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Dodgers as they look to swing the series momentum in front of the home crowd.The 24-year-old has a 1.93 ERA at home this season Jeimer Candelario Jersey , and he's stood up well to the pressure of October baseball so far, turning in a solid outing in Game 7 of the NLCS his last time out.David Adler of MLB.comcalled attention to the Red Sox's abilities as a fastball-hitting team, so the key for Buehler could be his ability to locate his curveball.Adler wrote: "One area Boston showed just a sliver of vulnerability is against high-spin curveballs, and Buehler has one. The MLB average curveball spin rate in 2018 was 2,492 rpm. Buehler's averaged2,756 rpm as a starterin the regular season, and it is averaging 2,800 rpm in the playoffs. More spin on a curveball generally means more movement and better outcomes for the pitcher."Buehler threw his curveball 14.1 percent of the time during the regular season, holding opposing hitters to a .179 batting average and a stingy .036 ISO, according to Brooks Baseball.Offensively, keep an eye on Manny Machado, who has enjoyed significant success against Red Sox starter Rick Porcello in his career with a13-for-38line that includes two home runs.Red SoxJ.D. MartinezMaddie Meyer/Getty ImagesFiguring out how to get J.D. Martinez into the lineup with the DH no longer in play will be the biggest pregame decision for Alex Cora.Mike Petriello of MLB.com spelled out his two choices:Start Brock Holt at 2B http://www.tigersfanproshop.com/authentic-joe-jimenez-jersey , Mookie Betts in CF, J.D. Martinez in RF, bench Jackie Bradley and Ian Kinsler.Start Mookie Betts at 2B, Jackie Bradley in CF, J.D. Martinez in RF, bench Brock Holt andIan Kinsler.Martinez played left field (32 games) and right field (25 games) sparingly this season, while Betts played six innings at second base and has ample experience from his time in the minors, so option No. 2 is not as far-fetched as it might seem.Martinez is hitting .333/.429/.538 with two home runs and 13 RBI in 11 games this postseason, so there's no way he won't be part of the starting lineup.It's also worthmentioning that the versatile Holt was an excellent5-for-13 with two doubles, one triple and two home runs as a pinch-hitter during the regular season, so he has a chance to be a real weapon off the bench.On the pitching side, manager Alex Cora will need to decide whether to use Nathan Eovaldi in the eighth inning again if the score is close. The standout starter pitched a scoreless eighth in Game 1 and Game 2 Chad Bettis Jersey , and Cora didn't rule out a similar approach in Game 3, despite the fact that Eovaldi is currently in line for the Game 4 start."You never know," Cora told reporters. "Like I've been saying all along, we're all-in every day. If we feel there's a chance to close the door with them, we'll use him. The way it's mapped out, it's Rick in Game 3 and maybe Nate in Game 4. But Nate might come in in the eighth again. If we have a chance to be up 3-0 with him on the mound, and then [Craig Kimbrel], we'll do it. And then we'll figure out Game 4."If Eovaldi does wind up pitching on Friday, that could mean a start for Eduardo Rodriguez.One thing is for sure, there's no shortage of interesting storylines heading into Game 3 of the 2018 World Series.All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs, unless otherwise noted. On paper, the Red Sox were significantly better than the Yankees in 2018. Even before they dispatched the Bombers in four games in the American League Division Series Jonathan Lucroy Jersey , the Red Sox outpaced them by eight wins in the regular season en route to a third straight AL East title.Luck plays a factor in every team's season, and the Red Sox enjoyed more of it than the Yankees. Per their Pythagorean records鈥攂ased on runs scored and allowed鈥攖he Red Sox were only four wins better than the Yankees. Per BaseRuns, it was more like two wins.To safeguard against regression in 2019, the Red Sox re-signed World Series heroes Steve Pearce and Nathan Eovaldi. The former will bring depth to a lineup that led Major League Baseball in runs last year. If healthy, the latter will be an impressive No. 4 starter