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 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 value.

We’re getting forward of ourselves, however solely just a little bit. The matchup for the Nationwide League Championship Collection is ready, courtesy of the Dodgers dispatching the San Diego Padres by a 2-0 remaining 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 had been the most popular workforce in baseball coming into the playoffs, and so they regarded 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 should 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 wanting what they darn nicely needs to be: Probably the greatest groups cash should purchase.

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

The Dodgers Took the Shock Street to the NLCS

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

A shocker to anybody who’s solely conscious of his game-tying, tone-setting home run from Sport 1, I do know. However it’s true. After that sport, the identical man who chartered the 50-50 membership through 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 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 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 right ankle, and that one did not precisely get a passable reply.

As as to whether the Dodgers have sufficient pitching, nicely, 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 regarded 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 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 quite a lot of accidents and quite a lot of ups and quite a lot of downs, however we struggle, we struggle and we maintain going—and we have champagne on us proper now,” Betts said after Sport 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 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 needs to be the underdog within the NLCS, that could be associated to their Comeback Youngsters 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 whenever you assume 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 virtually comical frequency because the remaining day of the Mets’ common season on September 30, with Francisco Lindor setting an example for Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Mark Vientos and, most 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 absolutely have a type of.

Contemplate:

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

As sturdy because the Dodgers’ Johnny Wholestaff strategy 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 Gained the NLCS

No matter which workforce is first to 4 wins and, thus, punches its ticket to the World Collection, 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 television ratings 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 onerous to quantify how a lot sheer drama the video games have offered, 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, notably 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.