Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Minnesota Twins: 2020 World Series Simulation

The Los Angeles Dodgers pit their deep staff and relentless offense against all that Minnesota Twins power.

If performances in the two League Championship Series were any indicator, the 2020 simulated World Series between the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Dodgers figured to be one long offensive explosion.

Consider their numbers leading into the Fall Classic. The Twins averaged nearly seven runs and nearly a dozen hits per game in defeating the Houston Astros in the seven-game ALCS.

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Dodger bats were even hotter. Los Angeles polished off the Cincinnati Reds in the NLCS with a 43-run, 56-hit onslaught over the five games. That’s an average of 8.5 runs and 11 hits per game.

The Dodgers came into the first game of the World Series at Target Field seeking their first championship since 1988. They lost in 2017 to the Astros and in 2018 to the Boston Red Sox.

Twins fans have waited nearly as long. Their last World Series appearance came in 1991 when they defeated the Atlanta Braves in seven games. Until this year, the Twins hadn’t advanced beyond the first playoff round since 2002.

The two teams played four times during the regular season, Los Angeles winning three of those four. The Dodgers beat Minnesota 6-3 in 10 innings at Target Field on April 28 when Cody Bellinger and Joc Pederson both delivered home runs. One day later the Dodgers won 8-4.

The teams split a pair of late July games in Los Angeles. On July 28 Jose Berrios beat David Price 7-1. The following day Clayton Kershaw picked up a victory over Jake Odorizzi in a 9-7 Dodger decision.

With both teams rested and healthy, Dodger manager Dave Roberts nominated Walker Buehler (15-6, 3.20) to pitch the World Series opener against the Twins’ Jose Berrios (16-7, 3.00).

For the Minnesota Twins in Game 2 of the World Series, it was all about one big inning.

Roberts trotted out Clayton Kershaw (16-5, 2.69), winner of the concluding game of the NLCS, to start the second World Series game. The Dodger ace faced Randy Dobnak (9-1, 3.38), whose post-season work had been a revelation. Dobnak started and won game 4 of the ALDS against Cleveland, then also beat  Houston 8-2 in Game 4 of the ALCS.

The Twins used their ultimate weapon, the home run, to give Dobnak a quick 1-0 lead. After Kershaw fanned the first two Twins batters, Josh Donaldson drove a pitch over the wall in dead center.

But Kershaw settled into his usual routine from that point. In six and two-thirds innings of work, he allowed just four more hits, running his strikeout count to six. Through six innings, the only Twins baserunner to get to second base, aside from Donaldson, was Miguel Sano, who doubled with one out in the fourth and died there.

Dobnak was nearly as good. Through his six innings, he struck out eight and walked just one. But Dobnak gave the Los Angeles Dodgers one clean shot at him, and they took it.

That shot came in the top of the third when Mookie Betts opened with a double into the left-center field gap. Seager followed with a double of his own to almost the same spot and it scored Seager with the tying run.

Bellinger’s infield hit moved Seager to third, and when Dobnak hit Justin Turner the bases were loaded. Max Muncy cashed in the opportunity with a line-drive single to right that sent Seager racing home with the inning’s second run. When Kepler’s throw sailed offline, Bellinger continued around to score make it 3-1.

For eight innings, that’s where the game sat. The Dodgers mounted a small threat against Tyler Clippard when Pederson doubled with one out in the eighth, but nothing came of it. Pedro Baez, who relieved Kershaw with two on and two out in the seventh, shut down that threat and sent down the Twins without incident in the eighth.

For a second straight day, Roberts entrusted a multi-run lead to Jansen in the ninth, and he initially took to the task readily. The first batter, Kepler, grounded easily to Seager at short and the second, Garver, chased a low slider.

But Luis Arraez waited out Jansen and drew a base on balls on a 3-2 pitch called just off the plate.  It was a small thing on the field, but a major turning point. Buxton followed with a hit to center that sent Arraez around to third. Polanco sent a chopper toward Turner at third, but in his haste to make the play at first his throw drew Muncy off the bag, and Turner was charged with an error, Arraez scoring to pull the Twins within one.

Jansen’s next pitch was a high slider that Donaldson turned around with all the force a league RBI leader can produce. The ball landed deep in the left-field seats, a three-run walk-off home run capping a four-run inning that made Minnesota a 5-3 winner and leveled the series at a game each.

