Dodgers, Rays open World Series
A World Series like no other opened Tuesday night with Clayton Kershaw’s Dodgers pursuing redemption, Kevin Kiermaier’s Rays seeking acclaim and Major League Baseball relieved just to reach the championship of the pandemic-delayed season.
Buzz figures to be dampened, with attendance down to about 11,000 in the smallest crowd for a Series game since roughly 1909.
The entire Series will be played on artificial turf for the first time since 1993, at new $1.2 billion Globe Life Field, home of the Rangers. Traditional postgame victory celebrations are barred. But surroundings are largely irrelevant to the favored Dodgers and under-theradar Rays.
The Dodgers, baseball’s biggest spender, are back in the Series for the third time in four years as they seek their first title since 1988.
Plate umpire Laz Diaz will be masked — along with the rest of the crew.
The Rays, among the major leagues’ poorest draws and lowest-salaried rosters, made it this far only once before and lost to the Phillies in 2008. Perennially unable to get a new ballpark built, the Rays have said they’re exploring splitting future seasons between St. Petersburg, Florida, and Montreal.
The Series winner will give their city a 2-1 advantage in major U.S. sports league titles during the novel coronavirus pandemic following championships by the NHL’s Lightning on Sept. 28 and the NBA’s Lakers on Oct. 11.
This will be the first Series entirely at one ballpark since 1944 between the Cardinals and Browns at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis — and the fourth overall. The Yankees and Giants shared New York’s Polo Grounds in 1921 and 1922.