SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants get a chance to play the role of spoiler against the Colorado Rockies for the second straight September when the National League West clubs open a three-game series on Friday night.Giants right-hander Chris Stratton (9-9 Dwight Gooden Jersey , 4.99 ERA), bombed in back-to-back starts against the Rockies earlier this season, and Rockies left-hander Tyler Anderson (6-8, 4.89), winless in his last 11 starts, draw the starting assignments in the opener.The Rockies (81-65) begin a nine-game trip in first place in the NL West, having moved a healthy 4 1/2 games up on third-place Arizona (77-70) with a 10-3 shellacking of the Diamondbacks Thursday at Colorado to complete a 3-1 series win.Article continues below ...The Los Angeles Dodgers (80-67) are in second place, 1 1/2 games behind the Rockies.The Rockies will visit Los Angeles and Arizona for three games apiece next week to complete its road — and NL West — schedule. Colorado finishes the season at home against Philadelphia and Washington.The Rockies found themselves battling the Diamondbacks, Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers in mid-September last season when they went into San Francisco and lost two straight to a Giants team well out of contention.Colorado then had to scramble just to claim the second wild-card spot in the NL by one game.This year’s San Francisco club finds itself in the same situation, having lost a West Coast era-record 11 straight.Stratton has started two of those games and pitched pretty well in 4-1 and 4-3 losses to the New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers, respectably. He allowed just seven hits in 11 innings in those games.That was a marked improvement over the 13 runs and 19 hits he gave up in 9-8 and 8-1 losses in a home-and-home sequence with the Rockies bridging June and July. Nolan Arenado homered in both of the games. The star third baseman hasn’t been the only Colorado player who has rocked the 28-year-old Stratton in the past. Ian Desmond (.625), Trevor Story (.556), Charlie Blackmon (.500) Keith Hernandez Jersey , DJ LeMahieu (.500) and Gerardo Parra (.500) all have .500 or better career batting averages against Stratton.He has gone 1-1 with a 7.89 ERA in five games, including four starts, in his career against Colorado.Anderson will face a Giants team that has hit even worse than he has pitched of late.The 28-year-old hasn’t won since July 4 and now leads the NL in home runs allowed with 29.He was taken deep by the Giants’ Gorkys Hernandez in a 9-8 Rockies home win on Sept. 3. Anderson did not get the win, pulled after 5 1/3 innings having allowed three runs and six hits.Anderson has made six starts in his career against the Giants and went 1-2 with a 4.25 ERA.Hernandez has two career homers against him in 10 career at-bats.The Giants enter the series having scored one run in five straight home games. They’ve totaled just nine home runs (none in the last three outings) during their 0-for-September run of 11 games. The Boston Red Sox are on their way back home with their fourth World Series title since 2004.Boston captured its ninth championship in franchise history with a dominant performance in Game 5 at Dodger Stadium that was led by a few unexpected heroes.Steve Pearce, who participated in only the second postseason of his 12-year career, took home the Most Valuable Player award for the clutch hits he delivered throughout the series, including a pair of home runs in Game 5.David Price emerged as the other unlikely hero for the Red Sox, as he won Games 2 and 5 to erase the narrative about his postseason struggles.While Price and Pearce were the standout stars, other players made plenty of key contributions throughout the World Series to help Boston capture the title in dominant fashion. Top StarsSteve PearceToronto's trade of Pearce to the Red Sox in June (for a minor league infielder) will go down as the best piece of business from the summer.Pearce displayed glimpses of his power throughout his 50 regular-season appearances for the Red Sox, as he hit seven home runs and drove in 26 runs.At most, the first baseman was expected to