STORY
The Amateurs’ 2020 MLB World Series Review and Analysis
An overview of this year’s Fall Classic.
With a 60 games-season and an expanded postseason (a best-of-three Wild-Card Series and 16-team postseason just like the NBA has), it has been a wild baseball season.
Imagine this, how a team from the East Coast of the United States of America played their games in San Diego? That’s how the 2020 season brought us.
Eventually, from 30 teams, we got two best teams — as usual — to wrap up the season in a best-of-seven series. An unlikely American League champion, against the current baseball super team from the National League, winning their third pennant in four years.
The ‘minuscule’, small-market, hard-nosed Tampa Bay Rays conquered the Junior Circuit. On the other side of the dugout, the ‘culture club’ in Los Angeles Dodgers topped the Senior Circuit.
Tale of the tape
This World Series served as an ideal match-up between the best teams of the sport. Rays’ 40–20 record (.667) and Dodgers’ 43–17 record (.717) tops the remaining 28 teams in the league.
Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays themselves rode the ‘Tompa Bay Gronkaneers’ mayhem. But, unlike its NFL — hence their mocked name — and NHL counterpart, they went on without star power at all.
Instead, they relied heavily on some ‘cult heroes’, like the mighty Randy Arozarena along with his boots and fairy-tale postseason and Ji-Man Choi a.k.a. Run JMC and a bunch of K-Pop fans behind him. Rays’ roster depth was staggering, with 2B/corner outfielder Brandon Lowe and center fielder Kevin Kiermaier providing depth and leadership.
The Rays also have “a whole damn stable of guys who throw 98 miles per hour,” along with their also hard-throwing rotation trio in Blake Snell, the veteran Charlie Morton, and Cillian Murphy doppelgänger in Tyler Glasnow. Unfortunately, their road having a slight blow because of their missing bullpen pieces in Colin Poche, Jalen Beeks, and Chaz Roe.
The Rays endured hard to win their second-ever AL crown. After sweeping the nomadic Blue Jays in AL Wild Card Series, Rays went full 5 games against New York Yankees in ALDS and full 7 games against the villainous Houston Astros in the ALCS.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers, on the other hand, tried to honor Kobe just like LeBron James and his 2020 LA Lakers team. But, unlike its NBA team, which is filled with washed-up superstars, this big, bad, wrecking crew in Dodger Blue is a real super team.
Imagine having a roster consisting of three former MVPs in Mookie Betts (AL MVP in 2018), Cody Bellinger (last year’s NL MVP), and Clayton Kershaw (MVP in 2014). It’s borderline unfair, by any terms.
Dodgers also have few players of high pedigree, such as former Rookie of the Year in Corey Seager, late-blooming power hitter in Max Muncy, and so forth. Pitching-wise, look at Brusdar Graterol and Dustin May which aren’t similar but throw 100 mph, along with seasoned veterans in Jake McGee, Blake Treinen, and Kenley Jansen.
The Series, in short.
Game 1.
The scoreline said, Rays 3, Dodgers 8. Don’t look at the scoreline, look at the fact that few days prior, at the same ballpark, the Dodgers were down, three games to one, against the Braves? And then, they came back steaming like a locomotive? That proved vital.
The top moments in this match were hilarious. From another “Mookie Betts Experience”, to Bellinger smash and ‘low five’ — after a popped joint in his non-throwing arm — to another Arozarena bomb, #56’s eighth of the 2020 postseason, proved that Allegro Cantabile is, or at least was a real deal.
Game 2
Rays roared back, as they could. The final score, a 6–4 win for the boys from St. Pete showed that they did have some pop in their lineup.
Brandon Lowe starred in this game with 2 HRs.Choi, on the other hand, cementing his position as one of the cult heroes by becoming the first Korean-born position player to play, get a hit, and score a run in a World Series Game.
On the other side, it was a poor performance by the Dodgers. They struck out a whopping 15 times, tying their 2018 World Series record.
