The National League Conference Series is set as the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers will play a seven-game series to decide which team will move on to the World Series.
The Mets defeated the Phillies in four games while the Dodgers beat the Padres in five to advance to this stage. Game 1 of the NLCS is on Sunday night in Los Angeles, so let’s dive into the probable pitchers and our expert’s best bets for the first game of the series.
The Mets have been the underdog story of the postseason thus far. New York slipped into the postseason with a Wild Card spot and had to take on Freddy Peralta and the Brewers in a best-of-3 series. It took all 3 games, but the Mets won and moved on to the NLDS to face their division rivals, the Phillies.
The extended break that the Phillies got appeared to do more damage than help because their lineup came out flat and was never able to recover. A few excellent pitching performances and clutch at-bats secured the series for the Mets and now comes their hardest test yet - the Dodgers.
The first two games of the series will be in L.A. and neither team has announced a starting pitcher just yet, but based on the days of rest, we have a pretty good idea who could be the Game 1 starters. The Mets are expected to start Kodai Senga, the Japanese sensation who hasn’t pitched since Game 1 of the NLDS. Senga would be on 7 days of rest which makes him the most likely candidate and will likely be backed by David Peterson out of the bullpen.
It was a long and challenging NLDS for the Dodgers, but they emerged victorious after five games. A 2-0 win on Friday night secured the series and saved the arm of Jack Flaherty for Sunday night. Los Angeles’ offense has never been a problem with Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Teoscar Hernandez at the top of the order and then Will Smith, Max Muncy, and Tommy Edman leading the bottom half.
However, their starting pitching has been a hot topic for debate. They’ve had to rely on Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Jack Flaherty since Walker Buehler hasn’t been consistent all season. Even then, Flaherty got hit hard by the Padres in the NLDS as he allowed 4 runs, 5 hits, and 2 home runs in 5.1 innings.
The Mets have the rest advantage and plenty of momentum so I’m backing them by the +1.5 run line.
The key to winning in the postseason is different for every team, although for the Mets and Dodgers in this case, they will try to slug their way to a win.
The Mets lineup has been on fire in October and Jesse Winker and Mark Vientos have become postseason icons for New York. Their offense really showed up in the NLDS against a great Phillies pitching staff as they scored 23 runs and had an .822 OPS in those four games. Francisco Lindor has been the leader of the offense and has come up clutch in several different instances so far, but none more important than his go-ahead grand slam in Game 4 of the NLDS.
New York’s goal will be to get to Flaherty early so that Dave Roberts has to use his exhausted bullpen for several innings. And as we’ve seen in the Wild Card and NLDS, the Mets have thrived against bullpens.
Kodai Senga is expected to start Game 1 for the Mets, but it’s hard to predict what we’re going to see from him. Senga appeared just once in the regular season back in July and missed the rest of the season with injuries. The Japanese sensation returned in the NLDS against the Phillies and tossed 2 innings and allowed 1 run and 1 hit which was a solo home run.
Since he’s still working his way back, Senga will likely be limited to roughly three innings. That means David Peterson will more than likely appear as the bulk reliever. The Dodgers should be able to put some rallies together against Senga and then the lefty Peterson, so both teams should be contributing towards the total. Take the over in Game 1 of the NLCS.
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New York Mets | +135 |
Los Angeles Dodgers | -160 |
Run Line | LA Dodgers -1.5 |
Total | O/U 8.0 |
Francisco Lindor (NY Mets) | +375 |
Mark Vientos (NY Mets) | +375 |
Pete Alonso (NY Mets) | +400 |
Teoscar Henandez (LA Dodgers) | +400 |
Shohei Ohtani (LA Dodgers) | +425 |
Mookie Betts (LA Dodgers) | +475 |
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.