The stage is set for Friday night.
My soul is ready for one last rollercoaster.
Yankees vs. Dodgers for all the marbles.
Starting pitchers for Game 1 of the World Series have been announced: Gerrit Cole vs. Jack Flaherty.
Let’s talk about it.
Obviously if you’re a Red Sox fan this is your hell.
Mets as well for obvious reasons.
Cleveland fans are miserable.
Underdog stories are great, but when you get titans clashing it’s fucking incredible.
Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton in their first World Series ever.
Juan Soto for the first time as a Yankee.
Mookie Betts eyeing ring number 3.
Gerrit Cole trying to capture his first.
When you factor in the Asian market audience for this, it’s really going to be biblical.
An interesting factor to look at for this matchup is how rest is going to be involved here.
Freddie Freeman was laboring throughout the NLCS with his bad ankle.
He was essentially a corpse out there and nowhere near his usual self.
Four days off his feet will definitely help get him back to a playable level.
He’s been raking at the plate, but the defense was been very questionable.
He gave this quote about the risk in pitching with his injury which you have to respect.
If someone in the OF gets hurt you’re able to replace with Grisham after the game.
Jasson Dominguez’s speed off the bench is a more necessary immediate tool than Grish’s substitute defense.
Let’s talk pitching Gerrit Cole vs. Jack Flaherty in Game 1.
Nothing else has been finalized on either side.
While Cole being in this spot is no surprise, Flaherty is a stunner.
Not necessarily for being picked by Roberts as this game’s starter, but for being in this position.
Last year he looked completely lost and possibly cooked as a SP.
Now he’s pitching against them in the World Series.
Not that he needs any extra motivation at this stage, but it’s there if he wants it.
Both of these teams are loaded.
If you’re looking for edges between the two, it’s marginal at best.
Both offenses have guys in there who will scare the everliving shit out of you.
Ohtani’s numbers with RISP this postseason are mental (18 for 22).
Giancarlo Stanton has five homers, four coming in last series alone.
He is unbelievable, look no further than his AL pennant clinching at bat in Game 5 vs. Cleveland.
Judge has had big moments no doubt, but the overall numbers are not there.
At any given moment though, that beast can awaken, but so far he’s been slumbering.
A usual postseason dud in Mookie Betts has erupted this October and posted a .296/.404/.659 slash line.
There’s plenty other thump to be had in these lineups.
You got it all.
The Dodgers will be deploying some version of Flaherty, Yamamoto, and Buehler with a bullpen game involved.
The big key to me there is that the Dodgers don’t have a lefty starting pitcher.
Righties however, they clobber.
The splits are stunning.
I think the bullpen is a bit of a wash. On the other side you have flamethrower Michael Kopech along with Blake Treinen and Evan Phillips.
Those three have combined to give up just two runs this postseason.
It’ll be interesting to see what state that pen is when that game rolls around.
Let’s talk x factors.
The Yankees are a horrific base running team.
Statistically the worst in the sport.
The amount of times they run into brain dead outs is crazy.
There may be a game this series they lose solely because of base running.
Another part of this to lock into is the manager battle.
Aaron Boone vs. Dave Roberts.
Boone to this point has managed this postseason beautifully.
Whether it’s avoiding leaving a starter in too long, or relying on certain relievers for multiple innings.
Everything else you gotta nitpick to get on him.
In the past Boone has made bone-head/in over his own head decisions that doomed this team.
Dave Roberts has a history of being a moron manager as well.
Just don’t step on the land mine.
Everything gets going Friday night in LA.
The world will be watching and I cannot wait.
