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David Price's performance on the mound will be a major scenario in the World Series. (David Butler II / USA Today Sports)
Just past 8pm Tuesday night in Boston, the Red Sox will welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers to Fenway Park for the first game of the 144th World Series.
And the story will be made, one way or another, whether it's a Red Sox team that has won 108 regular season games or a Dodgers team that's gone beaten for the playoffs after being well below expectations for much of 2018. The Red Sox are attempting to win the franchise's fourth title over the past 14 years and continue to impose themselves as a portrait of sustainable success in professional sports. The Dodgers, meanwhile, have not won a World Series title since 1988 and hope to rebound after a defeat in the series of championships last October.
There will be a lot to watch once the first pitch is started and each team starts to climb four wins. Here are some elements that could prove essential:
A rivalry built
There was an obvious winner once the Dodgers had overtaken the Brewers on Saturday night, that was Major League Baseball's portfolio. The game will draw viewers from two of the country's largest sports markets and spark enthusiasm from coast to coast for a sport ridiculed for its lack of appeal to a younger audience. Those on the Fox show are sure to mention it once or twice. And they might even try to tell you that Red Sox vs. Dodgers is a kind of old and longstanding rivalry.
This part will not be true. There are some things that connect the Red Sox and the Dodgers, such as the fact that their managers (Dave Roberts for the Dodgers, Alex Cora for the Red Sox) were formerly teammates, or that they met in the World Series 102 years ago, or that they play baseball. There are also things that connect the two cities, like the fact that the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers have been fighting for the NBA's main franchise status for half a century, or that Los Angeles is on the west coast, Boston to the east coast, and locals often lose their time arguing over where to live.
But nothing makes this match between Red Sox and Dodgers more important than for a championship (which, it must be said, is much more important in itself). Both teams represent the main sports cities. Both have important backgrounds for baseball. But these stories have rarely crossed, at least until they meet this week.
Manny being Manny
Over the past three weeks, Dodgers shortstop Manny Machado has emerged as the villain of the baseball playoffs with a title that is one after the other.
In the seventh game of the National League championship series, he looked for a hit, turned to a group of Brewers booed and grabbed his crotch to show his appreciation for his support. In the fifth game of the NLCS, Jesus Aguilar beat the first baseman of the Brewers. He then led Aguilar on the assumption that Machado had done so intentionally. at Miller Park. Apart from that, he admitted to Ken Rosenthal, an athlete, that he was not the kind of player who rushes, who has a questionable pass to go in the second goal and who was criticized by the pitcher of the Temple of fame, Jim Palmer, for jogging on the ground.
Machado also has a past with the Red Sox – especially with Chris Sale, the starter of match 1, and reliever Matt Barnes – when the two men threw very hard fast balls in his direction in 2017 after Machado slipped in the second goal and injured the knee of Dustin Pedroia. The Red Sox felt that Machado's slip was not necessary. Machado felt that throwing him against him was "a coward thing," and he said it in a long, profane speech about the Red Sox throwing stick. And it looks like more and more baseball is starting to settle against Machado, while Brewers player, Christian Yelich, calls the incident with Aguilar, "a dirty game from a dirty player".
So what will Machado do next? Stay tuned.
[In the World Series, managers get the spotlight, but greater power sits in the shadows]
The price is correct? What about Kershaw?
Both teams have a generation pitcher who has been labeled as a player who can not succeed in October.
David Price will play for the Red Sox in the second game and has rarely seen his dominance as a starting pitcher translate into the playoffs. That changed with the decisive victory of the Red Sox in the US Championship League against the Houston Astros, when Price pitched six scoreless innings and regained the confidence of the fans who were willing to cancel it or who might have to be already done. Now, he will have a chance to continue his comeback or return to his old playoff routine, getting the green light on Wednesday for his first career start in the World Series.
Clayton Kershaw, a Dodger ace and one of the best baseball pitchers in almost 10 years, has followed a similar story throughout his career. Kershaw has a deserving point average of 4.09 in 28 playoff games and has failed to live up to his reputation in a handful of starts and difficult situations. But it has become especially synonymous with the inability of the Dodgers to turn their constant success in the regular season into a championship. It's changing this fall. Kershaw was eliminated twice and finished the Dodgers Game 7 win over the Brewers in the NLCS. He will have the opportunity to build on this success immediately against the Red Sox, taking the ball against Sale in the first game.
Many mentions of "The Steal"
Roberts, the manager of the Dodgers, has played only 45 of his 832 career games with the Red Sox. But that should not overshadow the game that, in some ways, defined his career as an unreliable utility seller. Roberts and the Red Sox and the city of Boston will always have "The Steal".
You may hear a lot about "The Steal" in the days to come, so here's what you should know: In 2004, the Red Sox were 3-0 to the New York Yankees in the ALCS . The drought of the series can spiral for at least another season. It was until they won four victories, thus achieving the biggest return in the history of the sport. It all started with Roberts' legs at Fenway Park. With the Red Sox leading 4-3 in the ninth inning of the fourth game and the Hall of Fame getting closer to Mariano Rivera on the mound, Roberts grabbed second place and later tied the tie on a simple.
If he had not stolen the base, he would not have been able to score and the single would have moved to second or third place, and who knows what would have spent there. Instead, his speed puts the Red Sox on the right track to defeat "The Curse of the Bambino." Now, he will be in the enemy canoe at Fenway Park, pushing the buttons of the Dodgers, hoping to help another team to end several decades. stretch to come short.
Read more:
After throwing "really bad" for the nationals, Ryan Madson propels the Dodgers to the World Cup
Fancy stats: Red Sox must fix a key statistic to beat the Dodgers in the World Series
The Brewers took an "unorthodox path". But they could not do everything.
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