World Series 2018: Red Sox could be creative with Mookie Betts for having J.D. Martinez in road alignment



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On Saturday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers will meet in the seventh game of the NLCS at Miller Park. The loser returns home and the winner advances to face the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. Here's how you catch watching NLCS Game 7.

The Red Sox beat the Astros in five games to clinch the AHL pennant earlier this week. They will spend the next few days resting and preparing for the World Series, which starts Tuesday night at Fenway Park. A big question the Red Sox have to answer: what do they do with their alignment on the road without the designated hitter?

Here is the standard range used by the Red Sox in the latest games of the ALCS:

  1. RF Mookie Betts
  2. LF Andrew Benintendi
  3. DH J.D. Martinez
  4. SS Xander Bogaerts
  5. 1B Steve Pearce or Mitch Moreland
  6. 2B Ian Kinsler
  7. 3B Rafael Devers
  8. C Christian Vazquez
  9. CF Jackie Bradley Jr.

Names are more important than batting order. Betts, Benintendi and Bradley are the three novice players while Martinez is the DH. When the World Series is in a Newfoundland park, there is no DH, so you have to give something.

Instead of removing one of his key players from the lineup, Alex Cora, the Red Sox coach, hinted at a more creative solution on Saturday.

"(Betts) has already played second in the regular season and there is always a chance," said Cora. "We have very good second base, we have very good players, and as I said, we are in the World Series, this conversation was going to take place, one thing is certain, JD will play. is clear We will see which alignment is better, which alignment is better and we will make decisions accordingly. "

Betts was initially selected as a short stopover during the day and spent most of his time in the miners on second base. He did not start playing regularly on the outside before reaching Triple-A in 2014, and this only because the Red Sox had Dustin Pedroia in second place. Betts was considered a strong second baseman and defensive player. However, he was not going to take Pedroia's job, so he moved to the outside field.

In parts of five major seasons, Betts played 15 games and 128 innings in the second. Fourteen games and 122 innings of this type came back in 2014. He played six innings at second base in August of this year in case of emergency. Kinsler left a match with a hamstring problem and the Red Sox were trying to avoid using Bogaerts, hit by a throw a few days earlier. So Mookie played a few laps to the second. Here is the video needed:

Betts will likely work on second base in the next few days to re-acclimate to the position and, once it gets wet, I think he'll be more than fine at the position. Martinez will be in the right field and anyway, he may be eliminated for defense late in the games in these NL parks. Therefore, Betts can only play six or seven innings at the second base each night before returning to the right.

In the World Series, with all that is at stake, you must have your best players in the field. For the Red Sox, that means Betts, Martinez, Bradley and Benintendi. One of them can not sit in NL Park. Betts at second base is an obvious solution to this problem, and I do not think he will have a hard time changing positions.

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