behind Chris Sale, David Price and Rick Porcello.However, the Red Sox's bullpen has already lost Joe Kelly, and Kimbrel could be next. On a related note, Boston's luxury-tax bill for 2019 is projected at $241.3 million. That's well above the $206 million baseline threshold, and not far below the $246 million threshold for the harshest penalties.The Red Sox don't have much choice but to hope their incumbent relievers can pick up the slack. What's more likely is that their bullpen will indeed regress.In so many words, the Red Sox now have a fatal flaw. And it happens to be in an area where the Yankees might be stronger than any team in history.Tim Bradbury/Getty ImagesFor now, the best bullpen ever might be the one the Yankees had last year. Led by Aroldis Chapman http://www.rockiesfanproshop.com/authentic-chad-bettis-jersey , Dellin Betances and Chad Green, New York's pen setMLB records with 11.4 strikeouts per nine inningsand 9.7 wins above replacement.Missing from last year's pen is David Robertson, but in to take his place is Adam Ottavino. This will be an upgrade if Ottavino carries over his 2018 success (a13.0 K/9 and 2.43 ERA)with the Colorado Rockies. If re-signee Zach Britton picks up where he left off with the Yankees (a 2.88 ERA and a vintage77.8 ground-ball percentage), he'll be an upgrade in his own right.Above all, the Yankees' star-studded bullpen will ensure that even the slimmest of late leads generally stay safe. Beyond that, it can cover on occasions when a Yankees starter has a bad day.But that shouldn't be as big of a bother as it was in 2018.The Yankees have filled the three open slots behind Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka by re-signing CC Sabathia and J.A. Happ and trading for James Paxton. These five would have combined for a 9.9 K/9 and a 3.63 ERA in 2018. They have enough collective talent and experience to do at least that well in 2019.Severino and Paxton, in particular, are potential Cy Young Award contenders. Before a slow finish to 2018, Severino had a 10.6 K/9 and 2.60 ERA over a49-start span. Injuries have slowed Paxton's progress toward stardom, but not enough to keep him from a no-hitterand career-bests in K/9 (11.7) and innings (160.1) in 2018.Which brings us to the most unchanged part of the 2018 Yankees: their lineup.Elise Amendola/Associated PressDJ LeMahieu and Troy Tulowitzki are the only new additions to New York's offense. The former is a singles hitter who largely made his living at Coors Field as a member of the Rockies. The latter is another former Rockie who hasn't played since July 2017, and he doesn't have a clear avenue to playing time in New York anyway.Then again, the Yankees offense didn't need saving. It hit an MLB-record 267 home runs and scored 5.3 runs per game in 2018 despite a variety of challenges.One was Aaron Judge's absence with a broken wrist between July 27 and September 13. New York's offense wasn't the same without the 2017 AL Rookie of the Year and MVP runner-up:117 games with Judge: .798 OPS DJ LeMahieu Jersey , 5.4 runs per game45 games without Judge: .735 OPS, 4.9 runs per gameThe Yankees also got less-than-expected production out of Giancarlo Stanton, who hit 21 fewer homers than he did with the Miami Marlins in his 2017 MVP season, and Gary Sanchez, whose OPS fell from .876 all the way down to .697. Both are too young and too talentednot to bounce back in 2019.Elsewhere, Aaron Hicks proved his 2017 breakout was the real deal, and we're willing to believe that Luke Voit's 2018 breakout will also prove to be legit.New York can also expect further growth out of Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres, whocombined foran .840 OPS and 51 homers as rookies last year.Should one of them falter, Didi Gregorius will come to the rescue when he returns from Tommy John surgery.FanGraphs' projectionsexpect the Red Sox to win one more game than the Yankees in 2019. A margin that small amounts to a toss-up, and it's one the ol' eyeball test says the Yankees have a darn good chance of winning.While they could have done more this offseason, don't say they haven't done enough.Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs. Payroll data courtesy of Roster Resource.