No one is giving the Cincinnati Reds much of a chance.
And sure, it's the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers on the other side, the expensive defending World Series champs.
But the Reds have a chance.
This is baseball, a quirky game with plenty of good fortune involved, and in a best-of-three series, truly anything could happen.
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And here are three reasons the Reds can pull off the upset:
Don't sleep on the pitching
The Dodgers have the big-name pitchers lined up for the three games: Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani.
But the Reds have some horses of their own.
Hunter Green will get the ball for Game 1, and he's a true ace. He's as dominant as Snell, and it's a game that could be decided by one run.
Zack Littell will pitch Game 2, and he's a cool redemption story who has turned himself into a consistent, winning pitcher in the back half of his career.
And the lefty Andrew Abbott in Game 3 has been stellar all year. He's got a 2.87 ERA and will give a different look than the righties for the first two games.
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Elly is back
Elly De La Cruz was on a prolonged slump for much of the summer. He didn't hit a single home run in August.
But in the last 15 days, De La Cruz has batted .275 with three home runs, two steals and a .908 OPS.
Teams need their superstars to help them pull off upsets. And De La Cruz has heated back up at the right time.
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They've got Tito
Terry 'Tito' Francona is the Reds' manager.
This man ended the 86-year curse of the Boston Red Sox.
Who's to question whether he can beat the Dodgers in a three-game series?
The Reds may need optimal bullpen usage and a few timely substitutions to beat the Dodgers. They may also need a manager who understands his players to know exactly how to motivate them. Francona has that covered.
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