If you are reading this, after reading my Yankees ALDS preview, full disclosure I am not providing the same in-depth breakdown. If you didn't read my ALDS preview, here it is.
Please read that because I am behind on my mortgage and my kids are starving.
We have another spicy matchup between two rivals who definitely don’t like each other, stop me if you heard that before. As far as the Phillies are concerned, facing off with a divisional rival in the NLDS is old hat. They booted the Braves out of the postseason two seasons in a row as a Wild Card team and now they’ll be entering in as a divisional winner for a change.
On the other side, the Mets have been frisky, gay, and full of gimmicks, but it's worked for them. When I call the Mets gay, I mean the fun happy kind of gay, not the kind of gay that involves two men smooching (my mom's cousin is gay, he said I could say that). New York’s second-half surge (which may or may not have been fueled by a giant purple chicken nugget, or a southern bell who spits on that thang) culminated with a wild, hurricane-delayed doubleheader that took place on the final day of the season, one that saw them punch their ticket to Milwaukee with a dramatic win over the Braves. That Wild Card series ended up being a dramatic one as well, as it came down to the Mets being three outs away from elimination with Devin Williams on the mound.
Pete Alonso finally came to life and hit a massive three-run homer to silence the crowd in Milwaukee and eventually push the Mets to the NLDS for the first time since 2015.
I know ball.
They just adopted a Playoff Pumpkin. The spirit of Grimace is constantly floating around their presence.
They’ll now have the chance to knock off a Phillies team that has been looking forward to October since last October. Philadelphia exploded out of the gates at a furious pace and while they didn’t go wire-to-wire in the NL East, they were clearly the best team for the vast majority of the season.
Philadelphia will have their top arms set up very nicely for this series, as they’ll have Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez, and Ranger Suárez going in order. If this series ends up going five games, they’ll have Zack Wheeler going for a second game. The Phillies will have the pitching advantage in every game this series and this should be tough sledding for New York’s offense. In what seemed to be potentially a rebuilding year, and loss of hope early in the season for the Mets, they've found themselves in the NLDS, so you can't count them out.
New York Mets right-hander Kodai Senga will start Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies after missing the past two months with a calf injury. Senga, who is 31 and was the Mets' best pitcher last season, hasn't thrown since July 29, when he left his only outing of the season with a calf strain after 5⅓ innings. Shoulder and triceps injuries had sidelined Senga for the season's first four months. When the news broke Senga would be getting the game 1 start, it had fans turning up their speakers blasting OMG throughout Flushing.
For the Mets, it starts with MVP candidate Francisco Lindor and Alonso - with the impending free agent cementing his New York legacy with his dramatic home run against the Brewers.
They’ve both had their moments this past week and you can throw Brandon Nimmo into the mix as well as a spark plug that will have to be on his game for the Mets to advance. They all have solid career numbers against Wheeler.
For the Phillies, new closer Carlos Estevez had some shaky moments at the end of the year. The Phillies have confidence getting him the ball with a lead with set-up men Jeff Hoffman, Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering but Estevez will have to close the deal if he’s the guy in the ninth inning. It will be interesting to see who the Phillies go to in the ninth if they have the choice of Hoffman, Strahm or Estevez.
It's going to come down to the pitching and if the Mets have any fatigue. This will be the best series of either Division series match up. Phillies in 5. They also have the better hype song. Makes me want to text my high school ex gf and try to rekindle things.
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