Previewing Red Sox-Dodgers

by Andrew Pasquini – Sports 1140 KHTK

The 114th World Series will feature two of baseball’s oldest franchises; the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers. This is the first time the two teams have met in the World Series since 1916, when the Red Sox won their fourth championship in five games over the then Brooklyn Robins. The series featured legends like Babe Ruth and Casey Stengel.

Fast forward to 2018, the Red Sox finished the season with a 108-53 record compared to the Dodgers 92-71. While Boston has a 16 game advantage over Los Angeles, the two teams have been pretty even since May. Since May 17, the Red Sox are 79-40 with a run differential of +163. Compare that to the Dodgers, who finished the month of April with a 12-16 record, Los Angeles played just as strong as Boston from May until now. The Dodgers have a 76-45 record since May 17 with a +200 run differential.

The Dodgers came into the postseason with the second-best team ERA in the league at 3.38. The Dodgers have leaned heavily on Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Rich Hill, and Walker Buehler in the postseason so far and have announced that Kershaw, Ryu, and Buehler will start the first three games of the World Series. Including Hill, the four starters expected to go for the Dodgers combined for a 2.82 ERA on the regular season and a 3.86 ERA in the postseason as starters.

Boston wasn’t too far behind the Dodgers in the regular season, posting a 3.75 ERA, good for seventh-best in the senior circuit. The Red Sox will look to counter with Chris Sale, David Price, Nathan Eovaldi, and Rick Porcello. The four of them combined posted a 3.48 ERA in the regular season and a 3.92 ERA in the postseason. The Red Sox will put Sale against Kershaw in Game 1 and Price against Ryu in Game 2, both games in Boston.

The bullpen is where these two pitching staffs differ. The Dodgers in the postseason has been lights out, posting an ERA of 1.30, only one point behind the Cubs for best in the postseason, although, the Cubs only played one postseason game. In their 41.2 innings, the Dodgers bullpen has allowed a .180 batting aver against and striking out 51 against just 13 walks.

While the Red Sox bullpen is comparable in the batting average against, sitting at .194, that’s where the comparisons end. In 37.1 innings, Boston’s bullpen has a 3.62 ERA and have walked 25 batters and struck out 35.

The biggest differential in the the two bullpens has been the closer spot. The Dodgers have Kenley Jansen and he has been lights out all postseason. Jansen has thrown 6.2 innings allowing just two hits and no earned runs. Batters are slashing .091/.167/.091 against Jansen and have struck out ten times compared to two walks.

Red Sox close Craig Kimbrel has been the opposite. While he has converted all five save opportunities, Kimbrel has been shaky converting those saves. In his 6.1 innings, Kimbrel has allowed five earned runs, giving him a postseason ERA of 7.11. His slash line is just as bad allowing a .261 batting average, a .438 on-base percentage, and a .478 slugging percentage against 32 batters faced.

While the Dodgers have the advantage pitching, Boston makes up with their hitting ability. Outside of home runs and total bases, the Red Sox lead the Dodgers in all major hitting categories in the postseason.

Boston has been led by the likes of JD Martinez, Xander Boegarts, and Jackie Bradley Jr. in the postseason but also have the likes of Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi who haven’t quite got going in the postseason so far. Boston has slashed .253/.341/.404 in the postseason and have scored 56 runs, the most in the postseason.

The Dodgers haven’t been as successful at hitting the ball as the Red Sox have, slashing just .218/.324/.367 but have hit the second most postseason home runs with 13. The Dodgers have multiple players who have the ability to leave the park. Players like Justin Turner, Cody Bellinger, and Yasiel Puig among others, have the ability to leave the park at any point. Having power like that up and down the lineup can be an equalizer for the Dodgers but against the Red Sox, it can’t be something the Dodgers can rely on.

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