They will square off in a pitching duel fitting of the grandest stage.

When all is said and done for their careers http://www.redsoxproshops.com/authentic-dustin-pedroia-jersey , Clayton Kershaw and Chris Sale will both likely be in the Hall of Fame. "Since the start of 2008, there are only two pitchers in baseball that have a sub-3.00 ERA with a minimum of 900 innings pitched. Two of the three will be on the mound for their respective teams when the Dodgers and Red Sox take the field Tuesday night in Game 1 of the World Series.Clayton Kershaw has a 2.39 career ERA in 2,096 1 innings and second on the list is Chris Sale, tallying a 2.89 ERA in 1,482 1鈦? over his nine big league seasons. The only other pitcher on the list is Cliff Lee at 2.93 for the last seven years of his career that came to a close in 2014.Not to be diminished by recent injuries or ailments, Kershaw-Sale is a matchup fitting of the grandest stage. “Chris is a very good pitcher,” Kershaw said during media day Monday. “He was dominant this year. He’s been dominant for a long time. I enjoy watching him compete.”“I have nothing but good things to say about him and the way he competes and the way he’s pitched the last few years. I don’t take much solace in the fact about the matchup, I don’t really care too much, other than I’d like him to not be as good, so we could have a better chance of winning, for sure.”Photo by Elsa/Getty ImagesThere was no shortage of compliments from either pitcher about their counterpart.“I think if you just look at his r茅sum茅 and what he’s done,” said Sale as he spoke about Kershaw. I’ve said it a lot, but consistency, that’s the key to this game. And he’s been as consistent as any starting pitcher in the game for the last decade.” “Obviously his trophy case is packed. And his r茅sum茅 is on a lot of sheets of paper, but he’s been able to stay consistent and stay at that dominant level for a long time. You see a lot of ups and downs with people, but he’s been at the top for quite some time now and it’s pretty impressive.”The trophy case may be packed for Kershaw but it’s missing the most important one in baseball. Winning the World Series has always been the goal and for the second consecutive year, the Dodgers are four wins away from achieving it.“It’s pretty critical,” Kershaw said about the importance of winning the Fall Classic. “You know Fred Lynn Jersey , I really want to win the World Series. I think that’s no different than the other 50 guys in both locker rooms, though. I think the only difference maybe is that because we’ve gotten so close in the past, because we’ve gotten to go to the postseason, we’re a little bit spoiled in our expectations every year with the Dodgers, which is a great thing.”Standing in the Dodgers way will be an offense that was a juggernaut during the regular season. Leading the Red Sox offense, Mookie Betts (1.078) and J.D. Martinez (1.031) were twoof only four qualified batters with an OPS north of 1.000 this season.Limiting Boston’s big hitters will be one of the major factors if the Dodgers are to win the series. Outside of Manny Machado and Brian Dozier, Los Angeles hardly has any experience playing in the quirky 106-year-old Fenway Park. But that doesn’t matter to Kershaw.“I don’t think you can let the ballparks dictate how you pitch,” Kershaw said. “You have to go with your game plan regardless of where you’re pitching. And usually when I give up homers, they’re not cheap anyway. So it probably won’t matter if there’s a fence there or not that’s really close.”“I don’t look too much in the ballparks honestly. It will be good to get out there today with our team just so we can get a feel for it, outfield-wise and position-wise, things like that, but other than that, don’t take too much stock in it.”Sale spent last week in a hospital after some type of illness. The already wiry left-hander lost some weight while sick, weight he didn’t really have to lose. But Sale assured reporters Monday that he was healthy. “If I’m standing on the mound, I’m a hundred percent.”World Series Game 1 infoFirst pitch: 5:09 p.m.TV: Fox (coverage starts at 4:30 p.m.)Announcers: Joe Buck, John Smoltz, Ken Rosenthal, Tom VerducciOnline streaming: Fox Sports GoLocal radio: AM 570 (Charley Steiner Wade Boggs Jersey , Rick Monday)National radio: ESPN Radio (Dan Shulman, Chris Singleton) Dbacks choose to build for the future by trading the final controllable season of their superstar player."