Sports News With The World Series

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox open the 114th World Series on Tuesday night in Boston’s Fenway Park (8:09 p.m. ET, Fox). Considering the histories of these two teams, it’s odd they’ve not met in the World Series since 1916. But there are some similarities and links between them.

For one, Red Sox manager Alex Cora and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts were Dodgers teammates for 2 ½ seasons in the early 2000s.

For another, this is the first World Series where both managers are minorities.

“It’s special,” Roberts said. “And it’s not about myself or Alex. It’s just to see minorities get opportunities and perform and do well, I think that gives opportunities for others.”

In his three seasons managing the Dodgers, Roberts has won the National League West Division in each and two NL pennants. Cora’s first season has so far yielded 115 victories counting the playoffs.

Game 1 features a matchup of pitching aces. The Red Sox will start Chris Sale (12-4, 2.11 ERA) and the Dodgers counter with Clayton Kershaw (9-5, 2.73 ERA). Kershaw has never pitched at Fenway Park and last faced Sale during the 2012 season.

The first two games, Tuesday night and Wednesday night, are at Fenway Park. After a travel day, the best-of-seven series resumes at Dodger Stadium on Friday-Sunday. If the series should go seven games, the finale will be on Halloween night.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman