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BOSTON – There will be no outsiders in the 114th World Series that will open Tuesday at Fenway Park. The Los Angeles Dodgers have been without a title for three decades, but they have spent about $ 1.4 billion in wages to claim the last six crowns of the Western National League. The Boston Red Sox, who will attempt to win their fourth title in the past 15 seasons, have outpaced all other teams this season, with a payroll of about $ 230 million.
"Asking us to compete with these very high salaries is a bit unfair, but we will do what we can," Dodgers chairman Stan Kasten said Saturday night at the Milwaukee Visitor's Clubhouse after the seventh game of the NHL . Championship Series. "I like this line. I have waited so long to use this! "
With about $ 200 million, the Dodgers ranked third behind Boston and the San Francisco Giants, a team that also proved that money was not everything. It certainly helps, but despite all their expenses, the Dodgers and the Red Sox have been away for more than a century since their last World Series match.
That was in 1916, when the Red Sox defeated the Brooklyn Robins in five games. Babe Ruth, the young left-footer of the Red Sox – with only seven career circuits – won 14 innings to win the second game against Braves Field. The Red Sox played there to sell more tickets than they could get in Fenway, less than two miles away.
The teams almost fought a few times. Both were part of the championship series in 1988, 2008 and 2013, but they never progressed together. One or the other participated in the World Series two consecutive seasons 1946-1947, 1966-1967 and 1974-1975.
Teams rarely face each other in the regular season. They played three games at Dodger Stadium in 2016 but have not met in Boston for eight years. Clayton Kershaw, three-time winner of the Dodgers Cy Young Award, has never taken a step in the shadow of the green monster.
"I'm so thrilled to be playing at Fenway," said Chris Taylor of the Dodgers, whose fall on the Miller Park left-field alert track preserved the lead of Game 7. " Love this place, I'm sure it's going to be banging, their fans will be noisy, they're going to be in. Boston / LA World Series – it's not better than that. "
It's time, after all. The Boston Celtics clashed with the Los Angeles Lakers in N.B.A. Finals 11 times ("Beat! ONE!" are the three most famous syllables of Boston), but the classic rivalry between the baseball leagues is different. The Dodgers have faced the same franchise eleven times in the World Series – but this team are the Yankees.
The Red Sox, led by first-year manager Alex Cora, wiped out a L.A./New York option in beat the Yankees in a four-game division series. They then eliminated the defending World Series champions, the Houston Astros, in a five-game series of the American League. The Red Sox have shared four home games this season, but have won all five on the road.
"For us to win these three games and even both in New York, I think that says a lot about us and our coaching staff," said Nathan Eovaldi, Boston coach, at the end of the decisive game in Houston. "A.C. does a great job of preparing for these games and for now, and not everyone is trying to do too much. "
Cora – A.C. to his players – won the A.L.C.S. Although Chris Sale, his best starter, wins only four innings because of a stomach illness. He will start the first match.
"There is no restraint now," said Sale, who missed much of the second half due to shoulder problems. "My work is the same since the first day of my arrival here: you give me the ball when you want me to throw it, and you remove it when I want me to stop."
Kershaw pitched all but four ballparks (the others are in Minnesota, Tampa Bay and Texas) and came to Fenway on Sunday to pitch the mound. The left field wall nearby does not bother him.
"Usually, when I give up circuits, they are not cheap anyway," he said. "So, it does not matter whether or not there is a fence that is really close."
The most important will be the in-depth training that Cora could deploy, with platoon opportunities on the first (Steve Pearce or Mitch Moreland), the second (Ian Kinsler or Brock Holt) and the third (Eduardo Nunez or Rafael Devers). Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts play a high impact alien defense. A flawless range combining power, touch and speed.
The Dodgers are hitting a lot more and running a lot less, but only one team, the Yankees, have scored more circuits this season. A two-point home run by Cody Bellinger and Yasiel Puig's three-point defeat gave the Dodgers all their points in the seventh game against the Brewers, and manager Dave Roberts aggressively seeks out his benefits.
In addition to Manny Machado and third base player Justin Turner, each player in the Dodgers position has a batter on the opposite side that is almost interchangeable. Roberts used four second-base players (Brian Dozier, Enrique Hernandez, Max Muncy and Taylor) in the last five games of N.L.C.S. Games.
"Whenever you have a guy who can play multiple positions and who does it well, I think it has a multiplier effect on your list," said Andrew Friedman, president of the Dodgers for baseball operations. "He's expanding your list beyond 25."
Only two of the 25 Dodgers on the N.L.C.S. The formation has won a ring of champions: first baseman David Freese with the 2011 Cardinals and reliever Ryan Madson with the 2008 Phillies and the 2015 Royals. Similarly, the Red Sox have only two players with rings: the short stop Xander Bogaerts and the reliever Brandon Workman, last remnants of their alignment in 2013.
In this way, almost everyone on the ground hopes to achieve something new and invaluable. For all the Boston bling and Boston Dodgers, this world series will be played in front of passionate fans, on opposite shores, from history-laden franchises in two of the three oldest baseball parks of the majesty (forgive Wrigley Field).
As Kasten has sincerely said this time, "it's as pure a baseball experience as you can live in the modern era".
History to remember, and some to forget
The Dodgers were the first team to integrate with their historic promotion of Jackie Robinson in Brooklyn in 1947. The Red Sox – who staged a mock trial for Robinson in 1945 – were last with Pumpsie Green in 1959. On Tuesday, Fenway Park will stage a premiere: a world series with two minority managers . Alex Cora is from Puerto Rico and Dave Roberts was born in Japan of a Japanese mother and an African American father. Only two other teams have minority managers: the Chicago White Sox (Rick Renteria) and the Washington Nationals (Dave Martinez).
