2023 WORLD SERIES PREVIEW

Written by Jim Craddock

SERIES PREVIEW – The Hollywood Werewolves (109-53, 1^st in AL West) and Baltimore Comets (99-63, 1^st in NL East) will finish off another great season. Hollywood is making its fifth World Series appearance (2004, 2012, 2014, 2020), while this will be Baltimore’s first trip to the Fall Classic. Baltimore got here by beating Selkirk 4-2 in the NLDS and knocking off the favored Tempe Tempers in the NLCS 4 games to 1. Hollywood had to mount a big comeback in the ALDS, winning 4-3 after being down 3 games to 1 to Fremont. Showing no adverse effects, they took care of Chicago 4-1 in the ALCS. Hollywood boasts the best player in the series in Aaron Judge, who led the AL in HR, RBI, and runs, and was second in walks, and SLG. Drew Rasmussen paced the AL in ERA at 1.59. Matt Olson leads a powerful Baltimore squad. He led his league in Doubles and launched 50 HR’s. Baltimore also had the NL Saves leader in Evan Phillips.

CATCHERS	Team	AVG	OBP	SLG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	OSBP
Alejandro Kirk	HOL	.226	.330	.299	135	452	47	102	12	0	7	39	1	77.3
Andrew Knizner	HOL	.152	.261	.238	59	164	18	25	2	0	4	14	0	73.5
Christian Vazquez	BAL	.265	.307	.369	110	366	30	97	23	0	5	35	0	65.0
Carson Kelly	BAL	.239	.293	.332	82	247	20	59	11	0	4	24	2	80.9
Like most teams at the catching position, there’s not a lot of offense on either squad.
Baltimore seems to have a slight edge here, mostly because of more extra-base power.

FIRST BASEMEN	Team	AVG	OBP	SLG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB
Paul Goldschmidt	HOL	.268	.340	.494	151	579	89	155	36	1	31	108	12
Matt Olson	BAL	.249	.334	.502	162	635	94	158	50	0	37	98	2
Both are cornerstone components of their respective offenses, and both are solid defensive players.
I’d hate to live on the difference between them. Advantage: Even

SECOND BASEMEN	Team	AVG	OBP	SLG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB
Jake Cronenworth	HOL	.241	.341	.451	135	477	62	115	24	2	24	89	3
Jorge Polanco	BAL	.232	.324	.374	103	422	57	98	9	0	17	55	1
Kevin Newman	BAL	.261	.307	.342	84	322	48	84	17	3	25	12	12
Neither team seems to rely on just one person at this position.
Baltimore may have the advantage, but Cronenworth can cause some damage & has versatility. Slight advantage: BAL.

SHORTSTOPS	Team	AVG	OBP	SLG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB
J.P. Crawford	HOL	.247	.331	.336	133	497	72	123	24	4	4	47	2
Bryson Stott	BAL	.214	.258	.343	115	402	53	86	17	1	11	42	12
Joey Wendle	BAL	.280	.312	.385	90	296	33	83	25	0	2	35	18
Another position with a seeming time-share on both squads.
Baltimore has the numbers in power and on the bases. Advantage BAL

THIRD BASEMEN	Team	AVG	OBP	SLG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB
Matt Chapman	HOL	.206	.313	.387	147	506	82	104	23	0	23	62	0
Josh Donaldson	BAL	.255	.336	.474	130	428	54	109	32	1	20	65	2
The numbers are mostly similar in the counting stats, but the slash line goes to Donaldson.
Chapman’s defense and durability give him the slightest of edges. Advantage HOL

OUTFIELDERS	Team	AVG	OBP	SLG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB
Lane Thomas (LF)	HOL	.205	.271	.347	135	484	44	99	21	0	16	50	7
Christian Yelich (CF)	HOL	.248	.339	.365	144	576	86	143	23	4	12	66	17
Aaron Judge (RF)	HOL	.307	.405	.628	157	592	116	182	25	0	55	136	12
Harold Ramirez (LF)	BAL	.313	.355	.492	91	329	48	103	26	0	11	46	1
Hunter Renfroe (RF)	BAL	.217	.291	.382	119	469	49	102	26	0	17	61	1
Nick Castellanos (RF)	BAL	.243	.301	.364	131	497	42	121	24	0	12	48	3
Joey Gallo (CF)	BAL	.212	.344	.464	121	321	66	68	9	3	22	59	3
Hollywood has the best player in the OF, & probably on the field, in Aaron Judge. He can dominate.
The rest of the OFers are an intergangeable mix of secon-tier stars and solid role-players.
Judge gives HOL the clear advantage