Los Angeles        003    000    000    — 3  9  2

Minnesota          100    000    004     — 5  7  2

W: May. L: Jansen.

For the Los Angeles Dodgers, Game 3 of the World Series came down to two errors.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli nominated Jake Odorizzi, the starter in Minnesota’s dramatic 13-inning Game 7 ALCS clinching win against Houston, to start the opener at Dodger Stadium. His mound opponent was David Price.

There was a redemptive element to both sides of the pitching matchup. On July 28, the Twins beat Price 7-1. One day later, the Dodgers beat Odorizzi 9-7.

The Twins flubbed an early opportunity to make a statement against Price. Buxton opened the game with double to the wall in right-center, and Price followed that by walking Jorge Polanco. After Jose Cruz lined out, Donaldson also walked, loading the bases for Miguel Sano.

Sano smashed a bullet, but right at Seager for the second out. That fortunate placement stabilized Price, who got Kepler to chase a breaking ball for the inning-ending third out.

Again in the second, Minnesota did everything to Price but damage him on the scoreboard. Garver singled, and Price nailed Ehrie Adrianza on the fingers, sending a pinch runner to first but fracturing bones in his hand and knocking Adrianza out for the duration of the series.

One out later, Price also walked Buxton, filling the bases. But Polanco missed his chance to put the Twins in front, grounding an easy 6-4-3 double play all to Seager.

In the bottom of the inning, the Dodgers set about making Minnesota pay for those missed opportunities. Muncy walked, took second on Pederson’s base hit, and scored on Will Smith’s single. In the third, Betts homered. In the fourth, Taylor walked and eventually scored on a Betts base hit.

But Price’s luck was about to run out. Cruz popped a one-out home run to left in the fifth, and with one out in the sixth Arraez walked and pinch hitter Willians Astudillo singled. Arraez came around to score on Buxton’s double to right, although Betts’ throw cut down Astudillo attempting to tie the game. But Buxton took third on the play at home, and seconds later he came home when Price delivered a pitch to the screen rather than to the catcher.

Price did not survive to see the seventh, giving way to Julio Urias. That was OK with Sano, who greeted him with a double to the wall in left-center. Garver’s one-out single sent Sano to third, and Arraez’s grounder to the hole at short got him home.

But the Dodgers evened the game at 4 in the bottom of the seventh when Betts walked, stole second, and scored on Seager’s base hit.

That set the stage for an eighth-inning made decisive by the inability of Dodger fielders to make routine plays. Urias was the victim.

Buxton opened the inning with a grounder to short that Seager simply kicked. Reprieved, Buxton stole second, after which Urias walked Polanco.

Pedro Baez relieved Urias, but he walked Nelson Cruz, loading the bases with none out. The next batter was Sano, whose line drive to center sent both Buxton racing home with the go-ahead run. When Pederson let the ball get past him, Polanco also scored. Cruz tried to come around as well, but Pederson gunned him down at home to minimize the damage. The Seager and Pederson errors ensured that both of the go-ahead runs would be logged as unearned.

Trevor May retired the Dodgers on strikeouts in the eighth, and Taylor Rogers escaped a two-out threat by whiffing Turner to end the game.

Minnesota          000    012    120 –6 12  0

Los Angeles       011    100    100—4  8  3

W: May. L: Urias. S: Rogers

Former Los Angeles Dodgers, current Minnesota Twins SP Kenta Maeda was all aces.

Minnesota’s Game 3 win gave the Twins a decided upper hand. They had Maeda ready for the fourth game start, while the Dodgers – having burned through Kershaw, Buehler, and Price, had to count on Ross Stripling.

The Dodger right-hander had already shown post-season form. He beat Arizona in the clinching fourth game of the NLDS. And in the fourth game of the NLCS Stripling pitched well in relief of Alex Wood, holding the Reds in check in a game the Dodgers eventually came back to win.

The veteran Maeda has to that point been the questionable performer. His three post-season starts lasted a total of only 13 and two-thirds innings and resulted in an 0-1 record with a 7.88 ERA.

