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The New York Yankees were supposed to have the advantage in starting pitching. They were supposed to have more power than the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Bronx Bombers, even with their fundamental flaws, were supposed to make this an epic World Series.

Well, two games in, and you wonder if it’s going to be two more games and out. The Dodgers overpowered the Yankees, 4-2, on Saturday, and lead the World Series 2-0, confident when they return back to Los Angeles from New York, they’ll have a World Series trophy in their carry-on luggage.

The Dodgers, who came into the World Series with only three healthy starters, have outpitched the Yankees, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto never giving the Yankees a chance.

Yamamoto completely overwhelmed the Yankees, giving up just one hit in 6⅓ shutout innings, his longest outing since June 7 when he pitched seven shutout innings against these same Yankees.

The only mistake he made was trying to sneak a fastball past Juan Soto  in the third inning, which ended up going 386 feet into the Yankees’ bullpen. Yamamoto left to a raucous standing ovation by the crowd of 52,725.

The outing was even more painful for the Yankees considering they were one of the finalists for Yamamoto’s services when he left Japan last winter, only to be outbid by the Dodgers’ 12-year, $325 million offer.

It’s the 12th Fall Classic meeting between the Dodgers and Yankees, by far the most prolific of any postseason matchup. 

But this will mark the first meeting between these two teams since 1981. The Dodgers won the championship that season, but the Yankees have won eight of the previous 11 matchups. Since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, they are 2-2 in World Series against New York.

The Dodgers earned home-field advantage throughout the postseason by finishing with 98 wins, the best record in baseball. The Yankees won 94 games, the best record in the American League and third-best record overall, with the 95-win Phillies in between.

The Yankees beat the Guardians in five games in the American League Championship Series, clinching the pennant on Saturday night in Cleveland. It’s the first trip to the World Series for New York since 2009.

During the regular season, the Dodgers won two out of three games against the Yankees. 

Juan Soto smashed a three-run home run in the 10th inning on Saturday that lifted the New York Yankees over Cleveland 5-2 and into their first World Series since 2009.

The 25-year-old Dominican outfielder crushed a fastball from Cleveland pitcher Hunter Gaddis over the centerfield wall to score the deciding runs in a thriller that sent the Yankees into their record 41st World Series overall.

Earlier on, Giancarlo Stanton had hit a two-run homer in the sixth to level the match at 2-2.

“It’s the best feeling in the game whenever you win and take your team to the World Series,” said Soto. “It’s the best feeling you can ever have. That’s what we play for.

“We did a really good job since day one. We’ve been working hard. Now we’re the best team in the American League.”

The Dodgers had MLB’s best record this season and won a five-game NLDS against an impressive Padres team, but no team has been hotter for longer than the Mets. 

The franchises are meeting in the playoffs for the fourth time after the Dodgers won in the 1988 NLCS and the Mets turned the tables in the NLDS in 2006 and 2015. 

The Dodgers had the league’s top offense and a relentless lineup during the regular season, with Shohei Ohtani at the top and Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernandez also difficult to get out.But the Mets’ lineup has flourished in October, sparked by Mark Vientos, Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor.

Among the many aspects of this series that would have been hard to believe heading into the season is the fact the Mets enter with a deeper and more stable rotation — with Sean Manaea, Luis Severino and Jose Quintana all healthy and pitching well, and Kodai Senga ready to contribute after missing nearly the entire season with shoulder and calf issues.

Meanwhile, the supposedly pitching-rich Dodgers have Yoshinobu Yamamoto — who was terrific in the Game 5 clincher — Jack Flaherty and a shell-of-himself Walker Buehler, and had to rely on a bullpen game in a Game 4 shutout victory. 

The Buffalo Bills took control of first place in the AFC East after a 23-20 win over the New York Jets on “Monday Night Football.”

Kicker Tyler Bass hit a 22-yard field goal with three minutes and 43 seconds left in the fourth — the Bills’ only points in the second half — which proved to be the game-winner. Aaron Rodgers was intercepted on the Jets’ final drive, as Buffalo ran out the clock on the following possession.

The game was incredibly sloppy on both sides. The teams combined to miss four kicks — two field goals by New York and a field goal and an extra point by Buffalo. And the flags were endless, as the two squads combined for 22 accepted penalties for 204 yards, the most penalty yards in a game this season.

Buffalo QB Josh Allen completed 19 of 25 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns, running for another score. The Bills were effective on the ground all night, rushing for 149 yards on 33 carries.

Rodgers went 23-of-35 for 294 yards and two touchdowns, continuing his streak of throwing for under 300 yards, which he hasn’t done since he played for the Green Bay Packers. He still led the Jets into the red zone four times, but they could manage only one touchdown in those trips. 

