Los Angeles (AFP)

What if the Dodgers imitated the Lakers, just crowned NBA champions?

The scenario makes Los Angeles dream, on the eve of the first game of the World Series, the final of Major League Baseball (MLB), which will oppose the Angelinos to the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday.

The wait has already been long between the last coronation of the Lakers, in 2010, and the triumph of last October 11 of LeBron James and his teammates against Miami.

But it's never-ending for Dodgers fans, who have been hoping for a title since 1988.

The thirst for victory is all the more pressing for the Dodgers as they remain on two defeats in the final of the North American Championship, in 2017 against the Houston Astros (4-3) and in 2018 against the Boston Red Sox (4- 1).

The World Series, which, due to the coronavirus pandemic, is being played for the first time on neutral ground, in Arlington, Texas, therefore resembles a reconquest mission for Dave Roberts' players.

"There are few holes, if at all in our team," has already warned Enrique Hernandez, decisive Sunday in the stunning victory (4-3) of the Dodgers against the Atlanta Braves after being led 3-1.

Facing the Californians will present a team from Tampa Bay who also had to fight until the seventh game to get rid of the Houston Astros.

- Tampa Bay, never titled -

Above all, the Floridians have never won the World Series.

In their only appearance in the final in 2008, they were drastically beaten 4-1 by Philadelphia.

"We have a group of talented players," said Kevin Cash, the coach of the Rays, quoted on the club's website.

"Sometimes, this talent does not manifest itself at the same time (in all the players, editor's note). But at the moment, certainly in the pitch and in defense, it is very present," said the technician.

The winner could be known on Saturday, the day of the fourth match between the two teams.

The hypothetical seventh duel is scheduled four days later, on October 28.

The champion will in any case come out the winner of a season turned upside down by the Covid-19.

The championship began at the end of July behind closed doors and four months late, and the regular season was shortened to 60 games, against 162 in normal times!

In early October, the MLB announced that it wanted to allow some 11,500 privileged fans to attend World Series matches, in a stadium that can usually accommodate more than 40,000.

© 2020 AFP