MLB World Series 2024: When, How to Watch, & Top Contenders
October baseball and the MLB Playoffs are quickly approaching. You can almost feel it in the air. Soon enough, we will have a team hoisting the Commissioner's Trophy after the World Series yet again.
Below, we’ll go over when the World Series starts in 2024, where to watch the World Series, and dig a little deeper into what teams have the best chance in this year's MLB Playoffs.
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When is the MLB World Series 2024?
Game 1 of the MLB World Series is slated for October 25. Game 2 will be played the following day on October 26. Teams will then switch home field advantage for a three-game stint from October 28 through October 30. If Games 6 and 7 are needed, those will be played on November 1 and 2, respectively.
The MLB Playoffs will lead up to Game 1 of the World Series on Oct. 25.
MLB Playoffs Schedule
- Wild-Card Series — Oct. 1-3
- Divisional Series — Oct. 5-12
- League Championship Series — Oct. 13-22
- World Series — Oct. 25-Nov. 2
How to Watch the World Series 2024
The entire MLB World Series will be broadcast on Fox. Fox has the right to broadcast the World Series through 2028. It will be broadcast in English and in Spanish on Fox Deportes.
The World Series will also be available to be streamed on the Fox Sports website and the Fox Sports app across devices.
The MLB Playoffs games will be available on various TV channels, including FOX, FS1, TBS, ESPN, ESPN2, and MLB Network.
Who Are the Top MLB World Series Contenders?
There are some clear favorites to win it all this year in each conference. In the American League, the obvious top choices are the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Guardians, and the Houston Astros.
Out of the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are the expected favorites.
Let’s take a look at some of the top World Series contenders for 2024.
New York Yankees
The American League East-leading Yankees are one of the obvious top picks to win the World Series. The dynamic duo of Aaron Judge and Juan Soto on offense headlines a team filled with youth around the diamond. If the Yankees can find consistency from players like Anthony Volpe and Ben Rice in the playoffs, they could find themselves in the World Series for the first time since they won it in 2009.
Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles are giving the Yankees a run for their money this year in their own division. Gunnar Henderson was in the home run race for a good majority of the season. Adley Rutschman and Jackson Holliday getting called up again allows for their new young core to get some needed playoff experience early in their careers.
Starting pitcher Corbin Burnes is a great backbone to have on the pitching staff as well. The Orioles have a fair chance at going deep into the playoffs, and even if they don’t, their future is very bright.
Cleveland Guardians
The Guardians are strong candidates out of the American League Central. Compared to the hype the Kansas City Royals have been getting in their division thanks to Bobby Witt Jr., they have been flying under a lot of teams' radars.
The Guardians have some key offensive pieces on the corners of the infield in Josh Naylor at first and Jose Ramirez at third. Along with Steven Kwan in the outfield and a pitching staff including Alex Cobb, Gavin Williams, Emmanuel Clase and Matthew Boyd. I’d look for the Guardians to catch a lot of people off guard this playoffs.
Houston Astros
The Astros were one of the worst teams to start the year. Many people, including myself, wrote them off and quite frankly were delighted to do so. The public thought the Seattle Mariners or the Texas Rangers were going to run away with the division; yet they somehow found a way to take charge of the American League West once again.
Yordan Alvarez has been the rock of this offense all year. Although Justin Verlander has had a very underwhelming year, they have found consistency from Framber Valdez and others to keep them in the mix.
The Astros are just one of those teams that you cannot take lightly and they will always have a shot come playoff time with a deep roster.
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Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are absolutely stacked. Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm, Trea Turner, JT Realmuto, Kyle Schwarber… this list goes on. The offense is loaded and if they’re able to get home field advantage for the Playoffs, they may just win it all this year.
Winning nearly two-thirds of their home games this season with a pitching staff that is up there with the best in all of baseball (if healthy), I think the Phillies are the favorites to make it out of the National League.
Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers are underrated despite coming out of one of the weakest divisions in baseball.
Many people believed that once Christian Yelich went down with his back injury in August that they wouldn’t survive much longer, but the Brewers have managed to control this division. They have even extended their lead up to ten games with a month left this season.
Now, I don’t expect them to make a World Series run if they have to play the Dodgers and Phillies then go on to play someone like the Yankees to win it all. That said, I could see them upsetting a team in the Playoffs. Who knows though, they’ve made it this far, and you never know what could happen during October baseball.
Los Angeles Dodgers
What looks to be the most dominant roster assembled in baseball, the Dodgers, of course, have the best record in baseball this year. Quite frankly, I could see them losing in the National League Championship Series.
Shohei Ohtani has of course been carrying this team as expected with his 44 home runs and 46 stolen bases. Beyond him, if I’m the Dodgers, I want to see more production out of some of the role guys.
That might be crazy to ask, but this team — given its payroll and the names they've added to this roster — should be easily hitting the 100-win mark. In order to do that they need to roll through their last 24 games. Granted, it will probably happen, but I believed this team to be at least a 105-win team and they’ve underwhelmed.
I guess that doesn’t matter if you have the best roster in baseball; you can be underwhelming and still win against anyone. I look for the Phillies and Dodgers to have a great run in this MLB Playoffs.
What Sleeper Teams Have a Shot in the MLB Playoffs?
There are some teams that I believe if able to get into the playoffs, that they might be able to cause havoc and advance in the playoffs. I believe the Boston Red Sox and the Atlanta Braves are the two teams who have a solid chace of upsetting one of the favorites in the playoffs.
Boston has a solid offense headlined by third baseman Raphael Devers. Jarren Duran has also been playing really well recently. Although the Red Sox have been slumping, going 3-7 over their last 10 games, they could easily upset a team in the right situation.
The Atlanta Braves have been plagued with so many important injuries this season, including Ozzie Albies, Austin Riley, Spencer Strider, Ronald Acuña, and more. Just when it was looking up for them, they fell right into the same hole.
If they’re able to get back healthy — excluding the season-long injuries to Acuña and Strider — I could easily see the Braves winning a series or two. The offense just has to find some consistency which it has done over the past 20 games.
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