A sports hero from Boston returns
The two managers also played for both teams, another first for the World Series. The Dodgers recruited Alex Cora in the third round in 1996, where he spent his first seven seasons in the majors. After a brief stopover in Cleveland, Cora joined the Red Sox and won a World Series ring as an indoor back-up player in 2007.
Dave Roberts, a former championship player, spent two and a half seasons as Cora's team mate with the Dodgers before his team's lineup sent him to the Red Sox for an exchange on July 31, 2004.
"He was crushed," said Cora, adding that he had encouraged Roberts to see the positive side. "I told him," Hey man, you're going to a big city. They have a chance to do something special. "
"I have a lot of good memories, even flying in Logan," Roberts said Monday. "At this time of year, this city where leaves are changing – it's all back in 2004, my teammates and coaches, and this unique energy at Fenway Park."
Bring Champagne during the trip
Seven of the eight playoff players this month have hit the road; the Yankees' victory over Oakland is an exception. The Astros also won the championship in Los Angeles last fall and if the Red Sox did it in Game 4 or 5 this weekend, the Dodgers would become the first team since 1936-37 in New York to lose the Series in their home field in consecutive seasons.
Again, if the Dodgers can defeat the Red Sox in four or five games, they will celebrate their game at home for the first time since 1963. The last three titles of the Dodgers have been won: in Minnesota (1965), New York ( 1981) and Oakland (1988).
Which beard is the best?
Once upon a time Craig Kimbrel and Justin Turner were simply red-haired baseball players with little or no hair on their faces. But Kimbrel, closer to the Red Sox, and Turner, the third base player of the Dodgers, now seem to compete for the unofficial title of the busiest beard, the most tired and the most neglected in the world of sport. Turner did it for his wedding in Mexico last season (Orel Hershiser, the most valuable player of the 1988 World Series, officiated at the ceremony), but it can be said without fear that he did not touch to a razor for a while. As for Kimbrel, he sees no reason to cut.
"My daughter loves it," Kimbrel told the All-Star Game. "My teammates like that. We will see how long it will last. This continued and grew until the World Series.
Where will the Red Sox D.H. play in L.A.?
The Red Sox have a lot of experience in moving their designated hitter to the field for World Series road matches. David Ortiz played the first goal in the seven road games of Boston at the 2004, 2007 and 2013 World Series. He managed 45 chances without error while the Red Sox lost only once.
J.D. Martinez has made 57 field starts for Boston this season and will play in games at Dodger Stadium. Mookie Betts could move to second base, her usual position in the underage category. Martinez has fond memories of Dodger Stadium, where he scored four homers for Arizona on September 4, 2017. No player has ever hit four playoff circuits.
Why should you know the name Tim Hyers
The Red Sox LED the majors in points scored this season, and the Dodgers LED N.L. A common denominator: Tim Hyers, who became Boston's coach-coach this season after serving in the assistant role last year with the Dodgers.
Hyers – who just hit .217 During a brief career in the Major Leagues with the Padres, Tigers and Marlins, he described his philosophy as follows: "We have talented players, of course, but I think it's just being altruistic. These are the guys who are trying to win the next throw. Sometimes it's not how bad you can hit, but how badly you can hit it. Sometimes we talk about just being compact – big thoughts create big swings, and that's where the strikers come in. "
The Red Socks put this theory into practice in leading the majors as a percentage of slugging without sacrificing contact; they finished 26th on 30 teams in dam.
Vanderbilt connections are only going so far
David Price's first professional baseball invitation was launched by the Dodgers, who recruited him in the 19th round in 2004, after leaving high school in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
The Dodgers turned to Tennessee in the first round in 2015, choosing Vanderbilt launcher Walker Buehler, who played rookie this season and got off to a good start in the N.L.C.S. as Price did by closing the A.L.C.S. But do not expect a lot of jokes between Price and Buehler this week.
"It's the playoffs, man," said Buehler. "Price is a good guy, but he wears a different uniform."
A Boston owner avoided and L.A. could not
The regrettable reign of Frank McCourt as owner of the Dodgers has its roots in the car parks of South Boston. McCourt, a Boston native and real estate developer, originally hoped to buy the Red Sox and build a new stadium on his 24 acre waterfront property. When the Red Sox gave way to John Henry's group (essentially saving the beloved Fenway Park), McCourt focused on the Dodgers, using the Boston property as collateral for some of the funding.
The purchase of the debt in 2004 became a fiasco: ticket prices rose, the payroll dropped, and after McCourt's expensive divorce, the Dodgers ended up in bankruptcy court. McCourt was very successful when the team sold for $ 2 billion in 2012 to a group led by Mark Walter. McCourt now owns Olympique de Marseille, a football club in France.
What Bill Buckner and Hideo Nomo have in common
Each team has a starting pitcher who played for the other: Nathan Eovaldi of Boston invented the Dodgers and Rich Hill of L.A. relaunched his career with the Red Sox. Many retired stars have played for both teams, including Nomar Garciaparra, Ramon and Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez and Reggie Smith. Rickey Henderson and Juan Marichal, two icons of the Bay Area, ended their Hall of Fame career with a brief stint from both teams.
One pitcher won 50 games for both franchises – Derek Lowe – but a different right-hander, Hideo Nomo, did not make a single bat for both.
Bill Buckner is the only player with 2,000 corner players for both teams. He was a Dodger favorite in the 1974 World Series and was a much-loved member of the 1986 Red Sox that manager John McNamara left it to first base at the bottom. of the 10th round of Match 6 against the Mets, just so Buckner can be on the field when the Red Sox have won everything. (This plan did not work.)
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