Rookie left-hander Steven Matz will look to send the New York Mets to their first World Series since the Subway Series in 2000 when they take on the Chicago Cubs in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.
Matz will be opposed by Cubs right-hander Jason Hammel in a 8:07 PM showdown at Wrigley Field tonight.
Only once in major league history has a team come back from a 0-3 deficit to win a best-of-seven series. That was Theo Epstein’s Boston Red Sox in 2004, against the New York Yankees. But as the saying goes, lighting never strikes twice in the same place. Sorry, Theo.
The Mets have never led a best-of-seven series, three games to none. New York has swept two postseason series in team history – 1969 NLCS vs. Atlanta and 2006 NLDS vs. Los Angeles) – both of those series were a best-of-five.
Mets Starting Lineup
- Curtis Granderson – RF
- David Wright – 3B
- Daniel Murphy – 2B
- Yoenis Cespedes – CF
- Lucas Duda – 1B
- Travis d’Arnaud – C
- Michael Conforto – LF
- Wilmer Flores – SS
- Steven Matz – LHP
The Mets can advance to the World Series tonight! The Mets took a commanding three games to none lead in the series last night. Murphy continued his tremendous post-season, hitting another homer, while Wright and Cespedes both had multiple hits. On the other side, deGrom labored in the first inning (well over 25 pitches) but managed to pitch 7 innings allowing only 2 runs. The Mets bullpen did the rest as they shut down the Cubs for the final two innings.
Steven Matz will try to clinch it for the Mets tonight. In the regular season he was 4-0 over 6 starts and 35.2 innings with 34 K’s. His line from his only post-season start doesn’t tell the whole story. He was pegged for 3 earned runs over 5.0 innings, but really he had only one poor inning, and the ball that allowed 2 runs to come in wasn’t that well struck. He has never faced the Cubs or anyone on the Cubs roster in a major league game.
The Mets bats look to attack Jason Hammel tonight who was 10-7 this season over 31 starts and a 3.74 ERA while pitching 170.2 innings with 172 K’s. He pitched in the Cubs clincher game against the Cardinals where he allowed 2 ER over 3.0 innings while walking 3 and striking out 2. He had one start against the Mets this year back in May and it was very good allowing 1 ER over 8.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Hammel:
- K Johnson 9-30, 2B, 2 HR
- Granderson 8-24, 2 2B, 2 HR
- Murphy 6-11, 2 2B
- Wright 1-7
- Cuddyer 1-7
Let’s Go Mets!
