The Asterisk Series

The World Series will start tomorrow night, and the teams are set: the Tampa Bay Rays will represent the American League, the Los Angeles Dodgers the National. They have never met in a World Series before, due to the youth of the Tampa franchise--this is only their second World Series. The Dodgers just won their twenty-third pennant, but have only won six world championships, their last coming in 1988. That thirty-two year gap is their longest since they won their first world title (playing in Brooklyn) in 1955.

This post-season has been unlike any other, coming off a season unlike any other. Only sixty games were played, so there may be a tendency to write this thing off and put an asterisk beside it. But I don't think that will happen, as the two best teams, record-wise, managed to make their way to the final. No one can possibly know for sure, but it isn't out of the realm of possibility that these are the two teams that would have made it even if there was a full season.

It wasn't easy for either team. After jumping off to a three game to none lead, with some timely hitting, great pitching, and sterling defense, the Rays let the Houston Astros back in the series by dropping three straight. It was only the second time a team had evened a series after going down 0-3, and the first to do it, the 2004 Red Sox, finished off the Yankees.

But the Rays proved resilient, winning 4-2 in game 7. They have walked a tightrope, winning mostly close, low scoring games, scoring most of their runs on homers (seven by new star Randy Arozerana, whose name is fun to say) and dominant relief pitching. The key question for the World Series is can they keep that up against a better team, the Dodgers?

The Dodgers also displayed some legerdemain, falling behind 0-2 and then 1-3 to the Atlanta Braves. But the Dodgers had more depth and better discipline at the plate. The two big home runs in game seven, by Keke Hernandez and Cody Bellinger, came on the eighth pitch of the at bat. The Braves made some key baserunning mistakes, no more so than in game seven in the fourth inning. With runners on second and third and no outs, they were poised for a big inning, but on a hard grounder to third Dansby Swanson broke for home, and got in a run down. He was tagged out, and the trailing runner, Austin Riley, who made a real bonehead play, hesitated on running toward third and was tagged out. Double play. The Braves didn't get another hit the rest of the night.

The Dodgers are now in their third World Series in four years, but have no championship to show for it. Who knows how long this window will be open for them? The pressure is on them--they have to be a prohibitive favorite--and the Rays are playing with house money, but I think this is finally the Dodgers' year. I'll pick them in six games. After all, the last time a huge chunk of the season was not played, in 1981, they won it all.