Game 3.
How to describe Walker Buehler in this game? Simply, dominance.6.1 innings pitched, 10 strikeouts. No wonder why ESPN wrote a few things about the former Vanderbilt Commodore.
First, they wrote about how Buehler and his high-octane offerings overwhelmed the strikeout-prone Rays. Then, they wrote unique facts only applied to Buehler, that only two times has a pitcher struck out at least 22 batters on fastballs in a postseason. The first was his performance in the 2018 World Series game 3, and the second is his 2020 game 3 gem.
Offensive-wise, the Dodgers kept the line rolled by hitting well with 2 outs. After Justin Turner’s solo homer in the first inning, Corey Seager exploited this chance in the sixth inning as twelve pitches later, Turner hacked a double, and Max Muncy had driven in a pair with a single.
The Rays cannot answer the Dodgers’ barrage with their own. On the other hand, they create just a single momentum with Arozarena’s 8th postseason HR off Kenley Jansen with two outs in the ninth.
Game 4.
The do-or-die match for the Rays. If they lost, they fell to 3–1 so the boys from St. Pete must capitalize on this opportunity.
Enter Ryan Yarbrough, and he got whacked early. Justin Turner homered at the first inning and Corey Seager tied the most postseason HR record in a season made by Arozarena the night before.
But, as the Rays always did in the first place, they fought back. They fought back with swagger epitomized in the man with #56 on his back, still being the ‘Alpha Male of the Week’ across the sporting world.
This time, that guy named Arozarena hit another home run leading off the bottom of the fourth inning to cut the lead. His ninth HR of the postseason put him for the sole possession of the record, and another cult hero in the making.
For a pretty long time far, far away from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, it seemed that back-and-forth anime-style mayhem couldn’t stop in this ballgame. When Muncy drove in baserunners from Dodgers to retake the lead, Hunter Renfroe cut it with a towering solo HR.
Utilityman Enrique Hernández then knocked an RBI single against one of the stable members, Diego Castillo. A three-run home run by Brandon Lowe, his third of the series, off Pedro Báez in the bottom of the inning gave the Rays their first lead of the game but Joc Pederson drove home two runners with a pinch-hit single in the seventh inning off Rays’ designated ace reliever Nick Anderson to put the Dodgers back ahead.
Needing to catch a breath, Kevin Kiermaier hit another solo homer in the bottom of the inning off Báez to tie the game, yet again. But Seager, with his fourth hit of the game and his quest for World Series MVP, drove in Chris Taylor on a single in the eighth against Anderson to put the Dodgers back up again, 7–6.
It seems that game 4 is going to be the Dodgers, and they could close the series sooner. Then, Kenley Jansen — as usual — choking in big postseason moments.
Enter, Brett Maverick Phillips. The local guy from the Tampa Bay area.
Phillips was known as a ‘no-hit, A-glove’ guy who could play all positions on the OF with ease. He was shipped from the Kansas City Royals for a fringe prospect named Lucius Fox — not Batman’s rich, weapon-dealing pal — before the trade deadline in August.
As a matter of fact, he was recently married to Brianna Hillman, daughter of the Marlins’ bench coach Trey Hillman. For those who don’t know who Hillman was, he managed Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters to Japan Series victory back in 2006 and led SK Wyverns to Korea Series victory just two seasons prior.
From my point-of-view, he’s no more than a designated defender. A superb defender, but not the man to knock a winning run, in the World Series. Luckily, the Dodgers were without their best OF defensive arrangement. With the 2019 Gold Glove winner, Cody Bellinger DHing after a sore back and rehabbing from a dislocated joint, Dodgers made a questionable defensive alignment.
Per The 3–0 Take podcast, which recorded as the Dodgers at that point should keep Chris Taylor at LF, put Mookie Betts at CF, and Pederson at RF. Kyle Corwin and Nate Reyes at that time pointed that Taylor’s subpar defense at CF could be the key to Dodgers’ demise.
