Once they get to the World Sequence, the Dodgers have turn out to be fairly effectively accustomed to a specific D-word — disappointment. However this 12 months, they imagine, will likely be totally different. And Recreation 1 of the 2020 collection began with a loud assertion from the Dodgers.

And it got here with one other D-word — dominance.

The Dodgers completely beat the Tampa Bay Rays in Recreation 1 on Tuesday evening, as Clayton Kershaw pitched fantastically, Mookie Betts contributed in actually each method doable and L.A. left with an 8-Three win.

Of those final three Dodgers World Sequence appearances, that is the one time we’ve seen them dominate an opponent. Often at this level within the postseason — as gifted as their rosters have been — they’re simply attempting to remain alive and profitable by slim margins.

Within the 2018 World Sequence, the one sport they gained took 18 innings. In 2017, their greatest win was 6-2, however 5 of these runs got here within the ninth inning. So if issues really are going to be totally different for the Dodgers in 2020, this was a superb begin.

Since Kershaw is the point of interest of the postseason narrative any time he steps on the mound, it needs to be stated straight away that he pitched in addition to the Dodgers may have hoped. He threw six innings, putting out eight, permitting simply two hits — one among which was a solo homer.

The Dodgers performed so effectively throughout the board that the sport didn’t reside or die with Kershaw, which is the factor that’s really been his postseason kryptonite through the years. This time round, he obtained a booming two-run homer from Cody Bellinger within the fourth inning that put the Dodgers forward. When Kevin Kiermaier homered off Kershaw within the fifth, the offense responded by rapidly making everybody neglect about it.

They piled on 5 runs within the fifth inning, displaying the opposite dimension of their lineup. They will beat you with out homers too.

It began with a Mookie Betts stroll and stolen base, ratcheting up the strain on Rays starter Tyler Glasnow. When he walked Corey Seager subsequent, the Rays in all probability ought to have pulled Glasnow, however they saved him in and paid the value.

Justin Turner struck out, however an aggressive Betts stole third after which scored when Max Muncy hit right into a fielder’s selection. The entire sequence was actually propelled by Betts’ means to create chaos on the basepaths. With out that, it may have been a Turner strikeout and a double play, however with Betts’ aggressiveness, the Dodgers successfully gained the sport proper there.

Will Smith got here up subsequent and singled to make it 4-1. That’s when the Rays pulled Glasnow, however Ryan Yarbrough didn’t fare a lot better. He allowed RBI singles to Chris Taylor and Kiké Hernandez. At that time, it was 6-1 and the gap felt like the gap between L.A. and Tampa Bay.

Betts got here again up within the sixth and led off with a homer — he added one other single later within the sport to complete with two hits, two runs scored, two stolen bases and the homer. Purple Sox followers needed to be questioning why their entrance workplace would ever commerce him.

Attention-grabbing how while you commerce for the most effective gamers in baseball, World Sequence disappointment can flip into World Sequence dominance.

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The Rays put collectively a menace within the seventh inning towards the Dodgers bullpen. They obtained one run throughout and had been ready to attain extra. With Victor González on the mound and runners at first and second base, Mike Zunino hit a scorcher proper again at González, who made the short play to catch the liner and double up the runner at second base.

It squashed the menace — and was fairly an thrilling play.

WHAT’S NEXT

These two groups are again for Recreation 2 on Wednesday with the Rays hoping for a vastly totally different outcome. They’ll have Blake Snell on the mound, which they’ll be ok with. He’s a former Cy Younger winner, who has a profession 2.44 ERA within the postseason.

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Snell has nice stuff, however doesn’t typically go tremendously deep into postseason video games. Given what the Dodgers had been capable of do towards the often nice Rays bullpen in Recreation 1, that may very well be an issue.

As for the Dodgers, they haven’t named a Recreation 2 starter but. We all know Walker Buehler is getting the ball in Recreation 3, so by strategy of elimination, somebody like Julio Urias would make sense as a Dodgers starter. Dustin Could and Tony Gonsolin are the opposite Dodgers pitchers who’ve began video games this October. Of these, Could is likely to be the only option, since he solely pitched one inning in Recreation 7 of the NLCS on Sunday.

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