World Series matchups: How Dodgers have fared vs. Gerrit Cole, Yankees vs. Jack Flaherty

Gerrit Cole (New York Yankees) and Jack Flaherty (Los Angeles Dodgers) will take the hill for Game 1 of the 2024 World Series on Friday night at Dodger Stadium (8:08 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).

Cole, a six-time All-Star who's in his fifth season with the Yankees, missed the first 11 weeks of the MLB regular season due to an elbow injury on his throwing arm (right). In the 17 starts he made, the 2023 American League Cy Young winner posted a 3.41 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 99 strikeouts across 95.0 innings. He followed that up by posting a 3.31 ERA and 12 strikeouts across 16.1 innings in his first three postseason starts, highlighted by surrendering just one run in seven innings in New York's closeout Game 4 victory over the Kansas City Royals in the AL Division Series.

On the other hand, the Dodgers acquired Flaherty from the Detroit Tigers in July. In 10 regular-season starts for the Dodgers, Flaherty posted a 3.58 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 61 strikeouts across 55.1 innings. However, it has been a mixed bag in the postseason for Flaherty; he surrendered four runs and eight runs in separate outings that came in-between pitching seven scoreless innings against the New York Mets in Game 1 of the NL Championship Series, good for a combined 7.04 postseason ERA.

Now that you have the background on both Game 1 starters, let's go a little bit deeper and see how both teams performed against these two right-handers.

Here's how Dodgers hitters have fared against Cole (Andy Pages has never faced him):

[Related: Full coverage of the World Series]

• Teoscar Hernández: one home run, one RBI, seven strikeouts, .192/.250/.346 slash line (26 at-bats)
• Kiké Hernández: one home run, one RBI, three strikeouts, .381/.480/.667 slash line (21 at-bats)
• Shohei Ohtani: one home run, three RBIs, seven strikeouts, .200/.238/.400 slash line (20 at-bats)
• Freddie Freeman: one home run, two RBIs, seven strikeouts .350/.409/.650 slash line (20 at-bats)
• Mookie Betts: zero home runs, one RBI, one strikeout, .412/.444/.471 slash line (17 at-bats)
• Chris Taylor: zero home runs, zero RBIs, three strikeouts, .000/.000/.000 slash line (six at-bats)
• Tommy Edman: zero home runs, zero RBIs, two strikeouts, .000/.000/.000 slash line (five at-bats)
• Will Smith: zero home runs, zero RBIs, one strikeout, .333/.333/.333 slash line (three at-bats)
• Max Muncy: zero home runs, zero RBIs, two strikeouts, .000/.400/.000 slash line (three at-bats)

Here's how Yankees hitters have fared against Flaherty (Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Austin Wells have never faced him):

• Anthony Rizzo: three home runs, six RBIs, two strikeouts, .429/.571/.905 slash line (21 at-bats)
• Juan Soto: zero home runs, one RBI, three strikeouts, .111/.467/.222 slash line (nine at-bats)
• Alex Verdugo: zero home runs, one RBI, zero strikeouts, .250/.200/.250 slash line (four at-bats)
• Gleyber Torres: zero home runs, zero RBIs, zero strikeouts, .333/.333/.333 slash line (three at-bats)
• Anthony Volpe: zero home runs, zero RBIs, one strikeout, .000/.000/.000 slash line (two at-bats)
• Oswaldo Cabrera: zero home runs, zero RBIs, zero strikeouts, .500/.500/.500 slash line (two at-bats)
• Jon Berti: zero home runs, zero RBIs, one strikeout, .000/.000/.000 slash line (two at-bats)
• Jazz Chisholm: zero home runs, zero RBIs, one strikeout, .000/.500/.000 slash line (one at-bat)

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