Hosts Kyle Corwin and Nate Reyes talked about how Dodgers failed to defend properly in a critical time, yet again.
Did it backfire? Of course. Phillips then hit a 93-mph cutter from Jansen to Taylor, who mishandled, Kiermaier scored, then Arozarena stumbled and it seemed that everyone knew that it’ll be an extra-inning game.
Muncy, who played brilliantly at 1B all season long, then underthrew the ball to Will Smith who, in the middle of the ruckus, mishandled it. Safe to say, like how Indonesians know baseball from Doraemon’s Dorabase manga.
Final: Dodgers 7, Rays 8.
Want more? Here’s the recap to catch the craziness ensue as the Rays walked it off to win.
Still want to know how Phillips’ family react? Here’s an article to recount how Brett Phillips’ walk-off , sayonara style mayhem from the Hillmans’ point-of-view.
Game 5.
Game 5 was an anticlimax for Phillips’ sayonara-style walk off. Arozarena did stay hot, unlike Rays’ other hitters and he even drove Yandy Diaz home after Rays were pounced in early innings.
But, the highlight was the Manuel Margot steal attempt when Dodgers led 3–2. The 50 Cent look-alike took his shot at a Jackie Robinson moment as the Rays tried to tie the game.
On the mound, Dodgers’ emotional leader and ace Clayton Kershaw kept his cool. The Texan guy, who grew up supporting the Rangers, kept the Dodgers’ lead.
Muncy, another Texas native, eventually paid for his wrongdoings in game 5 with a solo shot to deep right-center field. Dodgers won, 4–2 and they could clinch their title with a game 6 win.
Game 6.
With their backs on the wall, Rays caught fire early. Arozarena, yet again, with a solo shot to take the early lead, and Blake Snell turned to his Randy Johnson mode.
The 2018 American League Cy Young award winner was shutting down the Dodgers’ offense through the first five innings of Game 6 of the 2020 World Series. He just allowed a hit and no runs, which was enough for the Rays to get the lead and seemingly ensured a game 7.
Austin Barnes, Dodgers’ backup catcher was up next in the LA order, and he singled to centerfield. That’s when Rays’ manager Kevin Cash made a very questionable decision that will be second-guessed for the rest of his career.
He took Snell out of the game. Solely because of the matchups even when Snell is basically untouchable.
As struggling reliever Nick Anderson replaced Snell on the mound, Mookie Betts smoked a double to left field. That hit, followed by a wild pitch sealed the fate of the Rays, as they allowed 2 unnecessary runs and trailed, 2–1.
Betts then knocked out the Rays with his solo HR off Peter Fairbanks, and that’s it for the Dodgers. Victor Gonzalez and his compatriot, swing-man Julio Urias were the guy who sealed off the Rays’ fate.
Gonzalez got the big, fat W. He was followed by a strong outing from Urias, who struck out Adames to seal the first WS title to the Chavez Ravine after 32 long years.
Conclusion.
The 2020 World Series was a weird, wild series to decide a champion. Two cities, with two different motivations, faced each other and they proved that the best matchup is always the boldest one.
Overall, even when this World Series is tainted because of COVID-19, this brought baseball back to life in the US. Cult heroes, established superstars, and unexpected results were born from this year’s postseason.
Let’s wait until March to see a whole new 2021 season and a whole new ballgame!
Farhan Muhammad Aditomo is a lifelong baseball fan who also happened to found love in other sports such as combat sports, motorsports, association football, and gridiron football. He aspires to make a living out of the texts about people within the aforementioned sports. Worships Hideki Matsui, but not Yomiuri Giants. Thinks Randy Arozarena’s diet and push-up regime as the best life plan during the pandemic, by far.
You can follow me on Twitter as @fmaditomo or Instagram as @iniaditomo.
