How the Dodgers and Rays match up position by position in the World Series

The Dodgers had the best regular-season record in baseball at 43-17 and are 9-3 in the postseason after sweeping the Milwaukee Brewers in the wild card round and San Diego Padres in the National League Division Series before needing seven games to defeat the Atlanta Braves in the NL Championship Series. Let’s see how them compare, position by position: WORLD SERIES POSITION-BY-POSITION MATCHUPS STARTING ROTATION Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw, who has a mediocre 11-12 record and 4.31 ERA in 35 career playoff games, 28 of them starts, will start Game 1, but being pushed to seven games in the NLCS will disrupt the team’s World Series pitching plans. But his plate discipline remains superb — he’s drawn 15 walks against 17 strikeouts in 12 playoff games — and he’s provided pop with two homers, three doubles and eight RBIs. EDGE: Dodgers SHORTSTOP Dodgers: Corey Seager has been a beast in the playoffs, batting.298 with a 1.124 OPS, six homers, four doubles, 15 RBIs and 13 runs in 12 games, earning NLCS most valuable player honors and the admiration of teammate Mookie Betts, who said his job as leadoff man is “to get on base and stay there until hits me in, which doesn’t take long.” Dodgers’ Corey Seager celebrates his home run against the Atlanta Braves during the first inning in Game 6 of the NLCS on Oct. 17 in Arlington, Texas. EDGE: Dodgers RIGHT FIELD Dodgers: Mookie Betts made brilliant plays in each of the final three NLCS games, racing in to make a shoestring catch of Swanson’s flare with runners on second and third in Game 5, leaping at the wall to rob Marcell Ozuna of extra bases in Game 6 and robbing Freddie Freeman of a homer in Game 7.