DESIGNATED HITTER	Team	AVG	OBP	SLG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB
Ketel Marte	HOL	.236	.312	.399	135	496	65	117	41	2	12	60	8
Josh Bell	BAL	.303	.380	.442	149	584	90	177	32	2	15	71	0
Josh Bell‘s numbers are superior, and both can move to key IF positions if need be. Advantage BAL

HOL STARTERS	W-L	ERA	GS	CG	SHO	QS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	SO/9	BB/9
Clayton Kershaw	20-2	1.66	22	4	3	16	146.2	61	31	27	11	10.5	1.8
Drew Rasmussen	13-5	1.66	26	2	0	15	162.2	103	30	30	12	10.0	2.0
Shane McClanahan	15-7	2.33	28	2	1	21	181.1	101	49	47	21	10.3	2.7
Charlie Morton	15-10	3.50	29	2	0	15	180.0	148	80	70	18	11.2	3.0
Hollywood starters have plenty of decisions and innings pitched.
Plenty of quality work to show for it. It’s a tough rotation to mount a rally against.
Big strikeout totals and low ERAs

BAL STARTERS	W-L	ERA	GS	CG	SHO	QS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	SO/9	BB/9
Miles Mikolas	19-5	2.23	30	1	1	24	201.2	146	58	50	21	6.3	2.3
Tyler Anderson	14-8	2.84	31	0	0	23	199.2	122	68	63	31	6.1	1.7
Jameson Taillon	7-9	2.65	25	0	0	18	159.2	128	54	47	16	6.8	2.0
Jose Quintana	13-9	3.22	27	3	2	16	167.2	136	70	60	19	7.9	1.9
There’s a lot of quality innings here, but also a few home runs.
That could be a big difference in this series, since rallies might be hard to come by.

HOL RELIEVERS	W-L-SV	ERA	BS	HLD	G	GF	IP	H	R	ER	HR	SO/9	BB/9
Jordan Romano	4 1 34	1.12	2	4	59	45	56.1	29	9	7	4	10.5	1.8
Adam Ottavino	3 4 3	1.69	3	16	54	15	69.1	32	15	13	5	9.3	2.5
Cionel Perez	5 0 3	1.04	0	25	60	10	52.0	21	6	6	2	7.3	2.9
Griffin Jax	4 1 0	2.93	1	7	43	15	58.1	42	19	19	6	8.3	1.9
Hollywood has a deep and formidal bullpen, with plenty of shutdown arms that can
close out an inning or a game. Advantage HOL

BAL RELIEVERS	W-L-SV	ERA	BS	HLD	G	GF	IP	H	R	ER	HR	SO/9	BB/9
Evan Phillips	1 1 31	1.54	3	2	52	41	58.1	20	12	10	6	9.9	2.2
Hector Neris	4 4 1	3.05	3	8	65	21	65.0	42	23	22	9	9.8	2.6
Kenley Jansen	3 1 2	3.15	0	8	54	21	54.1	38	19	19	5	10.9	2.3
David Robertson	4 5 1	2.45	4	10	44	15	47.2	29	14	13	5	11.1	4.3
Jake Woodford	4 0 1	1.81	2	8	32	16	44.2	35	11	9	2	6.2	1.8
Evan Phillips led his league in SVs, but it’s a mixed bag building that bridge from the starters to him

TEAM	AVG	OBP	SLG	R/GAME	2B	3B	HR	SB
Hollywood Werewolves	.239	.324	.407	4.8	259	19	206	75
Baltimore Comets	.252	.322	.406	4.6	318	9	179	77
TEAM	S-WINS	S-ERA	SHO	S-OBA	R-WINS	SAVES	R-ERA	R-OBA
Hollywood Werewolves			4		30	51	2.47	.186
Baltimore Comets			4		22	39	3.02	.198
TEAM	FLDG PCT	OF ASSISTS	DP
Hollywood Werewolves	.981	32	109
Baltimore Comets	.983	34	294

SERIES PREDICTION – Baltimore took slight edges at Catcher, SS, DH, and 2B, 1B was a wash, and Hollywood has the edge everywhere else (3B, OF, SP, RP). Both teams have deep and versatile bench help. Hollywood, by virtue of MVP candidate Aaron Judge and a better pitching staff, feels like the favorite.

FINAL PREDICTION: Hollywood 4 Games to 2 over Baltimore.