Fenway Park. Photo courtesy of Taylor Rooney/Unsplash.
One seeking to avenge a bitter seven-game loss a year ago. One looking to secure its place among history’s greatest teams. Two of baseball’s most historic franchises will meet on baseball’s highest stage for the first time in more than a century – a matchup that saw the great Babe Ruth take the mound for Boston in Game 2 against a team that wasn’t even known as the Dodgers.
The 2018 World Series will get underway Tuesday night at Fenway Park, as the Boston Red Sox play host to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 114th edition of baseball’s Fall Classic. Despite taking supremely different routes to reach this point, each franchise is just four games away from hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy as the 2018 champions of Major League Baseball.
While the Red Sox have only lost two games in the postseason thus far, their path to history has been far from easy. They matched up against the 100-win wild card-winning New York Yankees in the American League Division Series, and after a hard-fought four-game series victory, were tasked with taking down last year’s defending World Series champions, the 103-win Houston Astros, in the American League Championship Series. After dispatching both New York and Houston, the boys from Beantown reached their first World Series since 2013 and fourteenth overall.
Boston won a franchise record 108 games in the regular season, and won the American League East by eight games, tied for the second-largest margin in the sport. They clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, yet surprisingly, both of their losses this postseason have come at home (they remain undefeated in five games on the road).
The Dodgers have had a much more rigorous trip to the World Series, as they’ve been playing playoff-atmosphere baseball for much of the season (at one point, Los Angeles sat nine game out of first place in the National League West). They played in a tiebreaker game on October 1 against the Colorado Rockies to determine the division champion, then were tasked with taking on the resurgent National League East-champion Atlanta Braves and the upstart powerhouse Milwaukee Brewers in their postseason matchups, taking care of the Braves in four games and needing a full seven to take down the National League’s top-seeded Milwaukee Brewers.
This postseason, as it is wont to do, has seen many unlikely heroes for its two remaining teams. After an abysmal regular season, Boston center fielder Jackie Bradley, Jr. took home ALCS Most Valuable Player honors with his clutch home runs and key hits during the five-game series. Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger, after not hitting a home run all postseason, knocked one early in game seven in Milwaukee to silence the home crowd and put Los Angeles in front for good. Other players, like Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy and Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts, had unbelievably good regular seasons before crashing back to earth in this postseason, and they could each be in for a turnaround under the bright lights of World Series baseball.
There will be some intriguing storylines to follow in this World Series, to be sure. Dodgers shortstop and impending free agent Manny Machado made headlines the last two weeks by responding to his lack of hustle and allegations of dirty play. Red Sox manager Alex Cora is attempting to become just the second first-year manager in Major League history to win a title. Red Sox designated hitter J.D. Martinez will have to play the field for at least two games when the series shifts to the National League ballpark in games three, four, and (if necessary) five, meaning Betts may have to shift to his natural position of second base. And finally (among many more), Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw will look to silence the critics by finally adding a World Series ring to his resume.
While I denied the state of Massachusetts a title when I published my Super Bowl preview last February, picking the Philadelphia Eagles to defeat the New England Patriots, I don’t see any way this series sees the Red Sox lose four games in a seven-game span. Boston in five.
The 114th World Series begins Tuesday night. Two historic ballclubs are going at it for a shot at ultimate baseball glory in 2018. Fenway Park, you’d better be loud.
Play ball. •
