Shawn Green Q&A: Dodgers are 'the best team I've ever seen'

With the Los Angeles Dodgers set to host the Houston Astros in Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday, theScore's Jonah Birenbaum spoke with former Dodgers All-Star outfielder Shawn Green to tee up the 113th edition of the Fall Classic.

Jonah Birenbaum: There’s certainly no shame in losing to a team like the Astros, but is this season a disappointment for the Dodgers - 111-59 (.653) since Opening Day - if they don’t win the World Series?

Shawn Green: Yeah, I think so. My take on it is, I feel like from top to bottom - including the front office, coaching, manager - they're the best team I've ever seen. Now it's a matter of winning the World Series to at least get in that conversation. I've never seen a team that's just so deep in the lineup, has such good starting pitching, has a rock-solid bullpen, as I've seen this year. It'd be a shame to not win it when you have that much going for you.

Birenbaum: Both teams are so compelling, though. The Dodgers haven’t won the World Series since 1988, while the Astros - much like the Red Sox in 2013 - are playing for a city recently ravaged by tragedy. And they’re both just so good, too. For baseball fans, this is as good as it gets, right?

Green: For sure. I mean, I'm sure a lot of people wanted to see Yankees-Dodgers - it's an exciting matchup and a historic matchup - but as far as who people wanted to see in July, in the World Series, it would've been Dodgers-Astros. Obviously, Cleveland crept up the last month of the season and became the favorite, but I think if you go from Day 1 to Day 162 and then beyond, I think this is the matchup that baseball purists wanted to see.

Birenbaum: Let's talk Clayton Kershaw for a second. Since coming off the disabled list Sept. 1, Kershaw owns a 3.53 ERA in nine starts, including his three postseason outings. Like, he’s been good, but not Clayton Kershaw good. Can the Dodgers win without him performing at his highest level?

Green: It's going to be tough. But I think the Dodgers can win even if Kershaw doesn't dominate because the lineup is so strong. That's what's unique about this Dodgers team compared to Dodgers teams that struggled when Kershaw struggled in the postseason: the lineup is so solid and the bullpen is so solid that you don't need to rely on one guy to carry you for two, two-and-a-half wins in the postseason.

Birenbaum: The Red Sox couldn't shut down Jose Altuve. Neither could the Yankees. How do the Dodgers stop him?

Green: He's a tough guy to stop. I think you just really have to get lucky, really. You got to hope that he cools off. He's got such a short, compact swing, and is a smaller guy. Those types of hitters, when they're really good, they tend to be more consistent because there's less room for error in their swing.

Birenbaum: The Astros have played three more games this postseason than the Dodgers, who swept the Diamondbacks in the division series and ousted the Cubs from the NLCS in five games. At this point in the year, how significant is that marginal attrition?

Green: I think that's actually an advantage for the Astros. I was really curious to see how (the Dodgers) would do after sweeping Arizona, because when I was with the Mets (in 2006) we had a layoff and it definitely made things a little bit uncomfortable. That's how important it is to be in that consistent daily routine of facing pitchers. So four days off, or whatever it's been, that is a challenge. A tribute to Dave Roberts, he's done a really good job of doing different types of game simulation and intrasquad-type things that have kept the guys game-ready. You can't replicate 50,000 people screaming at the top of their lungs, but you can still see pitches, track balls, and I think they've had a good, disciplined routine in the postseason. But I think for the Astros - as long as their rotation is set in a good place, which it is - those extra games are a bit of an advantage, particularly in the first game of the series.

Birenbaum: And Roberts really has killed it this postseason. When he started Andre Ethier in Game 3 of the NLCS, the 35-year-old rewarded him by going 2-for-4 with a bomb. In that same game, with the Dodgers up by two in the sixth, he allowed Yu Darvish to hit for himself with the bases loaded; Darvish took a four-pitch walk. Roberts' bullpen usage has been flawless, too, as evidenced by their 0.94 ERA this postseason. How much credit does he deserve for where they are now?

Green: Tons of credit. Dave's the perfect manager for this team. He's so personable, and the players love him. He's great for a city like New York or Los Angeles or Boston, where the media is challenging and overwhelming at times, because he's really great with the media. And Dave's a smart guy. He understands the analytic side that's evolved in baseball, and he can communicate really well with the front office. He's really the perfect modern manager, especially in a big market like L.A.

Birenbaum: Given the tremendous pressure that comes with playing in the World Series, how much does it help having a guy like Yasiel Puig around? You know, someone who can lighten up the room a bit.

Green: Puig is really the key, in a lot of ways, to this whole team, because he turns the lineup from four extremely tough outs to five, and then not to mention the other guys, like (Austin) Barnes and/or (Yasmani) Grandal - those guys are top tier. But they have (Chris) Taylor, (Corey) Seager, (Justin) Turner, (Cody) Bellinger, and then Puig. Like, that's a long lineup of guys who look extremely comfortable at the plate, and if you have two of those guys cold, you still have three guys either hot or pretty consistent. And the other thing about him is he brings a lightness to it, even if he can be polarizing at times, particularly if I'm the other team, but it does lighten the mood in a very intense atmosphere.

Birenbaum: It’s supposed to be crazy hot in Los Angeles this week, with forecasts projecting a high of 101 degrees for Game 1. What kind of impact do you imagine the triple-digit heat will have?

Green: So what's going to happen is the stadium's going to play a lot smaller. One thing about Dodger Stadium - actually, all the stadiums in California - is when night comes on and you're in the outfield and the grass gets wet, the ball goes nowhere. So you get this, like, marine layer that all the stadiums in California have, and as soon as you get that dew on the grass, then, as an outfielder, I always took about three or four steps in. So you're not going to have that. I woke up this morning and it was in the eighties before the sun was really kicking at all, so I think it's going to be like that at night, which means the ball is going to fly. But they're (starting) two of the best pitchers in baseball, so that kind of outweighs the stadium shrinkage that you're going to get from the heat.

Birenbaum: Interesting. So who's winning this thing? MVP?

Green: I'm going to say the Dodgers in five. MVP? Hmm. Let me think about that for a second. That's always the toughest one in the postseason because you never know ... I'm actually going to go with Kershaw.