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

Finally, a house run by a $4 million utility man was all of the Los Angeles Dodgers wanted to arrange the most costly Nationwide League Championship Collection 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, virtually one Shohei Ohtani’s price.

We’re getting forward of ourselves, however solely a bit bit. The matchup for the Nationwide League Championship Collection is about, courtesy of the Dodgers dispatching the San Diego Padres by a 2-0 closing in Recreation 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 had been the most well liked workforce in baseball coming into the playoffs, and so they appeared 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 had been, is that they now must tackle the different hottest workforce in baseball.

The Mets gained 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 wanting what they darn nicely must be: The most effective groups cash should purchase.

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

The Dodgers Took the Shock Highway 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 home run from Recreation 1, I do know. However it’s true. After that recreation, the identical man who chartered the 50-50 membership through the common season went 2-for-15 with out a 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 Recreation 5, whereby Teoscar Hernández added his second of the series.

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

That is who Hernández is within the playoffs. His 14 postseason house 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 house runs than they did this season, with 9 totally different hitters contributing at the least 10 lengthy balls to the ultimate tally of 233.

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

As as to if the Dodgers have sufficient pitching, nicely, totally different story.

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

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

Yamamoto was, in any case, the one starter who contributed to the 24-inning scoreless streak with which Dodgers pitchers completed off the collection. 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 means of a variety of accidents and a variety of ups and a variety of downs, however we battle, we battle and we maintain going—and we have got champagne on us proper now,” Betts said after Recreation 5.

But lest anybody mistake the Dodgers because the underdog for the NLCS, they don’t seem to be that.

As a result of there isn’t any underdog on this collection.

The Mets Took the Clutch Highway to the NLCS

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

It has been operating ever since they began a 61-36 romp to the top of the common season again on June 12. And simply while you assume it is 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 virtually comical frequency because the closing day of the Mets’ common season on September 30, with Francisco Lindor setting an example for Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Mark Vientos and, most just lately, his personal dang self to comply with.

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 certainly have a kind of.

Think about:

That is principally a good offensive battle, in different phrases, and the most important benefit on the mound is arguably with the Mets.

As robust because the Dodgers’ Johnny Wholestaff method is wanting proper now, they frankly do not have 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 Received the NLCS

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

And that’s MLB itself.

This postseason has already been a television ratings bonanza, and it is simple to know why. Ohtani’s playoff debut with the Dodgers would all the time be must-see TV. It is in any other case onerous 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 Collection. Folks can be watching, significantly within the MLB map’s largest (New York) and second-biggest (Los Angeles) markets.

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

Heck, name it a assure.