bases — was Ty Cobb. He did that 115 years ago!

And now Ohtani is coming off an NLCS against the Mets in which he Shoh’d off by launching a home run 30 feet over the foul pole in Citi Field — and reached base 17 times in one series. Ted Williams only reached base 10 times in the postseason in his whole career. That was three days in the life of Shohei.

But everything he has done has led him to this moment, to this week, to this World Series. And it’s staggering to think about that as these games draw near.

“This is what Shohei is doing here,” said his manager, Dave Roberts. “This is the reason he chose the Dodgers — to have a chance to play in the postseason every year, to be on the biggest stage. He’s arguably going to be the best player of all time. And with Shohei, it’s no longer domestic. This is global. So I think we’re going to have more eyeballs on this World Series than there’s ever been. And that is great for our game.”

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What it means for Judge

He could have taken the Giants’ money. He could have taken the Padres’ money. Funny how that never happened, huh?

This was two winters ago, when Aaron Judge’s free agency was must-follow baseball theater. There were private jets, from Monday Night Football to the West Coast. There were secret all-night meetings in San Diego. There was that sighting at the baggage claim in San Francisco.

So ask yourself this: Why couldn’t he bring himself to leave the pinstripes? It wasn’t to hit 58 homers, or to spend a summer playing center field, or because he loves buying half-stale flame-roasted soft pretzels on Bronx street corners. It was all for this — for what’s about to unfold over the next week or so.

It’s to play in a World Series as a Yankee and do whatever he can to leave people — his people — with a World Series memory for a lifetime. That’s how it works on that team he plays for. That’s how it’s always worked. Except for Don Mattingly, every Yankees legend of the last 100 years has won a World Series. Now it’s Judge’s turn.

“He was drafted by us,” said Yankees president Randy Levine. “He grew up studying the history (of the Yankees), the brand, the great players before him. And he understood that being a Yankee, especially being a Yankee in the playoffs, in the World Series, is like nothing else.”

So now, if he and his team go on to win this World Series, is this a legacy moment for Aaron Judge? That will be the narrative — but it’s one Levine thinks is too easy to get swept up in.

“I think that it’s really a further legacy moment for him,” Levine said. “I think he’s already established his legacy with the Yankees. He’s been a great Yankee. He’s been one of the greatest Yankees ever. And this would be a further accomplishment as a Yankee, on a resume that’s full of accomplishments.”

So now that we’ve set this stage, let’s remind you again that a one-of-a-kind baseball classic is waiting for us, on two hallowed diamonds 3,000 miles apart. How can we dare to say we’ve never seen this before? Here’s how.

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MVP vs. MVP

Back in another time — when the entire baseball postseason lasted a week and was called “the World Series” — both leagues’ MVPs faced each other in the Series all the time. But we don’t live in that world anymore. So let’s look at how rarely that happens in modern times.

The wild-card era (1995-present) — In 30 seasons, we’ve seen it only twice.

2012: Miguel Cabrera vs. Buster Posey
2024: Aaron Judge vs. Shohei Ohtani

The pre-wild-card division-play era (1969-93) — It was slightly more common before the postseason landscape added wild cards and extra rounds. But even when it was just two teams per league advancing to the postseason, those MVP-versus-MVP World Series battles were still not exactly as regular an October happening as, say, Halloween.

1970: Johnny Bench vs. Boog Powell
1975: Joe Morgan vs. Fred Lynn
1976: Joe Morgan vs. Thurman Munson
1980: Mike Schmidt vs. George Brett
1988: Kirk Gibson vs. Jose Canseco

But before that, the postseason landscape couldn’t possibly have been more different. There was no such thing as “playoffs.” So in the 38 seasons of the era that followed the dawn of the current version of the MVP award, there were more seasons where the two MVPs did meet (20) than where they didn’t (18).

But even if you include those years, how often were the two MVPs who met in the World Series also the two biggest stars in baseball … or at least ranked among the handful of iconic names in baseball? That was a tricky question to answer.

Feel free to second-guess this if you’re in the mood because this is a completely arbitrary list. But we think there were only four other years that compared to this one in that respect:

1946: Ted Williams vs. Stan Musial
1957: Mickey Mantle vs. Henry Aaron
1968: Bob Gibson vs. Denny McLain
1980: Mike Schmidt vs. George Brett

A few other years are in the argument. But it’s possible even this list is too generous — and the correct answer is really only 1946 and 1957. Either way, you get the picture. Just getting a battle of the iconic MVPs is an incredibly rare occurrence in any World Series.

Home run champ vs. home run champ

This seemed almost impossible to fathom, but since the invention of the MVP award in 1931, the two home run champs had met in the World Series only three other times:

1936: Lou Gehrig vs. Mel Ott
1937: Joe DiMaggio vs. Mel Ott
1956: Mickey Mantle vs. Duke Snider

Those are monster names. But you know what they’re not? They were not the MVPs in both leagues in any of those years. So Ohtani and Judge will become the first two ever to do that. And as amazing as that is, let’s keep going.

50-homer man vs. 50-homer man

This won’t take long! This is only the second World Series to feature two hitters who thumped at least 50 home runs that season. There’s just one slight difference between this time and the last time.

That other time, in 1961, those two hitters were Mantle and Roger Maris … and they played for the same team (the Yankees).

So this will be the first World Series in which two 50-homer men will oppose each other! How is that possible?

It’s the two best teams

We shouldn’t forget that Ohtani plays for the winningest team in the National League … while Judge plays for the winningest team in the American League. So they’re surrounded by huge stars on their own teams — yet they’re unquestionably the brightest of those stars.

