2020 World Series Picture: Part One
After a thrilling 4-3 win by the Dodgers over the Braves, they clinch a spot in the World Series against the Rays. Last season’s NL MVP Cody Bellinger played hero, as the Dodger’s centerfielder hit the go-ahead solo home run in the bottom of the seventh.
Game One of the World Series will kick off tonight at 8:11 pm ET, at the newly-opened Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Tampa Bay will turn to young hard-thrower Tyler Glasnow to start, while Los Angeles will start veteran lefty Clayton Kershaw. Although Kershaw is arguable the best pitcher of the 2010s, or possibly even thus far in the century, he has struggled mightily in his Championship Series and World Series appearances. He sports a poor 3-6 record, with a subpar 4.84 ERA in 57.2 innings in his Championship Series career. His World Series career numbers are even worse than this, as in five appearances, he has a 5.40 ERA in 26.2 innings. In his regular season career, he is 175-76, with a terrific 2.43 ERA, and 2,526 strikeouts. Even though his World Series statistics are historically awful, I believe that he will pitch great tonight, as long as manager Dave Roberts does not try to push him too deep in the game. We saw this mistake on Dave’s part in his last start in the NLCS, as he was great through the first five innings, just allowing one run. However, he put him back out there in the sixth, and the results were very poor. In this key game, the game plan for Los Angeles should be to get four quality innings out of Kershaw. Then, send him back out for the fifth, and assess his situation batter by batter. If he gets through the fifth swimmingly, I would not send him back out there in the sixth, but turn to their strong bullpen.
Tampa Bay’s Tyler Glasnow is a young and exciting pitcher, that can give them length if he’s on point. He has shown mixed Postseason results, as he can be nearly unhittable one start, but can barely get through two innings in the next start. The Rays should look for Glasnow to get through five innings at least, and six in a best case scenario. This is a seven game series, so the deep Tampa Bay bullpen will surely be put to work. In order to help save the strength of their ‘pen, it would be great if the Rays could get five or six quality innings out of Glasnow. Their other two top starters, Blake Snell and Charlie Morton, could certainly go deep in games as well.