Examine a list of past World Series MVP winners, and you'll spot some of the best players to ever grace an MLB roster. You'll also find some rather obscure role players.

That's the beauty of baseball, isn't it? You never really know what's going to happen or who's going to step up when the two teams take the field.

So, while the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees might be respectively loaded with stars, that doesn't mean any of these elites are destined to take home the series' top individual prize. Do we think they will, though? That's a great question, and one worth exploring here.

After laying out the series schedule and spotlighting some of the top candidates, we'll force ourselves to make an MVP prediction ahead of Friday's opener.

World Series Schedule

Game 1: Friday Oct, 25 at Dodger Stadium

Game 2: Saturday, Oct. 26 at Dodger Stadium

Game 3: Monday, Oct. 28 at Yankee Stadium

Game 4: Tuesday, Oct. 29 at Yankee Stadium

Game 5*: Wednesday, Oct. 30 at Yankee Stadium

Game 6*: Friday, Nov. 1 at Dodger Stadium

Game 7*: Saturday, Nov. 2 at Dodger Stadium

*if necessary

**all games at 8:08 p.m. ET on FOX

The Top Candidates

Geez, where do we even start? Actually, that's a silly question. Of course we have to start with the Dodgers' $700 million man Shohei Ohtani, whose star is brightest in baseball. Normally, he wows with his two-way abilities, but since elbow surgery kept him off the mound, he just had to dazzle with his offense, So, he went out and invented the 50/50 club as the first player ever to tally at least 50 home runs (54 in all) and 50 stolen bases (59).

The Yankees have their own destroyer of stat sheets in Aaron Judge. The 6'7" slugger might boast the most feared bat in baseball. He was the only player to eclipse Ohtani in homers (58) and RBI (144), and he also paced the Majors in on-base percentage (.458) and slugging percentage (.701).

Those are the co-headliners, but there are more stars on both sides. For the Dodgers, Mookie Betts does a little (or often a lot) of everything, and Freddie Freeman, when healthy, is a nightmare for opposing pitchers. For the Yankees, Juan Soto has been everything they could've hoped for and more, and Giancarlo Stanton keeps proving there's plenty more thump left in his bat (five homers this postseason, tied for the MLB's best mark).

Should a pitcher heat up and stifle one of these stacked lineups, maybe that would be MVP-worthy. Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón are all capable of that kind of effort. As for role-playing regulars, just about anyone could heat up, but Max Muncy and Jazz Chisholm Jr. both seem capable of electrifying this series.

MVP Prediction: Juan Soto

It's strange (and maybe silly) to have Ohtani and Judge as options and go with anyone else. Having said that, three of the past six World Series MVP winners are Jeremy Peña, Jorge Soler and Steve Pearce. Your first thought isn't always your best thought when predicting this award.

Plus, it's not like we're going way out on a limb here. Soto cracks the short list of the very best hitters in baseball. There might be a couple slightly louder stat lines from players in this series, but who's scoffing at 41 dingers, 128 runs, 109 RBI and a .288/.419/.569 slash line?

His first (and maybe last?) season in pinstripes has been incredible. And while his free-agency earnings will be astronomic regardless what happens this series, it sure wouldn't hurt his bank account if he went berserk under baseball's brightest lights. He also happens to be coming in hot, having tallied three homers and 14 combined runs and RBI with a .333/.439/.667 slash line across nine games this postseason.

This award—and this series, honestly—feels like anyone's guess, but our crystal ball likes Soto and the Yankees to come out on top.