MLB Lands Dream $650M NLCS Showdown Between Ohtani’s Dodgers vs. Lindor’s Mets

In the end, a house run by a $4 million utility man was all of the Los Angeles Dodgers wanted to arrange the costliest Nationwide League Championship Sequence in historical past.

On one facet, the Dodgers and their $327 million payroll. On the opposite, the New York Mets and their $324 million payroll. In sum, nearly one Shohei Ohtani’s value.

We’re getting forward of ourselves, however solely a bit of bit. The matchup for the Nationwide League Championship Sequence is about, courtesy of the Dodgers dispatching the San Diego Padres by a 2-0 closing in Sport 5 of the NLDS on Friday.

For the Dodgers, returning to the NLCS after falling brief within the wake of 100-win seasons in 2021, 2022 and 2023 feels akin to an exorcism.

It was certainly the Padres who knocked the Dodgers from the NLDS two years in the past, and it appeared like historical past would repeat itself within the grudge match. The Friars have been the most popular workforce in baseball coming into the playoffs, they usually seemed the half in placing Los Angeles in a 2-1 gap.

Not a foul comeback for the Dodgers, in different phrases. However their reward, because it have been, is that they now need to tackle the different hottest workforce in baseball.

The Mets received extra video games than the Dodgers and anybody else after Grimace infamously purpled up the joint at Citi Area in June. That stretch, plus their hard-fought wins over the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies, have them trying what they darn effectively must be: Among the best groups cash should purchase.

If ever there was a recipe for a enjoyable Championship Sequence, that is it.

The Dodgers Took the Shock Street to the NLCS

The Dodgers in all probability ought to have misplaced the NLDS, and here is why: Ohtani did not carry them.

A shocker to anybody who’s solely conscious of his game-tying, tone-setting dwelling run from Sport 1, I do know. Nevertheless it’s true. After that recreation, the identical man who chartered the 50-50 membership throughout the common season went 2-for-15 with no homer or a stolen base.

The Padres ought to get credit score for this, and there’s no doubting the veracity of the sport plan to close Ohtani down. Within the common season, the Dodgers went 42-37 when the soon-to-be three-time MVP neither homered nor stole a base. They went 56-27 in any other case.

And but, the message within the air proper now’s that the Dodgers aren’t merely The Shohei Ohtani Present.

Mookie Betts made it identified that he’s additionally an MVP in his personal proper with homers in Video games 3 and 4. Will Smith, Max Muncy and Gavin Lux additionally went yard earlier than Sport 5, whereby Teoscar Hernández added his second of the sequence.

The swing of the sport, although, was the one which Enrique Hernández related on for a go-ahead homer off Yu Darvish within the second:

That is who Hernández is within the playoffs. His 14 postseason dwelling runs outrank even some all-time legends, together with Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Cabrera and Chipper Jones.

Extra broadly, that is who the Dodgers are offensively. No Nationwide League workforce hit extra dwelling runs than they did this season, with 9 completely different hitters contributing at the very least 10 lengthy balls to the ultimate tally of 233.

In fact, the Dodgers did go into the NLDS with query marks. One huge one involved the soundness of Freddie Freeman’s sprained proper ankle, and that one did not precisely get a passable reply.

As as to if the Dodgers have sufficient pitching, effectively, completely different story.

They’ll really feel assured that they’ve at the very least one viable starter after what Yoshinobu Yamamoto did in Sport 5. This 12 months has typically been a disappointing proof of idea for the Dodgers’ $375 million funding, however he positive seemed like an ace in firing 5 shutout innings.

It is in any other case time to say one thing that may truly be a primary for contemporary Dodgers iterations: Dave Roberts and the bullpen are crushing it.

Yamamoto was, in spite of everything, the one starter who contributed to the 24-inning scoreless streak with which Dodgers pitchers completed off the sequence. It was a veritable shindig of shiny stuff, with relievers dealing with 16 innings and permitting solely seven hits and two walks.

“We went by way of a whole lot of accidents and a whole lot of ups and a whole lot of downs, however we combat, we combat and we hold going—and we have got champagne on us proper now,” Betts stated after Sport 5.

But lest anybody mistake the Dodgers because the underdog for the NLCS, they are not that.

As a result of there is no such thing as a underdog on this sequence.

The Mets Took the Clutch Street to the NLCS

If it feels just like the Mets must be the underdog within the NLCS, which may be associated to their Comeback Children act.

It has been operating ever since they began a 61-36 romp to the tip of the common season again on June 12. And simply while you suppose it’s going to finish, they discover new and thrilling methods to maintain it going.

And by “new and thrilling,” what I actually imply is “clutch dingers.”

They’ve include nearly comical frequency because the closing day of the Mets’ common season on September 30, with Francisco Lindor setting an instance for Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Mark Vientos and, most not too long ago, his personal dang self to observe.

But it is not a lot the clutchness of the Mets offense that ought to have the Dodgers on guard. There comes a degree when clutchness is solely indicative of a very good lineup, and the Mets absolutely have a type of.

Contemplate:

That is mainly a good offensive combat, in different phrases, and the largest benefit on the mound is arguably with the Mets.

As sturdy because the Dodgers’ Johnny Wholestaff strategy is trying proper now, they frankly haven’t got beginning pitchers who can go toe-to-toe with those the Mets are bringing to the NLCS. It is a group that had a 2.71 ERA in September and which has a 2.43 ERA in October.

Main League Baseball Has Already Gained the NLCS

No matter which workforce is first to 4 wins and, thus, punches its ticket to the World Sequence, at the very least one entity have to be feeling super-duper-happy concerning the NLCS.

And that’s MLB itself.

This postseason has already been a tv rankings bonanza, and it is easy to know why. Ohtani’s playoff debut with the Dodgers would all the time be must-see TV. It is in any other case arduous to quantify how a lot sheer drama the video games have supplied, although it feels as if half of it has come from the Mets.

And now, these forces are able to collide on the doorstep of the World Sequence. Folks will probably be watching, notably within the MLB map’s greatest (New York) and second-biggest (Los Angeles) markets.

They’ll see a present, alright. Name it a hunch.

Heck, name it a assure.