It’s the first time to see the Rays and the Dodgers play in the World Series. It’s the first World Series at Global Life Field. Two top seeds will face each other in the World Series. There are really a lot of interesting things worth watching. Two teams with great pitching staff, Rays and Dodgers both have great pitchers such as Cy Young winners Clayton Kershaw and Blake Snell. During the regular season, Dodgers pitchers had an ERA of 3.02, leading the majors. At the same time, Rays posted a 3.56 ERA, ranking 3rd in the majors.
The Dodgers don’t like to give up free passes. Their pitchers only gave up 145 walks in the regular season, fewest in the majors. Meanwhile, the Rays gave up 168 walks, 4th fewest in the majors.
Going a little bit deeper, Dodgers pitchers gave up 2.42 walks per 9 innings and the Rays pitchers gave up 2.87 walks per 9 innings. Both are in the top 3. We probably will not see many walks in this World Series.
Both teams heavily relied on their bullpens. Rays relievers threw 269.2 innings this season, ranking 3rd in the majors. Dodgers relievers tossed 262.1 innings, 2nd in the NL.
The Rays' and Dodgers’ bullpens were really solid in the regular season. Dodgers relievers posted an ERA of 2.74, leading the NL. The Rays bullpen had a 3.37 ERA, 3rd in the majors.
So far this postseason, Rays pitchers have a 3.36 ERA and Dodgers pitchers have a 3.36 ERA. It’s not exactly the same due to different earned runs and different innings pitched, on calculation, the Rays’ ERA is slightly lower than the Dodgers’ in a very small margin.
Hitting could be very interesting to watch in this World Series. The Dodgers hit 118 homers during the regular season, but the Rays only had 80 homers this season.
Rays are a very patient team, in the regular season, they drew 243 walks, ranking 2nd in the majors. The Dodgers drew 228 walks this season.
Things are getting interesting in the playoffs. Rays have become a home run team. They’ve already crushed 25 home runs so far this postseason and the Dodgers had 18 homers.
Let’s go a little bit deeper. In this postseason, Rays hitters hit a home run per 17.80 at bats, while the Dodgers hitters hit a home run per 22.17 at bats. It will be worth watching to see whether Rays hitters can keep crushing baseballs in the World Series.
When we look at the batting average, it shows that the Dodgers might be a better hitting team, but these numbers don’t guarantee anything in the World Series.
The World Series will kick off soon. We have seen so many great plays from the Rays and the Dodgers. Both teams have great pitching depth and they have made fantastic defensive plays in the playoffs. It will surely be a very intense World Series and a great World Series. We are going to see a lot of great plays in the first World Series of the decade. Meanwhile, it will be absolutely interesting to see whether these two teams can keep crushing baseballs. Is home run going to be the deciding factor?
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