It's Dodgers and Rays.
The Dodgers have been here before. This will be their 21st appearance in the World Series, moving them out of a tie with the Giants for most in NL history. The Giants (and the Cardinals) have won more championships, though. That's because no one has lost more often in the World Series than the Dodgers, who've watched the other guys celebrate winning the last game 14 times.
That's really got to suck. The Yankees have lost the World Series 13 times, but they've won it 27 times. The Dodgers have won 6 times, most recently in 1988. It was a long time ago. I had a full head of hair. I played vigorous games of ball hockey on the weekend. Ah, memories.
That 6-14 record in World Series play, by the way, was 1-8 in Brooklyn, and then 5-6 in Los Angeles. They played in Brooklyn for more than fifty years and lost each of their first 7 appearances in the Series. They finally won it in 1955, and three years later they were in California. Where they won three titles in their first decade out west.
More than half of the Dodgers' WS appearances came against the Yankees, who made a positive habit of sending them home unhappy: 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, by which time "Wait til next year" was the local mantra. All told, the two teams faced off in the Series 11 times, and the Dodgers would win just three of them.
The Dodgers have faced the A's and Red Sox twice. They lost to the A's in 1974 and beat them in 1988; they lost to the Red Sox in 1916 and again in 2018. They've lost the only time they faced Cleveland (1920), Baltimore (1966), and Houston (2017.) They beat the White Sox (1959) and the Twins (1965) on the single occasion they met up in October.
While the Dodgers have gone 49-68 in World Series play, winning 6 series and losing 14, Tampa Bay has been there once, losing to the Phillies in 2008. Tampa Bay has won 1 World Series game in their history.
Off the top of my head, the only thing Tampa Bay has done more often than the Dodgers is lose 90 games. And that's pretty remarkable when you remember that the Dodgers literally had a 100 year head start. Really, they did.
But none of that means anything now. This is just a Best of 7. It begins Tuesday. Anything can happen.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20201019003930385