Dodgers-Mets provides showcase of NL’s best, potential playoff preview

By Deesha Thosar
FOX Sports MLB Writer

There is not any higher illustration of what the Dodgers and Mets can deliver to the stage than these separate thrilling occasions that happened Friday on the East Coast.

Mookie Betts is a significant cause the Dodgers can clinch the NL West as quickly as mid-September. He confirmed precisely how a lot he means to Los Angeles with the one-man present he placed on Friday in Miami. His 4-for-6 efficiency towards the Marlins, together with two residence runs and a go-ahead, RBI double within the Tenth inning, was magical.

As Betts trotted across the bases within the ninth inning, celebrating a game-tying solo residence run and his twenty ninth dinger of the season, there was some extra magic happening for an additional playoff contender. About 1,301 miles northeast of Miami, Citi Field was rocking on the identical time — at the exact same minute — that Betts cranked his ninth-inning shot.

Why was Flushing in a frenzy? Mark Canha had simply ripped a two-run double into the left-field nook and tied the Mets’ recreation towards the Rockies within the eighth inning. Just as Betts’ Tenth-inning RBI was the distinction for the Dodgers, the Mets wound up strolling it off within the Tenth inning on Pete Alonso’s twenty fifth game-winning RBI of the season.

We can anticipate nothing lower than that kind of electrical energy when the Dodgers and Mets meet for the second time this 12 months in a three-game collection starting Tuesday at Citi Field.

The Dodgers have Betts (.547 slugging), Freddie Freeman (.919 OPS) and Trea Turner (137 wRC+) on the prime, anchoring Major League Baseball‘s finest offense. And the Mets have Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer again within the rotation. DeGrom is anticipated to take the hill towards the Dodgers for his first begin vs. L.A. since Sept. 14, 2019.

Meanwhile, Scherzer’s Sunday afternoon outing towards the Rockies will make sure that he begrudgingly bypasses pitching towards his former crew.

New York’s co-aces have been on the shelf the final time the Mets and Dodgers squared off in an early June, four-game collection at Chavez Ravine. Scherzer spent seven weeks on the injured record as a result of an indirect pressure, which interfered together with his West Coast reunion. DeGrom didn’t make his season debut till Aug. 2 after nursing a stress response on his proper scapula for the higher half of the 12 months. 

The two groups break up that first collection, with the Dodgers taking the primary two video games and the Mets seemingly getting back from the lifeless to take the ultimate two. Hardly anybody might wait to see these juggernauts battle one another once more, and this week at Citi Field will resolve which crew wins the season’s showdown. (At least till they meet once more within the postseason, probably.)

MLB Power Rankings: Astros and Dodgers keep on prime

Ben Verlander’s newest MLB Power Rankings function Mookie Betts and the Los Angeles Dodgers nonetheless on prime, with the Houston Astros shut behind.

The Dodgers (87-37) have the aforementioned finest offense within the massive leagues, essentially the most wins in baseball and the most effective beginning pitching employees within the majors (2.67 ERA) — and that’s regardless of a second-career Tommy John surgical procedure not too long ago ending Walker Buehler‘s season.

Without Buehler, the mix of Tony Gonsolin, Julio Urias and Tyler Anderson has stored the rotation afloat. Clayton Kershaw and Andrew Heaney are dominant when wholesome. Now Dustin May, together with his 5 scoreless innings towards the Marlins in his season debut final week, has returned robust from damage.

That’s precisely why the Dodgers excel: They deliver a steadiness to the sector irrespective of the shortcomings on the roster. And whereas the Dodgers are inside sniffing distance of their ninth NL West title up to now 10 years, the Mets (81-46) have regarded increasingly like a crew that might neutralize Los Angeles.

There is, of course, the matter of deGrom, whose untouchable sliders and triple-digit fastballs spotlight why he’s thought of by many the most effective pitcher of his era. He returned from a yearlong absence on the mound and picked up proper the place he left off. His 2.15 ERA and 46 strikeouts towards 103 batters confronted throughout 5 begins this season ought to inform the Dodgers all the pieces they should know. 

The solely aid Los Angeles would possibly stay up for is deGrom’s still-intact innings restrict. The Mets’ ace has not accomplished greater than 6.2 innings in any of his 5 outings.

But if the Mets wish to show they’re the higher crew — not simply on this week’s matchup but in addition in a potential repeat of the 2015 National League Championship Series — they need to match that manufacturing from the Dodgers’ offense, too. The groups are actually shut, with the Mets flashing the third-best wRC+ (113) within the NL.

The Mets don’t hit as many residence runs because the Dodgers, however they grind out at-bats and break opposing starters’ will in relentless vogue. The Dodgers noticed firsthand how these never-say-die Mets function when the Amazin’s gained that June collection finale within the Tenth inning. It capped a wild, back-and-forth, four-game battle that left everybody watching wanting extra.

Now, almost three months after that dynamic collection, the 2 groups sport the identical weak point: their bullpens.

Looking for an precise deficiency on the Dodgers looks like nitpicking, however the crew’s greatest downside proper now’s at nearer. Craig Kimbrel and his 4.26 ERA and 1.49 WHIP in 47 aid appearances have been a disappointment. Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts not too long ago indicated that Kimbrel must earn the chance to shut video games within the postseason. Perhaps that can mild a hearth for Kimbrel and result in some changes and enhancements. 

For the Mets, it’s the alternative. Closer Edwin Diaz, together with his signature warm-up track “Narco” energizing the gang and placing an exclamation level on his dominance, is having a profession season. Unlike his first 12 months in Queens, Diaz is putting batters out greater than 50% of the time, and his confidence in his slider is resulting in lights-out outcomes.

But everybody else within the Mets’ bullpen? Those arms are unpredictable at finest. On any given evening towards aggressive lineups, it’s anybody’s guess whether or not supervisor Buck Showalter will see classic Adam Ottavino and Seth Lugo or meltdowns. 

The bridge from a powerful beginning pitching efficiency to Diaz remains to be an unreliable scenario for the membership, and the Dodgers usually are not the type of crew towards which the Mets need their flaws uncovered.

Deesha Thosar is an MLB author for FOX Sports. She beforehand lined the Mets for three-and-a-half seasons as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. She by no means misses a Rafael Nadal match, it doesn’t matter what nation or time zone he’s taking part in in. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.