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World Series 2024: Surprise stars who drove Dodgers, Yankees

Who are the unexpected heroes of October? How Ben Casparius and others helped get the Dodgers and Yankees to the World Series. Harry How/Getty Images

The 2024 World Series might just be the red carpet edition: from Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts to Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. Heck, even Giancarlo Stanton is back, like John Travolta in "Pulp Fiction."

But we've all watched enough postseason baseball to know that it's not always the stars who will determine the winner of the Fall Classic. World Series MVPs over the past decade include Jeremy Pena, Jorge Soler and Steve Pearce. As much as we hope Ohtani and Judge step up now that they're finally on the biggest stage, the supporting characters will be just as important in deciding this matchup between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. That's part of the beauty of baseball.

Let's look at some of the surprise stars this October and how they helped the Dodgers and Yankees get here.