According to the so-called baseball experts and talking heads, before this season started, the Mets weren’t supposed to be here. They had no business even sniffing an NL East crown let alone winning it. Here we are though, mere days away from the first Metropolitan playoff game in nine years. The Mets are playing with house money.
We look across the coast to the opponent, the Los Angeles Dodgers. The team in blue from California comes in with a payroll north of $280 million dollars compared to the New York payroll of $110 million.
Each of the past two seasons the Dodgers have met a roadblock in the postseason known as the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets, especially the 2006 team is no stranger to the NL Central powerhouse. Los Angeles has not reached a World Series since 1988, compared to the Mets who reached in 2000. The pressure is on.
“Plain and simple, we have to get over the hump.” Carl Crawford was quoted after game 162 this past Sunday.
Clayton Kershaw has lost his last four postseason starts. All of those starts did come against the Cardinals as well. In the 2014 MLB playoffs, Kershaw’s final numbers were 0-2 with a 7.82 ERA. The Dodgers ace has something to prove this postseason as he has not been the dominant pitcher we’ve seen in the regular season when he’s been baseball’s best.
Dodgers manager, Don Mattingly though believes things are different this time around for his team stating, “We’re a little different, mentality wise. We’re more professional, not much sense of craziness around us.”
The Mets send three postseason virgins to the mound in Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Matt Harvey. Sure, the pressure is there for these guys to perform, but not in the same gravity as the Dodgers. The Mets have nothing to lose in this series and everything to gain.
This organization is in a great spot right now. The Mets have every reason to be the “loose” team in this series. The pressure is all on Los Angeles. The Mets, if they execute as they should can really use that to their advantage in this series. It’s going to be a lot of fun to watch.
