Although the 2020 baseball season was anything but normal, the top two teams from the American League and National League navigated their way through a 16-team playoff to meet up in Arlington, Texas, for the World Series.
The Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers square off in Game 1 on Tuesday night at Global Life Field. The first pitch is slated for 8:09 p.m. ET on FOX. The Dodgers are the Vegas-favorites to win the opener.
What to Know – Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays avoided blowing a 3-0 lead to the Houston Astros in the ALCS with a 4-2 victory in Game 7. Tampa is back in the World Series for the first time since 2008, which was the franchise’s first appearance in the series.
The 27-year old righty, Tyler Glasnow, gets the ball in the opener for the Rays. He has appeared in four games this postseason, posting a 2-1 record with a 4.66 earned run average. In Glasnow’s last start, he surrendered four earned runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and two walks.
Randy Arozarena has been tearing the cover off the baseball this postseason. The outfielder is batting .382 with seven home runs and 10 RBI. Arozarena was voted the ALCS MVP after smacking four home runs and batting .321 in seven games against the Astros.
Betting trends point out that the total has gone under in eight of Ray’s last nine games. Tampa Bay went 12-7 as underdogs this year.
What to Know – Los Angeles Dodgers
Down 3-1 to the Atlanta Braves, the Los Angeles Dodgers avoided another postseason heartbreak with three-straight wins to punch their ticket back to the World Series for the third time in four years. The Dodgers finished the regular season with the best record in baseball at 43-17 and did not lose in the playoffs until the NLCS.
The Dodgers will turn to none other than Clayton Kershaw to take the mound in the opener. Kershaw is 2-1 in postseason starts with a 3.32 ERA. The lefty finished the regular season with a 6-2 record, 2.16 ERA, and 0.84 WHIP.
NLCS MVP Corey Seager (.298 BA, 6 HRs, 15 RBI) has torched opposing pitching all postseason. In the seven-game NLCS series, the shortstop batted .310 with eight runs scored and is the only NL player in history to hit five home runs in a postseason series.
In six of Los Angeles’ last nine contests, the total has gone over, and the Dodgers are 9-3 straight up this postseason.
The Pick is In
We all know the history of Kershaw and his unraveling in the playoffs. However, the potential future Hall of Famer has looked good in his postseason starts this season. Kershaw has been battling back spasms, which caused scratched starts this postseason.
Glasnow has excellent stuff but has been dicey at times this season with his control, and you can’t do that against this lineup. The pick is the Dodgers to win Game 1 and the total to go under.