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Diamondbacks Farm TeamsGameday ThreadsDiamondbacks NewsDiamondbacks Game ReportsFang FoodLatest NewsDiamondbacks NewsDiamondbacks Opinion & AnalysisFirst glimpse of the return from the Paul Goldschmidt tradeNew,50commentsDbacks choose to build for the future by trading the final controllable season of their superstar player. a dismal 2018 given his long track record of being an above-average hitter, but that’s not something to count on either given Avila’s batted ball profile and sudden increase in strikeouts.After being previously blocked by future Hall of Famer Yadier Molina, Kelly now has the opportunity to receive regular playing time in Arizona. Kelly has had 131 plate appearances at the MLB level with sporadic playing time, so I’m not putting much stock in his career .154/.227/.188 batting line in 131 plate appearances. In the last three years, he’s put up a .278/.373/.416 slash with solid strikeout and walk numbers in a 755 PA sample size. If he comes anywhere close to those numbers, that’s a major upgrade offensively to what the position produced in 2018. Kelly only has accumulated 162 days of service time despite multiple call-ups, so the Dbacks control him for the next 6 seasons, although he’ll be arbitration eligible for 4 of them. RHP Luke Weaver:The Diamondbacks also had a hole in their rotation with the team’s best pitcher in 2018 just signing a 6-year deal to joining the Washington Nationals. They had just inked Merrill Kelly last night from the KBO for $5.5M guaranteed. After this trade, the rotation projects to be Zack Greinke (if he’s not traded), Robbie Ray, Zack Godley, Kelly, and Luke Weaver on Opening Day 2019 with Taijuan Walker returning somewhere around the midpoint of the season. The team does have Taylor Clarke, Matt Koch, Jon Duplantier, and Taylor Widener http://www.redsoxproshops.com/authentic-dustin-pedroia-jersey , although each pitcher has their own issues. Duplantier and Widener need more seasoning in the minors while Clarke and Koch having lesser upside as a starting pitcher than Weaver.Weaver projected as a middle of the rotation arm as a prospect, but hasn’t found his footing at the MLB level. After flashing in small samples in 2016 and 2017, Weaver got hit hard in his first full season in 2018. That’s not too uncommon for some pitchers once the league gets another look at him, as Ray found out in 2016. Weaver has a 4-pitch mix: 4-seamer, cutter, curveball, and change-up. The 4-seamer is his primary pitch, as he throws it close to 60% of the time with the change-up as his primary secondary pitch and also the most effective. Despite the quality change-up (once graded as a potential 60 pitch as a prospect), Weaver has weaker platoon splits against LHH although most of his career numbers come from that dismal 2018 season. He also had a bit of a problem pitching in St. Louis with a career 5.34 ERA at Busch Stadium vs. a 4.25 ERA on the road, so a change in scenery could help him out. If Weaver is able to bounceback, the team controls him for 5 seasons and only 3 arbitration eligible seasons (will likely miss the Super Two cutoff by just a few days). INF Andy Young:Young was drafted in the 37th round after his senior year at Indiana State, but has made himself into a solid prospect. Young has a .281/.367/.462 slash in his minor league career, but the numbers are trending upward with a solid 2018 season. After a .276/.372/.444 mark in Class A-Advanced Palm Beach in 351 PA, he looked excellent after a promotion to AA Springfield with a .319/.395/.556 slash in 152 PA. Going from 2017 to 2018, his strikeout rate dropped from 22% to 17% while not hurting his walk rate or power numbers. After a successful 2018 season, the Cardinals sent him to the Arizona Fall League, where he shined the brightest with a .316/.421/.521 slash and 9 XBH (5 2B, 1 3B Pedro Martinez Jersey , 3 HR) and a 14/17 BB/K in 89 plate appearances.On my rankings list, Young slides in ahead of Pavin Smith for the #8 spot given that he has some success at the AA level. Over the last two seasons, he’s hit 38 home runs and 78 XBH (33 2B, 7 3B) in 973 PA, so there is some power upside along with a decent walk rate. Defensively he’s likely limited to 2B, where he’s played the bulk of his career. Given that the team doesn’t have a 2B waiting in the wings with Domingo Leyba’s prospect shine fading, that’s not necessarily a bad thing for the long term future of the team. Young likely will head for AA Jackson to start the 2019 season with a potential promotion to AAA Reno if things go well there and could appear in a Diamondbacks uniform as early as the 2020 season. Conclusion:The team filled two major holes on their team after two of their free agents signed with other teams and added a prospect with solid upside in the future on the infield. The team was in the position where they had to either extend or trade Goldy with the team unlikely to contend in 2019 barring some unforeseen circumstance. On top of that, the team will receive the 78th pick of the 2019 draft, giving them 6 picks in the first day of the draft (Own 1st, 26, Corbin Comp Pick, Own 2nd, Own CBB, STL CBB) and likely 6 if A.J. Pollock signs with another team for more than $50M, which is a number the Diamondbacks should offer to Pollock to ensure they at least get the draft pick or the player. It’s the type of move that sucks for fans given that Goldy was the face of the franchise, but a move they needed to make in order because letting Goldschmidt walk for only a Top 40 pick just to play him on a non-contending team is a bigger mistake.