The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres by a score of 2-1 on Saturday night and have clinched home-field advantage for the National League Division Series against the New York Mets.
Zack Greinke pitched eight innings of one-run ball at Dodger Stadium in his final start of the regular season. Justin Turner went 2-for-3 with a home run and a run scored, driving in the game winner for the second consecutive game.
The Mets and Dodgers will now play Game 1 of the NLDS in Los Angeles next Friday, and Terry Collins has informed Jacob deGrom that he will start the series opener.
DeGrom, who will make his final start of the season on Sunday, is 14-8 with a 2.60 ERA, 198 strikeouts and 36 walks in 187 innings this year. He told the NY Post that “it’s an honor” to be given the privilege and he vowed, “I’ll be ready for it.”
The Mets have taken four of seven games in the regular season series against the Dodgers this year.
I know many of you are disappointed that we didn’t win home-field, but it’s not that huge a concern and in the Wild Card era, teams with home field fared a lot worse than the visiting teams. And as Mets fans, you should all be VERY aware of that.
It’s onward and upward and I have no doubt the Mets will be ready to go next weekend, and look at this way, the Mets can now win the NLDS at home in Citi Field.
LGM!
October 2
Justin Turner drove in a pair of runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres by a score of 6-2 on Friday night to take a half-game lead over the New York Mets for home-field advantage in the NL Division Series.
“We just need to win every day and put the pressure on them and see what happens,” said manager Don Mattingly on the battle for home-field advantage with the Mets.
The Mets, who got rained out on Friday night, will try to regain the lead on Saturday when they play a day-night double header against the Washington Nationals at Citi Field.
Noah Syndergaard will start Game 1 for the Mets opposite Gio Gonzalez, with Matt Harvey and Max Scherzer pitching the nightcap.
Sandy Alderson said that if one or more games aren’t played this weekend, it’s unclear whether the Mets would have to make them up on Monday to decide home-field.
Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal wrote a nice piece in which he concluded that home-field advantage isn’t nearly as important as conventional wisdom would suggest.
He writes that since 1995 (the start of the wild-card era), teams with the home-field advantage have gone just 39-41 (.488) in the division series and 19-21 (.475) in the championship series. So there’s that…
