Classic teams meet with big story lines
The World Series is upon us as the Red Sox and Dodgers square off for the Commissioner’s Trophy. Both teams have plenty of firepower and ample momentum, as Boston seeks its ninth title (and fourth since 2004) while Los Angeles aims for its seventh crown (and first since 1988).
Here are five story lines to watch for each club before the World Series begins Tuesday night at Fenway Park:
BOSTON RED SOX
Sale returning from illness. Red Sox ace Chris Sale will toe the rubber for Boston in Game 1 on Tuesday after being hospitalized Oct. 14 for a stomach ailment. He missed his scheduled start in Game 5 of the ALCS but was scheduled to pitch Game 6 of that series and had thrown a bullpen in preparation. Sale took the loss in the opening game of the Houston series when he was hit for two runs in four innings, allowing four walks. The lefthander posted a 124 record with a 2.11 ERA during the regular season.
Jackie Bradley Jr. batted under .200 through the first three months, but Red Sox manager Alex Cora stuck with the 2011 firstround pick, and the speedy outfielder rewarded that faith by hitting .269 in the second half and then earning ALCS MVP honors by going 3for 15 (yes, 3for15), but with nine RBIs. That included a threerun double off the Green Monster in Game 2, a grand slam in Game 3 and a goahead, tworun dinger in Game 4 — all hits that came with two outs to tie for the secondmost twoout RBIs in a postseason series.
With the combination of left fielder Andrew Benintendi, center fielder Bradley, right fielder Mookie Betts and 57 starts at the corner spots by J.D. Martinez, Boston is showcasing one of the game’s alltime greatest outfields. Per Fangraphs, the Red Sox have the highest outfield wins above replacement (20.5) going back as far as the splits were available starting in 2002. Two of those players, Betts and Martinez, are MVP frontrunners, while a pair of Benintendi’s diving plays and Bradley’s bat catalyzed the ALCS win over Houston.
Best Red Sox team ever? Boston rolls into the Fall Classic as the handsdown best team in baseball. The Red Sox won 108 games in the regular season, more than any other team and the most in their 118year history. Then they stomped two 100win teams — first via sweep of the rival Yankees in the ALDS, and then by needing only five games to take care of the defending champion Astros in the ALCS. Now, a title over the Dodgers is all that’s left to accomplish before considering this as perhaps the best Boston team in the storied history of the franchise.
Closer Craig Kimbrel had a couple of nearmeltdowns over the course of the past two series, but besides that, Boston’s biggest question mark coming into the postseason — its shaky bullpen — has been remarkably solid. In 37plus playoff innings, the unit has posted a 3.62 ERA, while holding the opposition to a .194 average as compared to .235 during the regular season. In particular, Ryan Brasier hasn’t allowed a run in seven innings, while fellow righthanders Matt Barnes and Joe Kelly have been steady. winner turned in a dud in the NLCS opener, with Milwaukee tagging him for five runs in three innings, the southpaw bounced back with a dominant performance in Los Angeles’ Game 5 win Wednesday. In that game, Kershaw allowed one run over seven innings, and then threw the ninth inning of Game 7. He had mixed results in last season’s World Series against Houston, throwing seven innings of onerun ball in the Dodgers’ Game 1 victory before being roughed up for six runs in fourplus innings in Game 5. Despite the muchdeserved hype about Josh Hader and the vaunted Brewers bullpen coming into the NLCS, the Dodgers’ relievers outperformed the Milwaukee bullpen and every other bullpen in the entire postseason. Los Angeles’ bullpen has a 1.31 ERA in 41.2 innings pitched, with 56 strikeouts and 15 walks. Pedro Baez has yet to allow a run in sixplus innings while fanning 10; closer Kenley Jansen hasn’t been scored on, either, in sixplus frames. Ryan Madson, Dylan Floro, Kenta Maeda and Caleb Ferguson seem to be peaking, too.
Red Sox clinched their fourth AL pennant in 15 years, a run that probably wouldn’t have started back in 2004 had it not been for one of the most clutch postseason steals of all time by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. Acquired from Los Angeles by trade at midseason, it was Roberts’ theft of second base that enabled Bill Mueller to single him home and then David Ortiz to eventually hit the walkoff home run in extra innings of Boston’s comeback win in Game 4. That steal set up a string of victories that changed Red Sox history forever.
Los Angeles set a franchise record with home runs in a season for a second consecutive year, finishing with 235, and also set a franchise mark with seven players bashing 20 dingers or more. But against the Brewers, the All games on KDVR31 (Bestofseven; xif necessary) Tuesday: L.A. at Boston, 6:09 p.m. Wednesday: L.A. at Boston, 6:09 p.m. Friday: Boston at L.A., 6:09 p.m. Oct. 27: Boston at L.A., 6:09 p.m. Oct. 28: Boston at L.A., 6:15 p.m. xOct. 30: L.A. at Boston, 6:09 p.m. xOct. 31: L.A. at Boston, 6:09 p.m. Dodgers clearly put a higher premium on simply putting the ball in play during the middle part of the series — “our approach was single them to death,” Cody Bellinger told the Los Angeles Times after a Game 5 NLCS win over Milwaukee — and also proved their bench depth is able to make up for the lack of a longball on any particular night.
Amid an NL tiebreaker victory over Colorado, an NLDS win over Atlanta and an NLCS win over the Brewers, the Dodgers are surging in nearly every facet. But catching isn’t one, as Yasmani Grandal has hit .130 (3for23) with 11 strikeouts and an array of defensive miscues. In Game 3 against Milwaukee, the Dodger Stadium crowd booed him after he allowed his third passed ball in two starts. The largely unproven Austin Barnes (53 starts during the regular season) played the final three games of the series in Grandal’s place.