The Cincinnati Bengals defense made enough plays to support an offense that got surprisingly little going, and they managed a 17-7 victory over the New York Giants.

Both teams had a tough time executing anything. Daniel Jones threw a horrible interception as he was getting pressured, and missed on several other throws. The Bengals’ offense wasn’t much better but at least Cincinnati found one unexpected highlight.

Burrow, who never had a run longer than 23 yards in his first 57 NFL games, took off on a third-and-18 and just kept running because there were no Giants defenders around him. He scored on a stunning 47-yard touchdown. It was a nice play for Burrow, but also a red flag that the Giants allowed Burrow to break a run like that.

Both teams needed a win. The Giants were 2-3 coming into the game and the Bengals were 1-4. And it was there for the taking, but neither team seemed too excited to grab it.

Cleveland vs New York

The Guardians (formerly called the Indians) and Yankees have been around for a long time. Cleveland is a charter member of the American League, which was established in 1901, and the Yankees were born two years later.

In the 121 years during which both have been Major League franchises, they have met in the postseason six times: 1997, 1998, 2007, 2017, 2020 and 2022. In that span, the clubs have been pretty evenly matched, with New York winning 15 games and Cleveland winning 12. 

Prior to the advent of the Wild Card in 1994, both were in the AL East and therefore did not match up in the playoffs.

Including this year’s AL Championship Series, the seven meetings between the Guardians and Yankees are topped only by the 11 times the Yankees and Dodgers faced off in the playoffs as the most common postseason matchup in MLB history.

The Jets have shockingly fired head coach Robert Saleh after a 2-3 start to the season.

Saleh was 20-36 as the Jets coach five games into his fourth season on the job. The Jets entered the 2024 season with Super Bowl aspirations as quarterback Aaron Rodgers returned from a season-ending injury in 2023.

The Jets have not looked good in the early part of the season, though, and have dropped the last two games. The final straw was a 23-17 loss to the Vikings in London on Sunday, a game in which Aaron Rodgers threw three interceptions and the offense looked lost for much of the game.

Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich will be the interim head coach.

Saleh had one year remaining on the contract he signed in 2021. 

This is the first time that Woody Johnson has fired a head coach during the season and the first time the Jets have had a coaching change in the middle of the season since 1976 when Lou Holtz quit.

A grand slam by Francisco Lindor in the sixth inning erased a one-run deficit and led the Mets to a 4-1 defeat of the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 of the NLDS at Citi Field on Wednesday night, closing out the series 3-1 and advancing to the NLCS.

It’s the first time that the Mets have clinched a postseason series at Citi Field.

Lindor continues to cement a legacy in New York with this run of clutch home runs. He may have saved the season with the ninth-inning shot in Atlanta, in that doubleheader on the final day of the season, and who knows how this one turns out if he didn’t deliver.

The star shortstop has won over the fans along the way. The crowd singing his walk-up song, “My Girl,” has become a thing at Citi Field. The fans continued singing on Wednesday, even when the music cut off, before segueing into the MVP chant.

In his final at-bat on Wednesday, after the grand slam in the sixth, the fans gave him a standing ovation while singing and chanting.

Another outstanding start by Jose Quintana. He only allowed one unearned run in 5 innings. David Peterson has bolstered their bullpen, entering a big spot in the sixth inning and pitching superbly for 2 innings.

Edwin Diaz came on in the ninth to get the save, but not without some nervous moments as he walked the first two batters he faced.

Geno Smith and the Seattle Seahawks’ offense fell flat on Sunday afternoon at home. That opened the door for Daniel Jones and the New York Giants, who held on late and ran a blocked field goal back for a touchdown in the final minute to grab a 29-20 win in Seattle.

The Giants (2-3), after dropping back-to-back games to open the season, have now won two of their past three. The Seahawks (3-2) have lost two straight.

Smith entered Sunday afternoon as the league’s passing leader after he threw for a career-high 395 yards in their loss to the Detroit Lions last Monday. That loss marked their first of the season, and was Smith’s second game with at least 300 passing yards this season.

But on Sunday, Smith couldn’t get much going until the very end. He completed 28 of 40 passes for 284 yards and one touchdown. He was also Seattle’s rushing leader with 73 yards on the ground.

Jones and the Giants took full advantage. After entering halftime tied 10-10, the Giants took the lead out of the locker room after Jones hit Darius Slayton for a 30-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone. 

Jones went 23-of-34 for 257 yards with two touchdowns in the win for the Giants. Tyrone Tracy led them on the ground with 129 yards on 18 carries. Slayton finished with 122 yards and a touchdown on eight catches.