provide cover for Mitch Moreland and come up with a clutch hit or two during the postseason.Pearce blew everyone away with a home run and four RBI in Game 4 and two more dingers in the series-clinching Game 5 victory.With his pair of round-trippers in Game 5, Pearce became the second Boston player to ever hit three home runs in the World Series, per The Athletic's Katie Sharp:Katie Sharp ktsharpRed Sox players to hit 3 HR in a single World Series:Steve Pearce (2018)Carl Yastrzemski (1967) David PriceThroughout his postseason career Jorge De La Rosa Jersey , Price showed flashes of brilliance, but he was far from Boston's go-to guy in the starting rotation entering the World Series.In two World Series starts, Price gave up six hits and three earned runs over 13 innings, and he made a brief appearance in the 18-inning marathon in Game 3.Before the World Series, Price had one victory in 12 playoff starts, with the win coming against Houston in Game 6 of the ALCS.If Pearce hadn't hit two home runs in Game 5, Price would've been named MVP for his pair of marvelous performances against a Dodgers lineup that had no answers for him.Top StatsBoston's ninth World Series victory was the first for manager Alex Cora, who became the first rookie manager since the Arizona Diamondbacks' Bob Brenly in 2001 to win the World Series, per MLB Stat of the Day:MLB Stat of the Day MLBStatoftheDayIn his first year as manager, ac13alex is a #WorldSeries champion.The last rookie manager to accomplish the feat was Bob Brenly with the 2001 Dbacks. ZivaOOp1LQPearce joined an illustrious list of 10 players, including Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson and Johnny Bench, as players to hit two or more home runs in a series-clinching World Series game http://www.diamondbacksfanproshop.com/authentic-taijuan-walker-jersey , per Sharp:Katie Sharp ktsharp2+ HR in Potential Clinching World Series Game:Steve Pearce2018Kirk Gibson1984Eddie Murray1983Reggie Jackson1977Johnny Bench1976Yogi Berra1956Duke Snider1952Tony Lazzeri1932Babe Ruth1928Harry Hooper1915Price won the clinching games of back-to-back series against Cy Young Award winners, which was the first time that's ever occurred, per ESPN's Buster Olney:Buster Olney Buster_ESPNELIAS: If the Red Sox win, David Price will have clinched two consecutive series against Cy Young winners 鈥?Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw 鈥?in the same postseason. Thats never been done before.Chris Sale, who came on to close Game 5 in the ninth for Boston, became the ninth pitcher and first since 1945 to record the first and last outs of the World Series, per Baseball Reference:Baseball Reference baseball_refPitchers who got the first and last out of the #worldseries:Babe Adams, 1909Ernie Shore, 1916Art Nehf, 1922Waite Hoyt, 1928Lefty Gomez, 1937Paul Derringer, 1940Spud Chandler Jarrod Dyson Jersey , 1943Hal Newhouser, 1945And Chris Sale, 2018Boston finished the season with 119 wins, which is the third-most in MLB history behind the 1998 New York Yankees and 2001 Seattle Mariners, per the league's official Twitter account:MLB MLB119 wins. Thats a lot of #DirtyWater. QGFeZPlUirHighlightsMookie Betts produced an insurance run in the sixth inning for the Red Sox, as he took Clayton Kershaw deep:FOX Sports FOXSportsMOOOOOOKIE!The MVP candidate comes through for the RedSox with a solo shot in Game 5! IbrXC3bYTAJ.D. Martinez extended the Boston lead to three runs in the seventh inning, when he sent a solo blast to center off Kershaw:FOX Sports FOXSportsRed Sox are doing damage!J.D. Martinez homers to center to give Boston a 3-run lead in the 7th! zvtfrsej2NSale recorded the final out of the 2018 World Series by striking out Manny Machado, who had a disappointing series for the Dodgers:FOX Sports FOXSportsTHE BOSTON RED SOX ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!Chris Sale strikes out Manny Machado to close out the World Series! u62k4SVQPvFOX Sports FOXSportsYup, the RedSox went there.馃憖 the song selection T0l7aC4c4eDuring the postgame celebration in the locker room, the Red Sox trolled the rival New York Yankees by singing "New York, New York": Follow Joe on Twitter, JTansey90.