Despite the strangest, hardest and shortest season in recent memory -- and for only the fourth time in the Wild Card era -- the two best teams in their respective leagues will face off in the World Series when the Rays and Dodgers square off for Game 1 on Tuesday night.

The Dodgers, a powerhouse loaded with name-brand superstars, have won the NL West for what seems like the past 370 years, while the Rays continue to win every single trade they're involved with because, well, their front office is clearly filled with spreadsheet wizzes.

If you need to get caught up for the Series with all the things you really need to know, you're in the right place. Let's break it down.

Team jokester: Enrique Hernández vs. Brett Phillips

If you saw Hernández's pinch-hit game-tying home run in Game 7 of the NLCS against the Braves, you probably wouldn't think he was very funny. This was a dude fully locked in. He gave out such intense high fives when he got back to the dugout, you could feel your hand sting while sitting on the couch.

But when the game isn't on the line, Hernández is always happy to goof around. While it's been a long time since he's been hanging out in the dugout in his banana costume, he grew out one heck of a quarantine mustache this season and he took the most incredible engagement photos in the history of photography:

Meanwhile, the Rays have Phillips -- and his insane laugh and impressive dance moves. Though he wasn't on the ALCS roster, Phillips still found a way to contribute as the team's "Keep it Simple" coach with inspirational hitting tips and important acrostics about this October's breakout star:

Edge: Rays

The Memes: Cody Bellinger vs. Randy Arozarena

Bellinger is a star. With a Rookie of the Year and NL MVP Award to his name, everyone knew Belli before the postseason began. But thanks to his penchant for perpetually looking like Shaggy from "Scooby-Doo," well, he became a viral star for other reasons:

The Rays' breakout star Randy Arozarena inspired his own devotion across the Internet. Unlike the Dodgers' center fielder, few knew his name before the postseason, but after crushing seven home runs -- a record for a rookie in the postseason -- en route to winning the ALCS MVP Award, the name Randy became shorthand for a completely unstoppable force.

Edge: Dodgers. The Bellinger memes may be the only thing Arozarena can't defeat.

Weirdest vintage team video: The Baseball Boogie vs. The Rays intro video

Hundreds of years from now, anthropologists will look back at the 1980s and wonder, "What the heck was going on?" Case in point: The Baseball Boogie, a music video the Dodgers made in 1986. With satin jackets, awkward team dance moves, and frontman Orel Hershiser (David Byrne he's not), the Dodgers made one of the strangest pieces of content the world has ever seen. May we all bring it back to help it shoot up the Billboard charts this October. (Click here if it's not displaying below.)

Let's not pretend that the Rays don't have their own uniquely embarrassing creation, either. In 1998, when the team was still known as the Devil Rays, they used this CGI video featuring this superpowered aquatic creature to start their TV broadcasts. This baseball-loving ray flew out of the water, soared high over the St. Petersburg area and -- using its special devil powers -- floated through the roof of Tropicana Field.

(Click here if video doesn't display.)

Edge: Dodgers. One ray versus an entire team of dancing ballplayers isn't a fair fight at all.

Most jacked player: Dodgers field vs. Yandy Díaz

Listen, no disrespect to the Dodgers. They're pretty strong throughout the roster. I mean, they led the league in home runs, so they've got the muscles where it counts. But when you try and compare any baseball player to the most yolked player in the history of baseball history -- Díaz's muscles have muscles! His T-shirt sleeves scream in pain! -- there's no comparison.

Edge: Rays

Best video game player: Hernández vs. Blake Snell

Since we've all been holed up in our homes for the past seven months, video games have been one of the few ways one can safely explore the outside world. Maybe that will come into use during the Series! Stranger things have certainly happened.

