It’s been a while since the Los Angeles Dodgers last saw the Mets in 2024.
So long that after the two teams’ final meeting, a 10-3 loss on May 29 at Citi Field, New York fell to 22-33 — a season-low 11 games below .500 — and in serious danger of pulling the plug on the season.
In fact, during that loss (which was the end of a three-game sweep) is when reliever Jorge Lopez threw his glove into the stands after getting ejected, causing him to get released from the team shortly after.
What a difference four months can make.
Since then, the Mets finished with the best record in baseball (67-40) and have had one of the more magical runs in history after beating the Milwaukee Brewers in the Wild Card Series and the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS to get to the Championship Series.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told the media on Saturday that his team’s opponent might as well be a completely new team than the one they faced earlier this year — the one they took four out of six from.
“They’re a completely different team [now] than we saw,” Roberts said. “They’re playing considerably better. [Francisco] Lindor is back to being Frankie. They’ve just got a lot of confidence and so we’ve got to play good baseball.”
It’s true, the Mets are brimming with confidence at the moment and at just the right time.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles comes into the series in rough shape, especially with pitching, after beating the San Diego Padres in five games.
Regardless, the Dodgers will possibly prove to be New York’s biggest challenge this postseason with the offensive firepower that they have, including Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
Their pitching, while not at full strength, can also pose a problem as Jack Flaherty has been announced as their Game 1 starter with Yoshinobu Yamamoto waiting in the wings for later in the series.
Los Angeles has also been one of the favorites to win the World Series all season and is about to play in its sixth NLCS in the last nine years.
For context, this will be the Mets’ first trip to the NLCS since 2015 when they went on to the World Series.
As for New York’s Game 1 starter, Kodai Senga, Roberts admitted he was unfamiliar with the right-hander who only pitched in one regular season game this season.
“I just don’t know Senga very much. I really don’t,” he said. “I do know that his last outing was two innings, 31 pitches so my assumption is that they’re gonna try and get him through three innings.
“Obviously, he was probably their ace coming into the season so it’s gonna be a lot of fun, but I don’t know him very well. I’m learning him right now.”
While the addition of Senga, who did not play in either regular season series against the Dodgers in 2024, is a change for New York, the truth is the entire team has changed since they last saw the Dodgers.
The Mets are hoping it’s enough to win the series.
“These guys are playing really good baseball,” Roberts said. They’ve got a good thing going as well and we can’t let off the gas.”
