McAdam: Red Sox, 5-0 away from Fenway in playoffs, look to enjoy the road again

LOS ANGELES — One of the benefits of posting the best record in either league over the course of the regular season is knowing you'll have home-field advantage in every round, regardless of the opponent.

But for the Red Sox, who compiled the best home mark in baseball, it's kind of worked backward.

So far, through two full rounds of the playoffs and the first two games of the World Series, the Red Sox are 4-2 at home, but an unblemished 5-0 on the road.

In each of their first two rounds -- first in the Division Series, then in the League Championship Series -- the Red Sox clinched the series winner on the road. After splitting the first two at home with the Yankees in the ALDS, they stormed Yankee Stadium with a 16-1 win in Game 3 before advancing with a 4-3 victory in Game 4.

It was more of the same in the ALCS, with the teams splitting the first games at Fenway, before the Sox stunned the defending world champions in three straight: 8-2, 8-6, and finally, 4-1 to win the pennant.

So, with the World Series shifting to Dodger Stadium for the weekend, the Red Sox are perfectly positioned to wrap things up here, without having to play another game at Fenway until next April. The Sox will carry a five-game road win streak into Friday's Game 3.

Still, they'll take nothing for granted, even after enjoying so much success away from home this month. Winning the first two at Fenway was great, but the Sox are only halfway home.

"Ultimately, you've got to win four,'' said reliever Joe Kelly, who has had two perfect appearances in the World Series to date. "Winning two games in a row is big and we feel very, very comfortable here at Fenway. But it's going to be a grind, it's going to be tough. That's a very, very good ballclub out there. We're going to have to try to keep our foot on the gas as much as we can and continue to play good baseball.''

"We know we have a long way to go, still,'' added Xander Bogaerts. "We'll try to keep grinding and put pressure on them.''

Some things -- other than the uniform colors -- are bound to have a different look for the games here.

For one thing, the Dodgers, who emptied their bench in utilizing all 13 position players in each of the first two games at Fenway, will probably make enough in-game moves to make fans' heads spin now that the clubs are playing under National League rules.

Without the use of a DH, pitchers must hit for themselves, which in turn will lead to more pinch-hitting opportunities and double switches. It would not be surprising by the middle innings for L.A. manager Dave Roberts to be moving his players around the field like chess pieces -- beginning at one position, moving to another, and perhaps being shifted to a third.

There's also the matter of what the Red Sox, stripped of the DH, will do with their lineup. Alex Cora said definitively Friday that Mookie Betts will not start at second base in Game 3, a prospect that at least seemed like a potential occurrence only a week ago. Cora was quick to note, however, that Betts could well find himself at second at some point in the next few games as part of some in-game double switch, though such a move would probably be temporary.

Some of the tough decisions for Cora may be mitigated by J.D. Martinez's health. Martinez rolled an ankle when he slipped rounding second base in Game 1 and could be seen favoring a few times on the bases in Game 2.

"We'll see,'' said Cora. "Actually he felt better today walking around, he got treatment on the way here. He's going to get treatment tomorrow. He'll get treatment (Friday) morning. In the afternoon we'll make a decision. It looked bad early in the game but then it seemed like it was moving better towards the end. We'll make a decision whenever -- he'll let us know.''

With righty Rick Porcello going for the Red Sox, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts will get to use his more powerful lefty bats -- Max Muncy, Joc Pederson and Clay Bellinger -- in Game 3. None of the three lefties has started a World Series game this year.

Roberts noted Thursday that Pederson will lead off for the National League champs, a spot that was held by second baseman Brian Dozier for each of the first two games in Boston.