It’s a World Series of contrasts and commonalities, starting with James Taylor of New England and Chapel Hill singing the Star Spangled Banner on opening night.
Although it took almost four hours to play, the first game of the 2018 World Series offered a little bit of everything. The hot, hot Boston Red Sox in frigid Fenway Park against the dominant Dodgers from La La Land, playing in their second straight fall classic.
First the managers. Forty-three-year-old Red Sox rookie Alex Cora went from bench coach for the Houston Astros’ 2017 champs to leading one of the most storied franchises in baseball in one of the most demanding sports cities, where Cora played for the 2007 champion BoSox.
He led the team to 108 wins during the regular season, and so far has pushed all the right buttons in the playoffs, from pitching changes to pinch hitters like Eduardo Nunez, whose three-run bullet over the Green Monster secured game one, 8-4. And Cora’s great friend was in the opposite dugout.
Dave Roberts, 46, and Cora were young teammates for the Dodgers in the early 2000s, and while Roberts is in only his fourth year as a Major League manager his first three Dodger teams won the National League West and this one rallied from a 16-26 start to reach back-to-back World Series. And you could almost see the wheels turning in both their heads.
Ten total pitching changes in relief of staff aces Chris Sale and Clayton Kershaw. Sale did not last long enough to get the win, and Kershaw took the loss when he exited the game in the fifth inning after allowing five runs. Plus six pinch hitters to try to get the right match-ups, and the last one worked like a charm for Cora when Nunez’s rocket broke open a taut game.
The forecast is for even colder weather tonight, with the Red Sox hoping to take a 2-0 lead out to LA for the three weekend night games. At Dodger Stadium, the pitchers from both teams will bat replacing the designated hitters used in American League parks. And Roberts will likely try to play small ball with sacrifice bunts and attempted stolen bases.
The Series has everything a baseball fan could want, with the Magic Johnson-owned Dodgers trying to find a way against the billionaire-backed Red Sox over a weekend where old Bums will be trying to force a sixth game back in freezing Fenway on Halloween Eve. If so, it’ll be all cold hands on deck.
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