The Dodgers offer up Hernández, who likes "Call of Duty" so much that he donned night vision goggles to crush some dingers last year. Sure, maybe it's video editing trickery, but I like to believe it's not. At least one player will be ready if there's a power outage at the stadium:

The Rays' ace likely has him beat. Snell is such a big gamer that he runs his own Twitch channel where you can check him out during the offseason. Not surprisingly, Snell also cleaned up and won the MLB: The Show Players League this spring.

Edge: Rays

Wildest ballpark feature: Gas station vs. Rays tank

If you've ever been to L.A., you know you have to drive everywhere. It's less a city than one massive parking lot that spans multiple neighborhoods. (I lived there for eight years, so I'm allowed to say that.) It only makes sense that Dodger Stadium has its very own gas station in the parking lot.

While the structure is still there, unfortunately it's not an active station to fill up your car.

Tropicana Field's rays tank is still in center field, though the marine life is hanging out in its offseason home at the Manatee Viewing Center in Apollo Beach until the pandemic is under control. The Rays are hoping to bring the 20-odd rays back to the stadium next year when fans can again hang out with the fish near Gate 1.

Edge: Rays. I mean, seeing cool wild animals will almost always win.

Most intimidating reliever: Brusdar Graterol vs. Nick Anderson

Graterol was acquired over the offseason when Los Angeles dealt Kenta Maeda to Minnesota for the hard-throwing reliever. What a difference he's made in the Dodgers' bullpen, who have called upon him during the rough middle innings when they need a stopper.

Armed with a 100-mph fastball, Graterol has plenty of heat to terrify batters. While that's yet to show up in the whiff department, anyone who has seen him celebrate knows how intense things can get:

Meanwhile, the Rays' shutdown reliever is almost the exact opposite. Anderson also has a powerful, upper-90s fastball and the ability to completely flummox hitters. But he projects an aura of peaceful calm, as if he weren't entering the game in do-or-die situations. Some say terrifying like "Dexter," others say it's serene and relaxing.

Edge: Dodgers. Anderson may be the better pitcher right now, but Graterol is definitely the more intimidating pitcher.

Better cat fan: Tony Gonsolin vs. DJ Kitty

Every day is Caturday when Gonsolin's around. The Dodgers pitcher is probably the biggest cat fan in the Majors, and he rocks a cat T-shirt under his jersey every time his start comes on a Saturday. (That would be Game 4 of the World Series. That's at least one thing you should root for, regardless of your team allegiance.)

He hangs the T in his locker before the game so his teammates can gaze on the fuzzy pun, and last year he even went to a cat show during Spring Training.

The Rays counter with a mascot we haven't seen for a while: DJ Kitty, a giant, backwards-hat wearing, LP-spinning feline in a Rays uniform. Though in recent years he's disappeared from view, it's important to remember the source: This is an insane thing that actually happened.

Edge: Dodgers. One of these guys is playing in the World Series -- and it's not the DJ.

X-Factor: Mookie Betts' bowling vs. Ji-Man Choi's fear of ghosts

Everyone knows there will be surprises in the World Series that we couldn't expect. So, it's important to look off the field and wonder what skills may come in handy.

While Betts showed off his glove in the NLCS, making three astounding grabs, he never did get a chance to show off his bowling form. Betts is so good, he's appeared in PBA events and his Baseball-Reference page even lists a partial bowling record. Perhaps he can roll the ball to home plate to nab a runner rounding third.

Meanwhile, the Rays' fan-favorite first baseman has a healthy respect for the restless dead. Choi believes he's had multiple experiences with ghosts over the years. That includes one terrifying stay at Milwaukee's Pfister Hotel -- famous for its ghost stories from traveling ballplayers.

"I've seen ghosts plenty of times," Choi said through his interpreter, Jae Park, in 2015. Following back surgery in 2011, Choi felt a spirit on his chest and then saw the bed slump.

"I was scared at first," Choi said, "so I didn't want to open my eyes. I dealt with that a lot more times after that."

Edge: Rays. The World Series is in the spookiest month of the year, after all.