The Dodgers punched their ticket to the NLCS final night time. Solo house runs from Enrique Hernández and Teoscar Hernández had been sufficient to push L.A. to a 2-0 victory over the Padres within the rubber match of their Division Sequence. The Dodgers blanked San Diego in consecutive video games to take the collection in 5.
They’ll welcome the Mets to Dodger Stadium tomorrow. New York has waited for its vacation spot since ending off the Phillies in 4 video games on Wednesday. Nearly nobody would’ve seen this coming when the Mets bottomed out at 11 video games beneath .500. The nadir of their season coincidentally got here by the hands of the Dodgers, who swept New York at Citi Subject to drop them to 22-33 in late Might. The Mets caught fireplace after that, enjoying above .500 ball in every of the ultimate 4 months of the season.
L.A. and New York closed the common season as the most popular groups within the Nationwide League. Their 20-10 report over their closing 30 video games tied them with the Tigers for greatest in MLB. The Dodgers secured house discipline benefit all through the playoffs by ending with an MLB-leading 98 wins. New York clawed again to 89 wins and clinched a Wild Card spot on the final day of the common season. They’ve had a aptitude for the dramatic in October, coming from behind in 4 of their 5 playoff wins.
Each groups have already come again from the sting of elimination. The Mets wanted Pete Alonso’s ninth-inning heroics in opposition to Devin Williams to flee the Wild Card collection in Milwaukee. The Dodger pitching employees silenced San Diego’s bats in consecutive elimination video games within the Division Sequence.
New York has the slight good thing about two further days of relaxation. They’ve had three off days since their final recreation, whereas the Dodgers get one relaxation day earlier than beginning the collection. Every group’s complete bullpen needs to be in play for Recreation 1. The Mets can have their rotation exterior of Jose Quintana on common or prolonged relaxation at the start of the collection. The Dodgers turned to Yoshinobu Yamamoto for 5 scoreless innings final night time. They used a bullpen recreation on Wednesday.
Neither group has revealed a possible starter for Recreation 1, however the Dodgers are nearly sure to show the ball to Jack Flaherty earlier than going with Walker Buehler in Monday’s Recreation 2. The Mets might flip in a number of totally different instructions. They’ve Sean Manaea, Luis Severino and Kodai Senga all able to go. Andy Martino of SNY tweeted yesterday that Senga was more likely to get the ball in Recreation 1, although the Mets gained’t finalize that call till immediately. The righty is on tight workloads after dropping the second half of the season to a calf damage. He’ll most likely be restricted to 2 or three innings earlier than turning the ball over to the bullpen. Senga threw two innings and 31 pitches in Recreation 1 of the NLDS, his first look since late July.
The groups have till tomorrow morning to finalize their rosters for the collection. The Mets might have an necessary change. Jeff McNeil has been on the injured listing for over a month with a proper wrist fracture. Supervisor Carlos Mendoza stated a pair days in the past that McNeil had an excellent likelihood to be activated. The left-handed hitter began what’ll hopefully be a two-game stint within the Arizona Fall League final night time to readjust to recreation velocity.
McNeil made it by way of the primary recreation with no points, he informed reporters final night time (hyperlink by way of Jesse Borek and Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). Whereas the Mets most likely gained’t make the choice till tomorrow, it appears McNeil shall be energetic. That’d most likely push Luisangel Acuña off the roster until the Mets resolve to drop to 12 pitchers regardless of the longer collection.
On the Dodgers’ facet, the principle damage to watch issues reliever Alex Vesia. (There’s additionally the continuing query about Freddie Freeman’s ankle however little doubt that Freeman shall be on the roster.) Vesia entered with two outs within the seventh inning final night time. The left-hander fanned Jackson Merrill to finish the inning. He got here again out for the eighth however reported soreness in his proper facet whereas warming up. The Dodgers lifted him for Michael Kopech, who mixed with Blake Treinen to shut out the sport.
Supervisor Dave Roberts stated postgame that Vesia would go for an MRI immediately (X hyperlink by way of Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic). The group is hopeful that the discomfort was only a cramp however desires to rule out an indirect damage. If Vesia did tweak his indirect, that’d most likely shut him down for the season. Anthony Banda was the one different left-hander in Roberts’ bullpen for the Division Sequence. Justin Wrobleski and Zach Logue are the opposite wholesome southpaws on the 40-man roster. Nick Ramirez stays within the group however was outrighted final month and appears unlikely to be thought of for a playoff spot.
How will the NLCS play out? Which group is headed to the World Sequence, and the way aggressive will this collection be?
