The 2018 Major League Baseball postseason has been full of excitement. Fans were faced with nail-biting wild card games, heated showdowns between rivals, and devastating losses. However, two of the MLB’s most storied franchises are headed to the best-of-seven fall classic known as the World Series.

After falling short in the 2017 world series, the Los Angeles Dodgers are headed to the east coast to face off against the Boston Red Sox, who won a franchise-record 108 games this year. The last time these two teams met in the World Series was in 1916, and the Red Sox came out on top. As the Dodgers look to end their 30-year championship drought, the Red Sox will fight for a chance at their fourth World Series title since 2004.

Red Sox Manager Alex Cora is looking to become the fifth manager in MLB history to win the championship in the first year on the job. Meanwhile, Cora’s former teammate and current Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts, hopes he and his boys in blue can overpower the Sox, even without the home field advantage.

 Before the series begins, what follows is a preview of what each team is bringing to the World Series, and how these assets have helped them in the regular season.

With Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill and Hyun-Jin Ryu set to start for the Dodgers, Cora and the Red Sox will most have to favor lineups loaded with right-handed hitters in order to do damage against their opponents. This means we’ll be seeing more of Steve Pearce and Eduardo Nunez in the lineup. However, the Red Sox face another challenge. When the series shifts to Dodger Stadium, they’ll lose the designated hitter. The Sox primary D.H., J.D. Martinez has been a huge asset for the team and Cora says he still plans on starting him in every game despite the challenge. 

During a pre-game press conference, Cora spoke up about Martinez and how he performs at the plate.

“He’s not only a home run hitter,” Cora said. “He’s a complete hitter. He’s a guy that you put in the middle of the lineup. You hit him third and he’ll get a hit in the first inning.”

During the regular season, the Sox combined to score 876 runs, more than any other team. They had the eighth most home runs and led the MLB in slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs batted in, doubles, hits, total bases and on-base plus slugging. With all this power, it’s hard to see the offensive disadvantage.

For games 1 and 2 at Fenway Park, the Dodgers will need right-heavy lineups with enough power to overthrow Boston aces Chris Sale and David Price. With offensive powerhouses like Yasiel Puig, Manny Machado and Justin Turner the Los Angeles offense should not be underestimated. After returning to LA for games 3 and 4, starts will most likely await Max Muncy, Yasmani Grandal, Cody Bellinger and Joc Pederson where they will face even more starting pitching power in the form of Rick Porcello and Nathan Eovaldi. Although their season got off to a rocky start, the Dodgers were able to turn things around and battle through the second half of the season. Their offense put up the most runs per game in the National League during the regular season. They also led the National League in home runs, runs batted in, runs, slugging percentage, and on-base plus slugging. The Dodgers collected more walks than any other team in Major League Baseball. Despite the team’s frequent strikeouts, they’ve managed to get past some of the toughest pitching out there.

Both the Dodgers and the Red Sox are loaded with power ranging from their strong starting pitching to their solid performance at the plate, but only one team will leave the series champions. It’s no doubt that this historic match-up will have everyone watching to see if LA can put an end to their drought and take their sixth World Series title, or if Boston will continue to dominate in the 2018 season and win their ninth championship.