Finally, we're down to two baseball teams left standing, and if you ask MLB executives, it's probably the two teams they most wanted at the dance.
Tonight, the World Series gets underway between the Boston Red Sox, who won an MLB-best 108 games this season, and the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are back in the Fall Classic for the second year in a row. The Dodgers became the first National League team to win consecutive pennants since the 2008-09 Philadelphia Phillies and will be trying to win their first championship since 1988, while the Sox are looking for their fourth title since 2004 after going 86 years without one.
The Dodgers finished with a 92-71 record, winning a tie-breaking Game 163 against the Colorado Rockies to win the NL West. They then beat the Atlanta Braves in four games in the NL Division Series before outlasting a spunky Milwaukee Brewers squad in a tense, seven-game series. Meanwhile, Boston won the AL East by 8 games over the New York Yankees, cruised to a four-game ALDS victory over those same Yankees (outscoring them 27-14 in the process), and kicked out the defending champion Houston Astros in a surprisingly quick five games in the ALCS.
The Red Sox finished the season with a run differential of +229, especially impressive when they played so many divisional games against the Yankees and the 90-win Tampa Bay Rays. The Dodgers had the best run differential in the NL (+194), playing in a tough division, as well.