BOSTON -- There are two courses to take on the 2018 World Series.
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The introductory curriculum sets up the most relevant backdrop: The fantastically expensive composition of these teams, and the pressure of monstrous expectations on each coasts.
From 2014-17, the Dodgers led the majors in Opening Day payroll. The Red Sox took the torch this year. Wild to think the Yankees haven’t led the majors in Opening Day payroll since the last time the Sox won the World Series in 2013, isn't it?
In the last three years alone -- spanning the Sox’ run of recent division titles -- Boston and Los Angeles have had a combined $1.3 billion in Opening Day salaries.
There are feel-good stories on individual clubs here, but there are no Davids in this Fall Classic. Only Goliaths. The underdogs were sent to farms upstate earlier in the playoffs.
The Dodgers have won six straight division titles, and have now advanced to consecutive World Series. They've yet to cash in. The Red Sox, after three straight division titles, have finally advanced beyond the first round.
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Dodgers president Andrew Friedman was a small-market savant with the Rays for years, a thorn in the Sox' side before defecting to the big-market Dodgers. He is searching for his first ring. Dave Dombrowski, the Sox’ baseball boss, is searching for his second, and his first since 1997.
David Price has the richest contract ever for a pitcher, $217 million. Clayton Kershaw the second, at $215 million.
There is no desperation here, but there is urgency. Teams only get so many shots.
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The advanced curriculum, which some baseball fans will indulge, is the historical context.
Most players in this series do not care that the Dodgers were better known as the Robins, or that Babe Ruth was pitching for the Sox, when these franchises first met for a title in the 1916 World Series. Nor do most players care that Pedro Martinez once pitched for the Dodgers, or that Manny Ramirez was traded there, or about Nomar Garciaparra, and so on and so forth.
When the Red Sox and Yankees get together, a cursory understanding of the entanglements of those two clubs is probably necessary. The Dodgers and Sox, though, have led mostly separate lives, with some crossover and coincidences as bicoastal stalwarts. Knowing those are not really prerequisite for watching this series. If you can appreciate the impact of the 2012 trade that sent Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford to the Dodgers on the 2013 Red Sox, that's great.
The threads that stretch back decades aren’t quite as meaningful or essential when watching, save for perhaps one -- one club was the first to integrate, the other was the last.
Even as some people vouch for a universal designated hitter across both leagues, the separation of the National and American Leagues in schedule and style can still be appreciated. The fact that it is so rare for these teams to play each other, and that their home games start three hours apart, does create some mystique. The league feels like a monolith now, with no separation. But geographically -- this is the greatest distance between home stadiums in a World Series in history -- and because of limited past engagement, there is a rare sense of new ground.
The Dodgers left for the West Coast. The Red Sox at one point threatened to make an exit, too, even if they may never have actually done so.
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All that's there, if you want it. Whether the duck boats will be sitting in traffic on the way to Santa Monica or cruising around the Commons is what matters to most. No matter what, the rich guys will win.
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