Big-budget Dodgers set to face upstart, frugal Rays in World Series

ARLINGTON, Texas — A World Series like no other opens Tuesday night with Clayton Kershaw’s Los Angeles Dodgers pursuing redemption, Randy Arozarena’s Tampa Bay Rays seeking acclaim and MLB relieved just to reach the championship of the pandemic-delayed season.

Buzz figures to be dampened, with attendance down to about 11,000 in the smallest crowd for a Series game since roughly 1909.

The entire Series will be played on artificial turf for the first time since 1993, at new $1.2 billion Globe Life Field, home of a Texas Rangers team eliminated on Sept. 20. Traditional postgame victory celebrations are barred. But surroundings are largely irrelevant to the favored Dodgers and under-the-radar Rays.

Los Angeles, baseball’s biggest spender, is back in the Series for the third time in four years as it seeks its first title since 1988.

Plate umpire Laz Diaz will be masked — along with the rest of the crew.

“I don’t know if you watched Game 7 last night, but it sure felt like postseason to me,” Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner said Monday, after the Dodgers rallied to beat Atlanta, 4-3, for the NL pennant. “The back and forth, the momentum shifts, big plays, big swings, big pitches, that was as much of a playoff feel as I’ve ever experienced.”

Tampa Bay, among the major leagues’ poorest draws and lowest-salaried rosters, made it this far only once before and lost to Philadelphia in 2008. Perennially unable to get a new ballpark built, the Rays have said they are exploring splitting future seasons between St. Petersburg, Fla., and Montreal.

While the Rays beat Houston for the AL pennant on Saturday night in San Diego — buoyed all postseason by the hot-hitting Arozarena, who has seven homers in these playoffs — they had to wait until Monday to travel, allowing the Braves to vacate space in the Dallas at Las Colinas-Four Seasons, where the Dodgers have been bivouacked since before the Division Series started Oct. 6. Los Angeles had an optional early afternoon workout with the stadium roof closed, and the Rays had a full practice in the evening under autumn twilight.

“We’ll be able to get out there tonight, get a feel for the surroundings of the field and how the ball bounces,” the Rays’ Austin Meadows, a former Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder, said. “I’m excited for there to be fans. It’s been a long time coming.”

Kershaw, a 32-year-old left-hander with three Cy Young Awards and an MVP trophy, is 175-76 in the regular season but 11-12 in the postseason, including 1-2 in the World Series. He has been slowed this month by a reoccurrence of back spasms.

Tampa Bay starts another former Pirate, Tyler Glasnow, a 27-year-old righty whose fastball averages 97.5 mph and who grew up in California admiring Kershaw. It will be the Rays’ first game in front of fans since spring training was interrupted on March 12 and close to the end of a lengthy bubble existence.

Glasnow and his teammates are looking forward to the end of the Series, when he can go to a bar or sit at a restaurant.

“Hugging someone or seeing family,” he said. “Just being able to be a normal person again.”

Los Angeles had a $95.6 million payroll Aug. 1, according to figures compiled by MLB. Tampa Bay was 28th at $28.9 million, ahead of only Baltimore and Pittsburgh. The Rays eliminated the Yankees ($83.7 million) and Houston ($81.4 million) during the AL playoffs.

“Regardless of payroll, we know we can compete with anybody,” Meadows said.