Catching heat: Fall Classic opens to L.A.'s high temps

Houston Astros' Jose Altuve celebrates after hitting a home run Saturday in the  American League Championship Series in Houston.
Houston Astros' Jose Altuve celebrates after hitting a home run Saturday in the American League Championship Series in Houston.

LOS ANGELES-The fastballs aren't all that's hitting triple digits at the World Series.

This Fall Classic is going to feel like summer.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros will meet on what's expected to be a 100-degree Tuesday at Dodger Stadium, beginning possibly the warmest World Series ever.

A heat wave slugged Southern California on Monday, with the temperature reaching 104 degrees shortly after lunchtime in Chavez Ravine. It was still blazing when the Dodgers and Astros showed up at Dodger Stadium for brief late-afternoon workouts.

"Never would I have expected that at the end of October, going into November," Dodgers center fielder Chris Taylor said. "That's LA for you, though."

Game 1 has a chance to be the warmest World Series game on record. The temperature was around 94 degrees in Phoenix for the opener of the 2001 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York Yankees but they played indoors. Some forecasts expect Los Angeles to be hotter at 8 p.m. EDT on Tuesday.

The Dodgers are in the World Series for the first time since 1988, and the temperature feels normal to the boys in blue.

"Everything is hot in LA!" Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen said with a grin. "The Dodgers are hot. Everybody is excited. It's been a while since Kirk Gibson. Of course it's hot today."

The Astros are also used to a little bit of heat-and in East Texas, they've got humidity that can wear out most Californians.
"Hydration is going to be key, and trying to cool off is going to be key," Dodgers outfielder Curtis Granderson said. "But I think if you would poll everybody, everybody

would definitely like it to be a little bit warmer than they would be cold."

Indeed, the players are used to playing in all temperatures from March to October, and they all said it's unlikely to affect them.

The 56,000 Dodgers fans are more vulnerable when they crowd into their venerable stadium to witness the end of their team's 29-year World Series drought.

"Love it," said Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner, a Southern California native and the co-MVP of the NL Championship Series. "I'd rather be playing in the heat than in the snow, so it's great."

The World Series hasn't visited the three open-air ballparks in the southern half of California since 2002, when the then-Anaheim Angels won it all.

The sun is scheduled to set about one hour after the first pitch in each of the first two games, so the heat likely won't last long after that. In fact, the heat could even knock out the marine layer-the thick air mass caused by cooling temperatures near the Pacific Ocean and often blamed for fly balls falling short of the fence from

San Diego to Oakland.

"I think it's going to benefit the hitters," Dodgers utilityman Kike Hernandez said. "The hotter it is here, the better the ball carries."

The Astros are familiar with a whole different level of heat combined with humidity during their long, hot summers in Houston, but the roof is usually closed at Minute Maid Park, where the air-conditioned temperature is always around 73 balmy degrees. The weekend forecast in Houston calls for temperatures perhaps topping 80 degrees.

"I think the Astros know about heat," Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw said with a smirk.

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