To find the last time the two MVPs met in the World Series and were part of the two best teams, you have to go back almost half a century. That was the 1976 Reds-Yankees World Series that pitted Morgan’s Big Red Machine versus Munson’s Yankees. But it would be challenging to make the case that those were the two Faces of Baseball at the time. So …

Add it all up

Now, let’s circle back to the question we posed at the beginning of this piece. How often does a World Series give us …

• Both league MVPs

• The best teams in each league

• The home run champ in each league

• Two men who each made 50-plus home run trots

• And they’re the two baseball-playing humans we buzz about most, playing for the most iconic franchises in each league?

That describes the two players we’re talking about, doesn’t it? But by now, you know the answer:

It. Never. Happens.

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Now compare it to the NBA and NFL

LeBron James has played in the NBA Finals 10 times. Steph Curry has played in the Finals six times. For the record, they played each other in the Finals four years in a row (2015-18).

But it wasn’t just them. Bird and Magic met in the Finals four times. Magic also faced Michael Jordan in the Finals. We could keep rolling here, all the way back to Wilt Chamberlain versus Bill Russell. These matchups are a part of the NBA’s DNA.

Then there’s the Super Bowl, where rock-star quarterbacks seem to duel almost every February. Teams led by Patrick Mahomes or Tom Brady have won four of the last five Super Bowls. Four Super Bowls ago, Mahomes and Brady even played against each other.

John Elway faced Brett Favre and Joe Montana in the Super Bowl. Terry Bradshaw faced Roger Staubach. And Joe Namath versus Johnny Unitas is the most famous Super Bowl of them all.

So when a Super Bowl or the NBA Finals revolves around two “faces of their sport,” nobody even blinks. The NFL and NBA are star-driven leagues in a star-driven world. So those star-fest title games just fit right in.

Baseball, on the other hand, doesn’t play in that playground. So when we look up one glorious October and find Ohtani and Judge ready to rock, what should we make of it? What could it mean for the sport? We posed that question to a man who is richly embedded in both basketball and baseball.

Why Ohtani-Judge isn’t Lebron-Steph

Brian Anderson has seen it all. In 2021, he saw Steph Curry bury the 3-pointer that lifted him to the top of the NBA’s all-time trifecta list. Just last week, he saw Judge and Giancarlo Stanton go back-to-back off Emmanuel Clase in an October baseball game for the ages.

He has put those moments into words, in his own eloquent way, for Turner Sports. So he knows what stardom looks like. Does it look like Judge and Ohtani? Of course!

“I go around when I’m broadcasting NBA games, and I will get questions about Shohei from NBA coaches,” Anderson said. “They may know five players in Major League Baseball. Or maybe they know two. But so many of them ask me about Shohei Ohtani. So many of them ask me about Aaron Judge.

“I live in a house with zero sports fandom. My wife and daughter don’t care anything about sports. Wouldn’t know Aaron Judge if he was sitting in the back seat of our car. But even my wife asked me about Ohtani.”

So does that alone tell him that some stars grow bigger and brighter than all the other stars? It does. And is it realistic that those two shining stars could do for baseball what Bird and Magic once did for their sport? Anderson thinks it is.

And because these two stars are playing in this World Series, Anderson expects we’re about to see what he called “the Tiger Effect,” as in what Tiger Woods once did for golf.

How many people will watch these games just because they are drawn by the pull of the stars? There will be many. Will it be enough to fulfill Dave Roberts’ prediction that there will be more eyeballs on this World Series around the world than ever before? Sorry, we have no way of knowing that.

We know casual fans who don’t ordinarily watch baseball will watch these games. But here’s the difference between how that works in the NBA and how it works in baseball.

In the NBA, you can tune in to watch Steph Curry and come away a Steph Curry fan. But in baseball, you can tune in to watch Judge and Ohtani … and come away a baseball fan, because in this sport, the stars aren’t enough.

LeBron James, Anderson said, “is not passing the ball to the 12th man on his bench. And Joe Montana is not passing the ball to his fifth receiver. He’s passing it to Jerry Rice in the Super Bowl. But in baseball, you don’t have a choice. You go around that batting order, and your turn is going to come up if you’re in the order.”

So the greatness of baseball, Anderson said, is that it’s bigger than the stars, bigger even than someone like Judge.

“You know, he did not have an RBI in the Division Series (against Kansas City),” Anderson said. “He did not have a homer in the Division Series. … And so if you just plopped down and you only watched the Royals series, you might ask: Why would Aaron Judge even be somebody to follow? The lesson is that, because it’s a great game and your moment, your time, is coming back up, you’re going to get your chance again. And then, in Cleveland, he got that chance and he delivered in a big way.”

Who knows what chances are coming his way — and Ohtani’s way — in this World Series. Who knows what stories they will write, what memories they will leave. Anything is possible.

In the 1946 World Series, an injured Ted Williams went 5-for-25 (.200) with no extra-base hits. Stan Musial went 6-for-27 (.222) with no homers. That’s a reminder these World Series games could spin in literally any direction.

But here’s to Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. They will give us a reason to watch and to dream. And baseball will do the rest, because that’s what it always does.

“You’re still seeing the titans of the game going at it,” Anderson said. “It’s been the best postseason. And I think the ratings will probably bear that out. Hopefully, there will be a whole swath of new fans that are going to come to the game because of Ohtani and Judge — and then stay because of how great the game is.”

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(Top image: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic. Photos: Shohei Ohtani: Dustin Bradford / Icon Sportswire / Getty Images; Aaron Judge: Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos / Getty Images)