Given one more chance, however, Maeda finally pitched like the veteran he is. He retired nine of the first 10 Dodgers he faced, allowing only a second-inning walk to Justin Turner, and did not allow a base hit until Corey Seager opened the fourth by dropping a parachute ball into short center.

That gave the Twins offense latitude to see what they could do with Stripling. In the second inning, Sano shot a one-out single to center and scored on Polanco’s two-out triple into the right-field corner.

Two innings later Sano tripled, Kepler walked, and Turner’s bad throw on a Polanco ground ball enabled Sano to score. Stripling whiffed Rosario and stared in at Maeda with a chance to escape further damage, but the Twins pitcher slapped a base hit over second that scored Kepler and made it 3-0.

The way Maeda was pitching, all the rest amounted to piling on. Stripling left for a pinch hitter after five, and Minnesota added three more runs in the seventh against Blake Treinen. Garver’s double pushed one of those runs across, and Kepler’s base hit counted the other two.

Up 6-0 entering the eighth and working on a two-hitter, the only remaining question was whether Maeda could finish what he started. He could. Following Turner’s single starting the seventh Maeda retired the last nine batters he faced with nothing more consequential than a lazy fly ball off Turner’s bat to Buxton in center that ended the game.

Minnesota          010    200    300     — 6 11  0

Los Angeles        000    000    000    — 0    2  1

W: Maeda. L. Stripling.

In Game 5, Los Angeles Dodgers IF Justin Turner comes up big right in the nick of time.

Down three games to one, the Dodgers had only one thing going for them: their three best arms, Buehler, Kershaw, and Price, were lined up to work the fifth, sixth, and seventh games. That assumed, of course, that the Series went beyond a fifth game.

Twins manager Baldelli sent Berrios out to face Buehler in the hope of ending matters.

Berrios appeared up to the task. Through six innings, the Dodgers collected only a pair of harmless two-out hits, and a fourth-inning walk to Justin Turner provided their only other baserunner. Berrios struck out six in those first six frames.

Meanwhile, the Twins fashioned a first-inning run in an unusual fashion: they manufactured it. Buxton drew an opening walk, stole second, took third on Polanco’s roller to the mound and scored on Donaldson’s infield grounder.

Cruz made it 2-0 in the fourth in more conventional fashion, with a home run into the left-field bullpen.

With Berrios working effortlessly, that two-run lead loomed large. Not until the seventh, when Turner sent a high slider to the wall in right-center and beat the throw-in for a triple, did the Dodgers mount a serious threat. He came in on A.J. Pollock’s two-out single.

Baldelli pulled Berrios for pinch hitter Astudillo in the eighth, and Astudillo delivered a one-out single. But nothing came of it when Buehler’s relief, Adam Kolarek, struck out Buxton and got Polanco on a popup.

The Twins manager entrusted the eighth to his season-long setup man, Tyler Duffey. But as in previous games, a fielding miscue would prove decisive. With one out, Taylor pinch hit for Kolarek and doubled into left. After Betts walked, Duffey induced a double-play grounder to Polanco…who dropped it and got nobody.

Instead of two out and a runner the third, the Dodgers had the bases full and none out. Muncy struck put, but Turner picked him up with a line shot to the wall in center. Taylor, Betts, and Seager all scored and Los Angeles led 4-2.

This time Jansen was up to the task of closing the door in the ninth, in the process sending the series back to Minnesota for Game 6.

Minnesota          100    100    000    — 2  4  1

Los Angeles        000    000   13       — 4  6  0

W: Kolarek. L: Duffey. S.: Jansen.

In Game 6, for the Los Angeles Dodgers, it was all about the class of Kershaw.

Back at Target Field for Game 6, the Dodgers leaned on Kershaw, coming off a strong seven-inning showing in Game 2. His opponent was the Minnesota Twins Game 2 starter, Dobnak.

This, however, was Dobnak’s worst outing of the post-season. It began with a leadoff walk to Betts, which Seager followed by rolling a single through the right-side hole. Turner’s line single to right gave LA a quick 1-0 lead and sent Seager around to third. He scored on Matt Beaty’s fly ball to deep center.

Donaldson’s wild throw on Taylor’s one-out ground ball led to LA’s third run in the top of the second inning. Taylor took third on a double inside the left-field line by backup catcher Tim Federowicz, then scored on Betts’ base hit to right.

