LOS ANGELES—If the New York Mets have proven anything this year, it is their remarkable resilience.
“It’s been hard for us, the whole year, ups and downs, a lot of adversity,” first-year manager Carlos Mendoza said Monday at Dodger Stadium. “Not only do we have really good people, but they’re not afraid to call each other out when they need to and when they have to. We continue to find ways to get the job done.”
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They found a way Monday, bouncing back from what could have been a debilitating 9-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Sunday’s opener of the National League Championship Series. The Mets seemed undaunted and solved another Dodgers bullpen game, taking a 7-3, Game 2 win after jumping out to an early 6-0 lead. The NLCS now heads to New York for three games at Citi Field.
Once again the stars shined for the Mets. Francisco Lindor led off the game with a homer on the eighth pitch from opener Ryan Brasier, the first of five Dodger pitchers. That immediately snapped LA’s 33-inning shutout streak. When Lindor’s place came around again in the order the next inning against Landon Knack with runners on second and third, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts took no chances and walked him intentionally to load the bases.
Mark Vientos, the next man up, responded with a grand slam to blow open the game.
“They continue to believe,” Mendoza added about his club. “And they know that after a bad game, there’s always an opportunity the next day.”
It’s familiar stuff. Lindor’s ninth inning, two-run homer at Atlanta in the first game of a makeup doubleheader on the last day of the regular season put them in the playoffs. The Wild Card Mets defeated the NL East-winning Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 of their NL Division Series at Citi Field when Lindor hit a grand slam.
He’s earning every bit of the 10-year, $341 million contract owner Steve Cohen gave him just after buying the team in 2020. Lindor and the Mets are making a habit of bouncing back when least expected.
“We don’t stay in the past, which is something that’s helped us,” Lindor said. “Nobody’s really thinking about what could happen or what happened before. We’re just staying in the moment.”
With the series tied 1-1, it’ll be Walker Buehler for the Dodgers against Luis Severino for the Mets in New York on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the crosstown Yankees defeated the Cleveland Guardians 5-2 in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium Monday night, so the dream of the first Subway Series in 24 years is still very much alive.
While the Yankees entered this season with sky-high hopes, the Mets were supposed to be in a rebuilding year. They struggled at the start of the season and were 22-33 on May 29, but finished on a 63-35 tear. To secure a Wild Card berth, they had to win 20 of their final 29 games, a torrid pace.
That’s pressure, Lindor said, but he added, “Pressure is a blessing.”
Of course, the Mets are salaried like a group that should contend. At $350.3 million, they have the highest payroll in Major League Baseball, facing the No. 2 Dodgers at $340 million. The Yanks at $314.7 million are third.
The Mets aren’t like their brethren from the Bronx, who are trying win their 28th World Series, but first since 2009. That’s an eternity for the Yankees.
The Mets, meanwhile, have won it all in their history just twice, in 1969 and 1986. The other four teams in their own division have won the World Series at least once since the Mets did it the last time.
Against the Dodgers, they seem to have the edge in healthy starting pitching. They’ll have a strong arm to start each game in New York, while the Dodgers, with just three viable starters, will at some point have to rely on another bullpen-by-committee game.
That worked well against the San Diego Padres in Game 4 of the division series when eight relievers threw scoreless, seven-hit ball. “It’s all great when guys are throwing up zeroes,” Roberts said.
But that kind of game relies on the sum of its parts, and when a few fail, like Brasier and Knack, the entire strategy collapses.
The Mets took full advantage of that and face an interesting three games in New York.
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