The World Series means that it's time to preview the games of our champions

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11:20 ET

  • Paul LukasESPN.com

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    • First journalist in uniform of sports journalism
    • Chronicler ESPN.com since 2004
    • Also blogs at uni-watch.com

The Fall Classic, starring the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox, will kick off Tuesday night, which means it's time for the annual opening of the Uni Watch World series. While others are obsessed with meaningless statistics such as WAR, exit speed and pitch angle, we know what you really want – 10 fascinating facts about World Team Uniforms Series. And here they are:

1. Old school. If you are a fan of classic uniform style, this year's series should please you. Both teams have retained their basic appearance for decades, the Sox do not have a player name on their home jersey, the Dodgers do not have a solid color alternative jersey in their wardrobe and neither of them teams does not have an alternative cap. Heck, even both stages are old-school! If the Sox can stay away from their red and navy alternative jerseys, this Fall Classic should make the traditionalists happy.

2. Already blue. For the third year in a row, the colors of the National League team include the royal blue and the colors of the American League team, the darker blue. In 2016, it was the Cubs (Royal) against the Indians (Navy); in 2017, the Dodgers (royal) and the Astros (navy); and this year it's the Dodgers (Royal) and the Red Sox (Navy).

This also marks the 13th consecutive World Series in which at least one of the colors of the team includes a shade of blue. The last series without blue dates back to 2005, when the Astros (who had not yet added a navy to their color scheme) faced the White Sox.

3. surprise of October. If you watched the Dodgers during the LNDS and the NLCS, you may have noticed Manny Machado's underwear at the short stop showing through his sweater. The base layer design seemed to feature a very handwritten "O", suggesting to many fans that Machado was wearing one of his old Baltimore underwear. This would certainly be an interesting secondary plot, but it was actually one of many MLB-themed t-shirts made by MLB for the playoffs.

4. End this. The Red Sox pitcher, David Price, does not like to wear a squatchee – the little button at the top of a baseball cap. He calls it the "button" because it measures 6 feet 5 inches and sometimes bangs his head at the top of the canoe. The button and the rivet that holds it in place can be boring. In recent years, the squatchee has been removed from his cap, but seasoned observers were surprised to see him leave in uniform for his two starts in the ALCS, which turned out to be the two best starts in his career in series. . This creates an interesting situation for the World Series: will the superstition of squatches overcome the phobia of the "buttons"? Stay tuned. (For more information on the term "squatchee", look here.)

5. red letter number day. Many fans over the years have wondered why the Dodgers' jerseys wore these red numbers on the front, which they've been wearing since 1952. After all, the red does not appear anywhere else on their uniforms, so why have the red numbers?

The answer to this question was discovered a year ago by uniform designer and historian Todd Radom, who had found an old article stating that the Dodgers had actually planned to add the red numbers as an addition Special Feature at the 1951 World Series. In fact, the Dodgers did not participate in the Fall Classic 51 (the year they were knocked out by the Giants, thanks to the famous "Shot" Heard "The World Tour" by Bobby Thomson), but the red-numbered uniforms had already been ordered, so the team owners decided to use them for the 1952 season, these numbers have always been part of the look Dodgers More details here

6. Numbers game. Fans often refer to Boston's familiar font as "Red Sox font", but it actually bears a name: McAuliffe. It was created by sporting goods company Tim McAuliffe, who gave him his uniform, and who supplied the uniforms of many MLB teams at the time. Most of them wore the McAuliffe font. Today, the Sox are the only team to wear it on their jerseys (although, curiously, the Cubs wear it on their batting helmet). For more information on McAuliffe, look here.

7. For "B" or not "B." The Dodgers and the Red Sox have an unusual story that is common to them. At the time the Dodgers were playing in Brooklyn, their hats sported a "B" logo, very similar to Boston's iconic "B" logo. There was much less standardization at the time, so the logos often changed a little from year to year, as new manufacturers and suppliers took over. Nevertheless, even taking into account some of the variations, the Dodgers and Sox share a common visual DNA. (For more information, check out this Twitter feed.)

8. The top and bottom of it. The list of Dodgers pitchers includes two players with uni-like numbers: Hyun-Jin Ryu, who is numbered 99, and Julio Urias, who is number 7, a rare single-digit number for a pitcher. If Ryu were to be relieved by Urías – which really happened in the sixth match of the NLCS – it would result in a unique numerical differential of 92, which would constitute an alleged record of the World Series for a pitcher by relieving a other, at least until someone can demonstrate otherwise!

9. Name of the game When J.D. Martinez joined the Tigers in 2014, Victor Martinez was also on the list. J.D. therefore had his full name on the back of his shirt. He continued to do so when he joined the Diamondbacks in 2017 and again when he joined the Red Sox this season, even though the D-backs and Bosox's had not gotten off the road. Other Martinezes on their list.

10. Imperfect letter. The Boston home jersey has a beautiful symmetry: three letters on one side, three on the other and a space in between. But their road jersey has the "T" placed in the center, with three letters on one side (BOS) and only two letters on the other (ON), creating an imbalance effect that gives the l '. impression that the entire jersey is leaning to one side. Once you see it, you can not see it. (To learn more about this jersey phenomenon, which affects several other teams, look here.)

Honorable mention. The Dodger jersey Enrique Hernandez sewed his jersey. He and his teammate Chris Taylor both had excellent stirrups. But you already knew if you were watching the world series of last year!

(Special thanks to Phil Hecken for his help in research.)

Paul Lukas is still rooting for the National League team in the World Series. If you like this section, you will surely like his Uni Watch blog, the more you can follow him on Twitter and Facebook and sign up for its mailing list so that you always know when a new column has been posted. Want to know more about Uni Watch's membership program, check out Uni Watch products or just ask him a question? Contact him here.

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