Dodgers could get familiar source of World Series inspiration with more disrespect

It's really hard to sell an underdog narrative for one of the richest teams in baseball, but if there's an underdog in this year's World Series, a clash of titans if there ever was one, it's...kinda the Dodgers.

Before anyone starts rolling their eyes, this is a completely matchup-specific reading on these teams. The Dodgers were widely expected to get kicked during the NLDS by the Padres, with 22 out of 27 ESPN insiders and analysts taking San Diego in that series. Only David Schoenfield was brave enough to predict that the Dodgers would win the Fall Classic, with 13 others choosing the Phillies and seven taking the Padres. Two even chose the Orioles. All of those teams were out by Oct. 11.

So, yeah, the Dodgers are the underdogs here, if you had to pick one. They've weathered numerous injuries and staged multiple bullpen games during this postseason with more to come, and they defied very good odds on the Padres after Game 3 of the LDS to keep the dream alive.

Max Muncy revealed that the team had gotten tired of hearing it, which led to his "f— those experts" comments and spurred the Dodgers to victory in the LDS and LCS. They're going to need to bring that mentality back in full force, because 63% of The Athletic's analysts chose the Yankees as this year's big winners (subscription required).

Dodgers should get more fuel from The Athletic's latest Dodgers-Yankees World Series predictions

Sure, there are good reasons to doubt the Dodgers. The bullpen is solid but the starting pitching is not, and that will be their biggest problem if this series stretches into seven games, even if Alex Vesia and/or Brusdar Graterol are back on the roster. In a potential Game 7, the Dodgers' pitching staff is sure to be running on fumes, especially if the starters can't make long appearances. So far, only Jack Flaherty has been able to pitch more than five innings in a start.

The Dodgers' offense is going to have to pick up the slack, but so far, they lead the Yankees in average, OBP, OPS, homers, and runs scored. There's a lot of reason to be concerned facing Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres or Giancarlo Stanton in an at-bat (even Aaron Judge, because you should never really count him out despite his postseason struggles), but there's been a far more even spread of production through the Dodgers offense so far.

And, as The Athletic's Noah Furtado put it succinctly in dissent from the overwhelmingly Yankees-positive analyst crop: "They have Shohei Ohtani."

"F— those experts" should be the mentality here again. Prove 'em wrong.