World Series Hopes Ride on a Pair of Aces

Baseball retains its sly humor. The early talk of the 2017 postseason centered on the diminishing importance of starting pitchers and the preeminence of bullpens; games stretched well beyond their time slots as managers brought in scores of fresh arms. The October ace—long one of baseball’s sturdiest archetypes—had all of a sudden become outdated, his endurance and inning-by-inning know-how no longer necessary. The future was for specialists, and the future had arrived.

Of course it would end up, then, that the two teams in the World Series feature the two most accomplished starters of their generation, the embodiments of that supposedly endangered ideal. In Game 1 on Tuesday night, Clayton Kershaw will take the ball for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Justin Verlander will