The World Series begins tomorrow, and it will be a 1st time ever matchup of two storied franchises.
The Los Angeles Dodgers haven't won it all since 1988. Three years ago, Kansas City marked the 30th anniversary of their first title by beating the Mets in 5 games. Current Dodger manager Dave Roberts was a part of Boston's 2004 championship team. Current Red Sox skipper Alex Cora won his first ring in 2007, and was a bench coach with Houston last year. Cora was a Dodger in 2004, as was Roberts, before Roberts was traded that summer.
Roberts is still a fan favorite with BoSox fans, 14 years later, but now he comes in enemy colors, hoping to end a 30 year draught. Boston is looking for their 4th title in a 15 year span. Almost Yankee-esque, if you will.
Chris Sale will start game 1 for Boston. Los Angeles almost surely will counter with Clayton Kershaw. The offenses are similar in design. Cora is toying with the idea of having star outfielder Mookie Betts play second base in place of Ian Kinsler when the series shifts to Dodger Stadium on Friday, in order to accomodate J. D. Martinez, who otherwise wouldn't be able to play in LA, as he's been used mostly as a DH in the playoffs.
Martinez is not the only ex-Tri City Valleycat playing in this series. Enrique "Kiki" Hernandez was in the Fall Classic last year with the Dodgers, and figures to see some time in this series.
The Dodgers survived an NLCS against Milwaukee that illustrated just how an over-reliance on baseball's sudden addiction to analytics can hurt a team. Brewer manager Craig Counsell got too cute with his pitching moves too often, and it finally bit him on Saturday. Boston dismissed Houston in 5 games, when it could've easily been the other way around, but A. J. Hinch forgot how his team won it all last year. Cora has not been afraid to use his starters in relief roles between starts (i.e. Sale, Rick Porcello, Nathan Eovaldi), and so far, it's worked.
Three years ago, the Royals won it all when they played their second consecutive series (lost to San Francisco in 2014). The Dodgers are here for the 2nd straight year. Do I have to paint this any further?
The pick: Dodgers in 7.
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If you're a WWE fan, this hurts.
Roman Reigns (real name Leati Joseph Anoai) vacated the WWE Universal title tonight due to a recurrence of lukemia. Reigns opened Monday Night Raw with this:
Originally, Reigns was to defend vs. former champ Brock Lesnar and Braun Strowman at Crown Jewel on November 2. Now, Lesnar and Strowman will be by themselves, unless someone like, say for example, Drew McIntyre, is added to the mix before then.
Now that I think of it, this may just explain why Strowman's partnership with McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler imploded a week ago. WWE must've known something was up with Reigns, who missed house shows all weekend, which would explain why Strowman was being turned back babyface, and he's not alone.
Also tonight, Elias, the troubadour who had been a heel since being called up from NXT, was being posited as a face against acting GM Baron Corbin, who demanded that Elias leave the ring instead of performing a song. Elias, in real life, was a musician before turning to wrestling, and even took the time to do a cover of Dobie Gray's "Drift Away" (also the name of Elias' spinning neckbreaker finisher) while in New Orleans back in March during the run-up to Wrestlemania. Corbin's run as GM may be coming to an end soon, but that's a story for another time. WWE needed to shore up the babyface side of the Raw roster, knowing that Reigns will be out indefinitely, throwing whatever long term plans the company had down the tubes.
Stay tuned.
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