When the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees begin the 2024 World Series at Dodger Stadium on Friday night, some of the game's very best players will be on the field. Mookie Betts, Gerrit Cole, Freddie Freeman, Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, Giancarlo Stanton, and on and on we could go. These two rosters do not lack star power.
It takes more than a few stars to win a pennant and ultimately the World Series, however. You need unsung heroes to emerge along the way, like Tommy Edman winning NLCS MVP and Gleyber Torres becoming a force in the leadoff spot. At some point in the World Series, some unexpected will step up and get the big hit or big out. It is inevitable. Happens every October.
With that in mind, here are four unsung heroes -- one position player and one pitcher each for the Dodgers and Yankees -- who have helped our two pennant-winners get to the Fall Classic.
Yankees position player: Anthony Volpe
Give the Yankees a truth serum and I think they'd tell you they expected more from Volpe two years into his career. His regular season performance has been underwhelming -- not bad, but underwhelming -- though he's more than making up for it in October. Volpe is slashing .310/.459/.345 with more walks (eight) than strikeouts (six) this postseason.
Also, Volpe's had several big individual moments. He worked a game-tying, bases-loaded walk in Game 1 of the ALDS. He also poked a one-out single against Emmanuel Clase in Game 4 of the ALCS, which spurred New York's game-winning, ninth-inning rally. Volpe has reached base 17 times in nine postseason games.
In addition to the offense, Volpe has played lockdown defense at shortstop, particularly over New York's last 6-7 games. He has given the Yankees a much-needed lift from the bottom of the order -- Volpe is getting on base a ton for Soto, Judge, and Stanton -- while also providing stability in the field and speed on the bases.
Dodgers position player: Will Smith
Edman winning NLCS MVP took him out of play here. You can't be unsung after winning a danged series MVP. So, Smith is our pick here, not that he's had a good postseason. In fact, he's been quite bad. Smith owns a .158/.289/.316 line in October. Objectively bad, that is, though I am willing to cut Smith some slack because he's a catcher and has eight months of wear and tear on his body. Catchers take a beating all summer and they all have hamburger for hands.
Smith is the pick because his few contributions have been impactful. With the Dodgers facing elimination in Game 4 of the NLDS, he busted the game open with a two-run homer in the third inning. Smith also opened the scoring in Game 3 of the NLCS with an RBI single and broke open Game 6 of the NLCS with a two-run homer. Those were all Dodgers wins.
By championship probability added, Smith has two of the Dodgers' 14 biggest hits of the postseason and three of their 20 biggest hits. No, he has not hit well overall, but Smith has made the few hits he's gotten really count. Those home runs in Game 4 of the NLDS and Game 6 of the NLCS effectively put the game to bed and sent the Dodgers on their way.
Teoscar Hernández deserves a mention here as well, moreso for his work in the NLDS (6 for 18 with two homers) than in the NLCS (2 for 22 with nine strikeouts.)
Yankees pitcher: Tim Hill
Getting released by a White Sox team that went on to lose 121 games is usually a bad sign. It might be time to freshen up the ol' resume when that happens, you know? Hill had a 5.87 ERA with Chicago, got released on June 18, and two days later, the Yankees signed him. The funky southpaw quickly emerged as a trusted piece in New York's bullpen. Hill finished with a 2.05 ERA with the Yankees during the regular season.
This postseason, Hill has allowed two runs (one earned) in 5 2/3 innings, and he took on an enormous workload during the ALCS. He pitched in all five games against the Guardians and, in Game 5, he faced four batters and got two double plays while pitching for the fifth time in six days.
Thanks in part to those double plays, Hill led all Yankees' pitchers in win probability added and championship probability added in the ALCS. Not too bad for a sidewinding lefty who had the lowest strikeout rate in baseball during the regular season, and got released by the White Sox in June.
Dodgers pitcher: Evan Phillips
The Dodgers have used their bullpen a lot this postseason -- A LOT -- so I'm not sure we can really call any of their relievers unsung heroes. Phillips has been so, so good though. It's not just that he's thrown 6 2/3 scoreless innings. He's done it while being matched up with the other team's best hitters game after game.
Look at who Phillips has been tasked with facing this October:
| Game | Outs recorded | Batters faced |
|---|---|---|
NLDS Game 1 | 4 | Donovan Solano, David Peralta, Luis Arraez, Fernando Tatis Jr. |
NLDS Game 4 | 4 | Tatis, Jurickson Profar, Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill |
NLDS Game 5 | 5 | Kyle Higashioka, Arraez, Tatis, Profar, Machado |
NLCS Game 4 | 4 | Mark Vientos, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte, J.D. Martinez, Jose Iglesias, Jeff McNeil |
NLCS Game 6 | 3 | Francisco Alvarez, Francisco Lindor, Nimmo, Vientos, Alonso, Jesse Winker |
That's a lot of big outs in high leverage situations against the heart of the other team's order. Look at it this way: 11 of the 26 batters Phillips has faced this postseason were Alonso, Arraez, Machado, Tatis, and Vientos. Those guys combined to hit .288/.356/.554 with 14 home runs this postseason. And Phillips shut them all right down. Incredible work by him.
