After several COVID scares early in Major League Baseball’s shortened 2020 season, we have managed to reach the series many of us had lost hope of having back in June.
The Tampa Bay Rays will represent the American League against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who won the National League pennant for the third time in the past four years.
The Dodgers have been here before and they’ve lost here before. The Red Sox got the better of them in five games in 2018 and the Astros beat them in seven the year before that. No team has more world series losses than the Dodgers and they hope not to extend that record.
Where the Dodgers have the second most World Series appearances in history, the Rays are making just their second trip to the Fall Classic after losing in five games to the Phillies back in 2008.
The Rays had a terrific season, finishing 40-20, on pace for 108 wins in a 162-game season, second only to the Dodgers who were on pace for 116 wins.
We honestly couldn’t have wound up with a stronger pair of finalists. Not only were they the best two teams of the pandemic-shortened season, they were the only two teams to finish with winning records against every division opponent and in their interleague schedules during the season.
Of course, the way their teams are built couldn’t be much more different. Only the Yankees have a higher payroll than the Dodgers in 2020, with both north of $105 million. Meanwhile, only the Orioles and Pirates spent less than the Rays this year. All three are on the hook for less than $30 million on their payrolls.
As it happens, with Major League Baseball deciding to hold the entire series in Arlington, Texas, the two teams will play on about as neutral a field as possible, with Globe Life Field a little more than a two and half hour flight from both Tropicana Field and Dodger Stadium.
Unlike the ALCS and the NLCS, in which the four involved teams played seven games in seven days, the World Series does have off days built into the schedule. They’ll get the day off Thursday, in between Games 2 and 3 and another off day next Monday in between Games 5 and 6, if necessary.
First pitch of Game 1 is scheduled for 8:11 p.m. tonight, so without further ado let’s get to our picks!
Evan
These two teams are very evenly matched, even though they seem very different at first glance.
Starting pitchers for both teams are about equally trustworthy in big games; notably, the Rays’ Charlie Morton closed out Game 7 for the Astros in 2017.
I like both teams’ lineups in this series, though the Rays are not as well-known. Both of these teams earned the #1 seed in the playoffs during the truncated season.
The difference in this series will come down to the bullpens. The Dodgers’ closer situation has been shaky of late, with manager Dave Roberts turning to Julio Urías instead of Kenley Jansen to close out NLCS Game 7 on Sunday night.
I give the slight edge to Tampa Bay in what looks to be a great series.
My pick: Tampa Bay Rays in 7
Eric
This is a pretty compelling world series matchup. Both teams were decisively the best team in their respective leagues, but the methods couldn’t be more different. The Rays are a team of no-name players who fit perfectly together as an island of misfit toys, while the Dodgers are the star-studded, high budget team that we’ve come to know over the last five years.
The Rays have gotten here with pitching and defense, but they could also use their middle of the order finding their rhythm at the plate for the Fall Classic. Brandon Lowe, Yandy Díaz, and Willy Adames have struggled in the postseason, batting a combined .109 despite being excellent hitters during the regular season. They’re going to need better performances than that if they want to keep up with the Dodgers’ offense.
The Dodgers are absolutely loaded, but they have to exorcise some playoff demons. Cody Bellinger may have started that process with his pennant-clinching home run against the Braves, but October has been historically unkind to him, as well as to Max Muncy, Clayton Kershaw, and plenty of LA’s other big names.
The Dodgers also have some bullpen concerns on the back end, with Kenley Jansen being far from a reliable closer. They were able to manufacture some effective relief in high-leverage moments against Atlanta, but the Rays’ reliever corps is as good as anyone’s, so it would serve the Dodgers well to avoid a battle of the bullpens.
This series feels like it’s going the distance. The Rays’ pitching is too good for them to get housed in this series, but they’re also not going to blow through the Dodgers’ rotation so easily. The Dodgers feel like they were dead and done against the Braves, but they rallied to get back to the World Series and feel rejuvenated. I also believe that Tampa’s best hitters’ struggling will continue against the dominant rotation that the Dodgers have, so I’m inclined to roll with the favorites in this one.
My pick: Los Angeles Dodgers in 7
Cory
Obviously, I wish my Yankees were here, but this is about the best we could’ve hoped for this series when the postseason began.
I haven’t been shy about my dislike for the expanded playoff field this season. I understand the argument for it, especially given the Nationals’ run to the title and where they were 60 games into the 2019 season. But even with only 37 percent of a season, I feel like the good teams, the ones truly capable of winning a world series, are going to be among the top five in their respective leagues.
I hope this proves the point and puts to rest any discussion of permanently expanding the playoffs after this year. The best team from each league in the regular season will represent their leagues in the Fall Classic. Cinderella stories are great and all, but this was the only appropriate ending to the 2020 season in my opinion.
It’s hard to say just how much experience will matter here. The Dodgers certainly have far more experience, with Charlie Morton the only Ray who has appeared in the World Series. But the Dodgers only have experience losing in the World Series, with the exception of Mookie Betts who beat them back in 2018.
Clayton Kershaw, for the second time in three years, pitched 8 innings of shutout baseball to earn the win in his first start of the postseason, only to unravel in subsequent starts. Each start has been worse than his last and I don’t see any evidence to suggest he won’t struggle in his likely two World Series starts. The playoff monkey is still squarely on his back.
The Dodgers also appear to be struggling with their pitching at the back end and I think that spells trouble.
My pick: Tampa Bay Rays in 5