Boston seeks their 4th World Series title since 2004 when they ended an 86-year drought.
This will be their 1st WS appearance since 2013 = a whopping 60 months ago !!
Since 2004, the Sox own an astounding W/L record of 12-2 in World Series games !!
They won their 3rd straight A.L. East div. title, setting a franchise record for wins w/ 108.
They bumped off the defending World Series champion Astros, 4 games to 1 — they won
3 in a row at the Stro's Minute Maid Park, and are 5-0 on the road this postseason.
Chris Sale (Game 1) & David Price (Game 2) are Aces for the Sox, and Porcello can be.
The BoSox need to beat LAD's only Ace Kershaw just once & they'll set up to win it all.
Sale will be just fine, after being hospitalized, and Price showed fantastic resiliency,
after having gone 0-9 w/ a 6.16 ERA in 11 postseason starts, he got off his Schneider
by whiffing 9 in 6+ IP of 3-hit shutout ball - and on only 3 days' rest - to best Verlander
and win the ALCS clincher in Houston.
The cold weather factors in as a BoSox advantage for the 1st 2 games (Puig hates it),
which is all they need to secure control of this series.
Forecasts for Tuesday night call for temps to be in the lower 50s at first pitch.
And then it will cool off during the game to the high 40s.
Wednesday night's 2nd game is expected to be about 5 degrees colder yet.
Then the series moves over to Los Angeles, where yes,
the Dodgers can expect the field to be hot & sunny, but it also may be too late.
Alex Cora's done a great job w/ his team — but I'm not so sure Dave Roberts
has been just as instrumental in LAD's success this year. Cora's made the
clubhouse more about the players; Roberts is in dictatorship-mode w/ his players.
The Interleague ('IL') factor favors Boston since they won the most games this season,
they get to play the 1st 2 & the last 2 games at home where they're used to stacking
their lineup w/ a Designated Hitter: Sox went 7-3 at home vs National League foes
this year, and are an amazing (for MLB anyways) 25-5 at home vs. N.L. West foes!!
Boston went a blistering 9-1 in N.L. ballparks (= no DH) this year, and to top it all
off, Boston had the Major League's best Inter-League record of 16-4 in 2018, and
since 2016, the Sox are an amazing 46-14 in Interleague play,
whereas the LA Dodgers are an OK 38-22 in Interleague action since 2016, but
this year went a middling 12-8 vs. the American League — 6-4 both home & away —
and in AL East division ball parks the Loss Angeleez Dahgahs are a flimsy 15-15.