When Taylor homered with one out in the fourth, Kershaw had a 4-0 lead.

As it turned out, that would be more than enough. The Dodger ace held Minnesota hitless until Buxton opened the fifth inning with a triple to the gap in right-center, scoring on Rosario’s double. The Twins’ first shot at a rally built momentum when Garver walked and Marwin Gonzalez laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved the runners to second and third.

But Kershaw got Polanco on a bouncer to Turner at third, who gunned down Rosario at the plate. When Kepler struck out, the threat ended with just that single run on the board.

Seager stretches the LA lead to 5-2 in the eighth with a single that drove home Federowicz, who had singled to open the inning.

Minnesota mounted an eighth-inning rally that got Kershaw out of the game. Kepler began it with a one-out double, scoring on Sano’s base hit. But Baez came on to strike out Donaldson for the third out.

In the ninth, Jansen’s spotty relief work continued. He delivered an inning-opening home run ball to Buxton that brought the Twins within two runs at 5-3 before getting Rosario on a fly ball and fanning Garver and pinch hitter Jake Cave to even the series at three games each.

Los Angeles       210   100    100    — 5  8  1

Minnesota          000    010    011    –3  5  1

W: Kershaw. L: Dobnak. S: Jansen.

In the end, for the Minnesota twins, it was all about power pitching and power-hitting.

Having failed in two opportunities to wrap up the World Series win, the Minnesota Twins fell back on a tried-and-true recipe in Game 7: good pitching and distance slugging.

Facing Price at Target Field, Buxton jump-started Minnesota’s plan with a first-inning blast over the left-field wall good for a 1-0 lead. One inning later, Garver singled, Kepler doubled him to third and Jake Cave’s roller to the right side got him home with a second run.

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By that point Twins starter Jake Odorizzi had already survived his own moments of peril. He opened the game by surrendering a base hit to Betts, who stole second and took third on Seager’s single. Then Odorizzi settled down the Target Field patrons – and likely himself as well – striking out Bellinger and Pederson and retiring Turner on a lazy pop up to second.

In the second, the trouble came after the first two batters were retired. Enrique Hernandez walked, Federowicz laced a base hit to left and Betts walked, filling the bases. But Seager tapped a one-hopper back to Odorizzi for the inning-killer.

In the third, LA made a final try at damaging Odorizzi when Pederson sent a one-out double off the wall in right. But Turner and Muncy both went out, leaving Pederson stuck at second.

Through three innings, the Los Angeles Dodgers had left six runners on base, four of them in scoring position, while six times failing to drive those runners home. They also trailed 3-0.

Those were all the chances Odorizzi was in a mood to offer. Between the fourth and eighth innings, he plowed through the Dodger lineup at a cost of one base on balls, running his strikeout count to 13.

Meanwhile, the Twins gradually, inexorably, made life miserable for Price. Donaldson homered in the fifth, Garver homered in the sixth, and then in the bottom of the eighth, a Muncy error led to a fifth Twins run.

By the ninth inning, Minnesota sitting securely to a 5-0 lead, the only question was whether Odorizzi could complete a game 7 shutout. He couldn’t. After striking out Turner, he made a mistake to Muncy, who hit it into the right-field bullpen. Beaty followed with a double before Hernandez popped to Garver behind the plate and Will Smith, batting for Federowicz, lifted a routine fly that Kepler caught for the Series-ending out.

Game 7 turned out to be the least dramatic of the set. But the Twins were deserving winners. They out-scored the Dodgers 31-23, out-hit them 55-46, and out-homered them 10-6. At times, more importantly, they also played better defense. Dodger fielders committed nine errors in the seven games, accounting for nine unearned Twins runs. Twins fielders only committed four errors, and they led to just two Dodger runs.

Byron Buxton was voted World Series MVP. Buxton had nine hits – two of them home runs – in 30 at-bats for a .300 batting average. He also produced a .944 OPS. His leadoff home run in the seventh game was a pivotal moment, as were critical at-bats in late-inning rallies in the second and third game Twins victories.

Los Angeles        000    000    001   —  1  6  2

Minnesota          110    011    01      —  5  8  0

W: Odorizzi. L: Price.