Andrew Friedman made his mark on both Rays, Dodgers

ARLINGTON, Texas — Perhaps the man who looms largest in this World Series isn’t on the field or in the dugout.

Andrew Friedman has had a hand in the success of both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Dodgers’ president of baseball operations since October 2014, he helped build Los Angeles into a power that has reached the World Series for the third time in four seasons.

He had been Tampa Bay’s executive vice president of baseball operations since 2006, building a team that reached the World Series in 2008 and overseeing the acquisition of current standout players such as Kevin Kiermaier, Blake Snell and Diego Castillo, and an operations staff with many holdovers still in place.

With the Dodgers, he oversaw the acquisition of Mookie Betts and Brusdar Graterol, the drafting of Walker Buehler and the signing of A.J. Pollock, Max Muncy and Blake Treinen.

“It’s definitely surreal. Some of my best friends in life are there. And we joked when I left the team that we were going to meet up in the World Series one day. And for it actually to happen is surreal,” Friedman said last week.

Erik Neander, promoted to Tampa Bay’s vice president of baseball operations when Friedman left, joined the Rays as an intern in January 2007 and learned from his boss. The Rays succeeded despite resources limited by an attendance perennially among the major leagues’ lowest.

They won their first pennant in 2008 with a $51 million payroll that was 28th in a season the Yankees topped spending at $222.5 million, according to Major League Baseball’s figures, and won the AL Championship Series over Boston, second at $147 million.

Tampa Bay is 28th again in this pandemic-shortened season at $29 million, yet it ousted he Yankees ($83 million) and Houston ($81...