Tampa Bay Rays vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Total: 7.5

Game 1

Not often do we get the two best teams from the regular season making the finals or World Series but we get that this year in baseball with the Rays and Dodgers. Their journey through the playoffs were the polar opposite, especially in their respective Championship Series’ as Tampa Bay had to hold off the Astros in Game 7 after taking a 3-0 lead while the Dodgers were down 3-1 to the Braves and won three straight to get them to this point. It’s going to be one hell of a series!

MVP/CPT

1. Mookie Betts , OF LAD - Where Tyler Glasnow struggled this year was with right-handed power hitters. He allowed 8 HR across 29.1 IP in the regular season to RHH, a 2.45 HR/9 average. Even in his last start we saw both Jose Altuve and George Springer take him deep. Betts has demolished right-handers this year belting 16 HR with a .323 AVG and .438 wOBA. These are the moments the Dodgers paid premium dollar for and they’ll get their money’s worth in Game 1.

2. Clayton Kershaw , SP LAD - It’s hard to envision another poor start from Kershaw and it’s hard to envision Dave Roberts letting him go like he did in the sixth inning of his last NLCS start, in which the wheels fell off, which has seemingly been a trend throughout Kershaw’s postseason career. Although the Rays had a top-10 offense against left-handed pitching in terms of OPS, they also lead professional baseball with a 28.5% K-rate. Kershaw himself posted a 28.1% mark and has upped that to 31.9% in the postseason. There is 10 strikeout upside here.

3. Randy Arozarena, OF TB - All those push-up’s he was doing while on the covid list has really paid off for the Rays new star outfielder. He hit seven home runs across 23 regular season games and has hit seven more in 14 postseason games. Safe to say he’s hit a lot of balls out of the park in 2020. He was especially good against left-handed pitching belting four bombs across a 20 at-bat sample while hitting .400 with a .591 wOBA.

Mid-Tier

1. Tyler Glasnow , SP TB - Amongst all pitchers with at least 50 innings pitched this year, nobody had a higher K/9 than Glasnow this year at 14.28. His ceiling game is as high as anyone, but with how much he challenges opposing hitters, he serves up some bombs on occasion. The Dodgers did, however, have the second lowest K-rate against right-handed pitching over the course of the season, so something will give here. Glasnow is viable in the CPT position as well.

2. Corey Seager , SS LAD - There has probably only been one hotter hitter on the entire planet than Seager lately and he plays for the Rays, but man has Seager been hitting everything out of the park. In the Atlanta series alone, Seager hit FIVE home runs and drove in 10 runs. That’s in seven games. I mentioned that Glasnow pitches worse against righties or Seager would have made it into the CPT section. You can still use him there for sure considering his .322 AVG, 11 HR and .416 wOBA vs. RHP this year.

3. Hunter Renfroe , OF TB - There is a long history that supports Renfroe against left-handed pitching and that’s why Kevin Cash is deploying him as his clean-up hitter. For his career, Renfroe has a .573 SLG, .917 OPS and 175 wOBA vs. LHP. He also has six hits against lefties this year; five have left the yard. He’s a big time home run threat despite his poor career numbers against Kershaw.

Dart Throw

1. Joc Pederson , OF LAD - I know I’ve touted righties to be Glasnow’s falling out, but how can we ignore the cheap home run potential from Pederson? He could eventually be lifted for a defensive replacement, but hopefully not until he homers. Seven of his eight homers came against right-handed pitching this year and had a pretty strong series against ATL hitting in four of the final six games. It’s likely home run or bust.

2. Manuel Margot , OF TB - I think a lot of people will look at Yandy Díaz and that’s fine, but as soon as a right-handed pitcher takes the hill for LAD, Ji-Man Choi likely pinch hits for him. Margot on the other hand is an elite defender and hits both sides of the plate well and will play a full nine inning game. After hitting just one homer in the regular season, Margot has hit five in the postseason and has 11 RBI to boot. He’s an elite value.