Gerrit Cole pitching for his Yankees and baseball legacy

LOS ANGELES — As mega-powers collide this World Series, what is hard to find are significant advantages that the Yankees and Dodgers have over one another; what is easy to see is how many huge legacies are at play. A pretty good debate could be had on which Big Three you would take: Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton vs.Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani.

And which anonymous but deep bullpen you see having an upper hand with the closeness further accentuated by the Dodgers likely getting their key lefty, Alex Vesia, back and the Yankees adding southpaw Nestor Cortes. And it is not as if either organization can feel better prepped for the pressure of the World Series considering the championship-or-bust coastal superpower cauldrons both reside in. The biggest gap the Dodgers have is a tactical one; they play a cleaner game than the Yankees and notably are a terrific baserunning team compared to the worst-in-show Bronx Bumblers. The Yankees’ advantage, at least on paper, is having four starters with big stuff to face an opposing lineup and potentially protect their bullpen from overuse/overexposure compared to the Dodgers, who have three starters in a more dubious state and already know they will be throwing at least one bullpen game in the 120th World Series. But paper can be shredded relatively easily at this time of year.The Yankees are a short, ineffective start or two against the powerhouse Dodgers attack of ceding the edge.

It is why no player is more positioned to impact this series and his own legacy than Gerrit Cole, who starts Game 1 against Jack Flaherty on Friday night.By pedigree, Cole is the best pitcher in this World Series; the one you can most imagine going seven strong innings. If he does that twice, the Yankees’ chances of winning a championship jumps considerably, and Cole’s standing in the game and Yankee history rises dramatically. “I would bet everything I have that he cares about that,” Yankees bench...