Jack Flaherty will cap a whirlwind 15-month stretch that has seen him pitch for four teams by starting Game 1 of the World Series on Friday.
The Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander will oppose the visiting New York Yankees as the Fall Classic opens.
Flaherty, 29, is trying to treat it like just another start.
“When you’re ready to go, just different opponent out there, and you just treat it like you would any other series or any other game,” he said. “Everything else stays the same. Everything in between stays the same. It’s just everything on the outside kind of changes.”
Plenty changed for Flaherty over the past two seasons. In his seventh year with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2023, he was traded to Baltimore on Aug. 1 and wound up pitching for the Orioles in the playoffs.
In December, Flaherty signed a one-year, $14 million free agent deal with the Tigers. Detroit traded him to the Dodgers July 30, and he has emerged as the top starter for an injury-laden Los Angeles rotation.
After going 6-2 with a 3.58 ERA in 10 regular-season starts for the Dodgers, he is 1-2 with a 7.04 ERA in three starts this postseason.
Now Flaherty, a Los Angeles-area native, gets to face the Yankees in most-played World Series matchup. The teams are squaring off for the title a record 12th time.
Flaherty appreciates the Yankees’ mystique, as he thought back to a trip he made to Yankee Stadium as a child.
“It must have been August or something, but they were into it,” he said. “It’s just one of those scenes that you kind of take in, and you enjoy the history of it. Even at 12, you just take it in and enjoy it.
“But also at that time, I’m 12. I think my brother is probably 8 at that point. We’re there enjoying baseball, and we’re just there to watch the game, eat some food, and hang out. It will be a different setting going there this time (for Games 3, 4 and 5).”
Assessing the matchup between the teams with the top two records in the majors this year, Flaherty said, “(You look at) just how deep this series is with talent and the guys and the names that are out there, it’s as star-studded as it gets.”