MLB Bullets is underway

We all know the Red Sox won Game 1 of the World Series, right? And that neither Chris Sale nor Clayton Kershaw made it past the fifth inning?

This is a tough spot for me because a lot of the World Series preview stories are out-of-date now but the recaps of Game 1 aren’t written yet as I write this. But I’ve got some preview stories that I think are still valid. Also, I still managed to find a ton of stories anyway.

• Whitney McIntosh ranks every player in the 2018 World Series.
• SI.com got a “rival scout” to give a breakdown of the Red Sox.
• And another “rival scout” to analyze the Dodgers.
• Craig Edwards calls this “the best World Series that money can buy” as the combined payroll of the two teams sets an all-time World Series record. Even adjusted for (baseball) inflation, it’s in the top ten. (The Yankees/Phillies clash in 2009 takes the top spot there.)
• Grant Brisbee has 16 reasons to watch the World Series. Like any of you won’t be watching.
• If you want to attend one of these games in person, it’s going to cost you a lot of money.
• Jay Jaffe notes that both teams have a closer who could end up in Cooperstown one day and that’s pretty rare. In fact, it’s only happened once before, in 1988.
• Alden Gonzalez talks to the Dodgers about what returning to the Series means to them. Mostly, they’re not over Game 7 in 2017 yet.
• Ben Lindbergh notes that the 2018 Dodgers are the most positionally-flexible team of all time.
• Dodgers third baseman Manny Machado has been cast as the villain in this Series, but Jeff Passan notes that Machado seems to be very uncomfortable in that role. At media day, he answered questions with variations of “I’m happy to be here” and “We all want to win”
• Christian D’Andrea recaps why Machado is so hated among Boston fans.
• One Dodger who isn’t hated among Red Sox fans is manager Dave Roberts, who got a huge ovation before Game 1. It’s not often the opposing manager of a World Series game gets that kind of applause, but Roberts and the Red Sox have a bit of a history.
• Tim Brown talks to Roberts about that and he admitted he was uncomfortable with his “hero” status in Boston for a very long time. Roberts said that he only came to embrace it when he realized that the adoration wasn’t really about him but rather about the fans themselves.
• Jack McCloskey has a terrific profile of Red Sox manager Alex Cora.
• Cora also said that the chances that outfielder Mookie Betts plays second base in Dodger Stadium is “very slim.”
• For his part, Betts says he’s ready to go if asked to play second base.
• The Dodgers have three left-handed starters slated to go up against the Red Sox. Despite hitting very poorly off of left-handers in 2018, the Red Sox really don’t have a problem hitting lefties, writes Jeff Sullivan. (The issue is one of sample size.)
• The Red Sox and Dodgers faced off once before in the World Series in 1916 and Victor Mather recaps how the New York Times covered that Series. Extra points for the references to Lillian Russell and Sun Yat-sen.
• Marc Normandin spoke to the players from that 1916 Series about their memories of that clash. However, every one he contacted turned out to be a jerk and refused to talk to him.
• And Whitney McIntosh looks at what the world was like back in 1916. For one, Lillian Russell and Sun Yat-sen were both still alive.
• Jimmy Traina defends the play-by-play work of much-maligned broadcaster Joe Buck. In fact, he does more than that and claims that Buck is actually very good. I don’t know about that, but I will say that being a national TV baseball broadcaster is one of the toughest and most thankless jobs around. Fans of both teams are comparing them to their local broadcaster and they can pretty much never live up to that.
• And David Roth tries once again to debunk the myth that Buck’s broadcast partner John Smoltz once burned himself by ironing a shirt in 1990 while he was still wearing it. He did burn himself ironing, but it was just the steam from the iron.
• One short piece about last night’s Game 1. Bill Baer thinks that all the replay reviews to see if a runner’s foot came off the bag for a split second on a tag play need to go.
• And Claire McNear pleads for some shorter games so she can get to bed earlier.
• On to other matters. The Mets announced their three finalists for their vacant general manager job: former Brewers GM Doug Melvin, Rays VP Chaim Bloom and agent Brodie Van Wagenen. Melvin is considered the favorite, but they’ve got three different candidates there. Melvin is a scouting/traditional baseball kind of GM, although he’s not a neanderthal when it comes to analytics. Bloom is the pure analytics GM candidate. Van Wagenen appears to be a candidate because they needed one “LOLMets” candidate in their final three.
• Fellow agent Scott Boras doesn’t think that agents should ever take front office jobs as it’s a conflict of interest. Bill Baer seems to agree with Boras.
• Melvin, for his part, indicated that if he got the job that he would likely to keep on manager Mickey Callaway.
• New Angels manager Brad Ausmus stressed the importance of implementing analytics in a manager’s job. Ausmus also said his experience with the Tigers taught him that experience matters.
• The Padres are looking for a new bench coach as Mark McGwire has resigned. Team sources indicate that McGwire left of his own accord and that the Padres wanted him to stay on.
• Free agent outfielder Bryce Harper is looking for a ten-year, $350 million contract. At least. He’ll accept more. Ten and $350 million actually sounds pretty reasonable and I know how crazy that sounds.
• Despite reports in Korean media to the contrary, the Rockies expect reliever Seung-hwan Oh to return to Colorado in 2019.
• The Diamondbacks have signed infielder Eduardo Escobar to a three-year, $21 million deal. Escobar, whom Arizona got from the Twins in a deadline deal this summer, would have been a free agent when the World Series ended.
• Mark Townsend wonders if the Brewers could have used Josh Hader differently in game 7 of the National League Championship Series.
• The Marlins signed the Mesa brothers on Monday as international free agents and here are scouting reports on the two Cuban outfielders.
• Here are five of the weirdest moments ever in a World Series game.
• And finally, Red Sox legend David Ortiz acted out some scenes from some famous Boston-based movies. Pretty much worth it just for his take on Drew Barrymore. Of course, Drew Barrymore’s grandfather’s brother, Lionel Barrymore, was in the film “Wildfire” with Lillian Russell. The play that movie was based on was where Frank “Wildfire” Schulte got his nickname. Schulte was an outfielder on the 1908 Cubs. So it all comes together in the end.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.