It’s a brand new NLCS, all tied up at one game a piece. Francisco Lindor ended the Dodgers 33 inning postseason scoreless streak with a leadoff home run on Monday. The Dodgers responded by intentionally walking Lindor in his next at bat to face Mark Vientos with the bases loaded. Vientos made them pay for that mistake with a grand slam and the Mets were able to hang on for a 7-3 win.
Citi Field now hosts it’s first NLCS game since 2015. Mets fans are ready to welcome the Mets home. It’s a five game series now with the Mets having home field advantage!
Luis Severino made 31 starts in the regular season, tossing 182 innings with a 3.91 ERA, 4.21 FIP, 1.242 WHIP and a 101 ERA+. He’s been solid in the postseason over his two starts, allowing exactly three earned runs over six innings. Both of his starts in the postseason have been on the road, tonight is his first home start. In 97 1/3 regular season innings at home he had a 2.96 ERA (compared to a 5.00 road ERA over 84 2/3 innings). The Dodgers have the following career numbers against Severino:
- Mookie Betts 11-34, 4 2B, HR, 6 BB, 7 K
- Tommy Edman 1-2
- Freddie Freeman 0-5, BB
- Enrique Kiké Hernández 1-7, 2B, 2 K
- Teoscar Hernández 2-11, 2B, HR, 6 K
- Kevin Kiermaier 3-28, 2 BB, 13 K
- Max Muncy 1-2, HR, K
- Shohei Ohtani 3-6, 2B, HR, 2 BB, K
- Will Smith 1-3
Walker Buehler is coming off of his third consecutive injury mired shortened season. Buehler pitched about a third of the 2022 season before having Tommy John surgery. He missed all of 2023 recovering and then missed about two months of 2024 recovering from a hip injury. Over 16 starts, 75 1/3 innings in 2024 he has a 5.38 ERA, 5.54 FIP, 1.553 WHIP and a 72 ERA+. He was starting to put things together in September where he had a 4.44 ERA over 26 1/3 innings. He is coming off of a rough start against the Padres in the NLDS where he allowed six runs over five innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against Buehler:
- Pete Alonso 5-14, 4 HR, K
- Harrison Bader 1-6, BB, K
- Jose Iglesias 4-10, 4 K
- Francisco Lindor 1-2, HR
- Starling Marte 2-6, 2 2B, BB, 2 K
- J.D. Martinez 0-3, 2 K
- Jeff McNeil 1-9, BB, 2 K
- Brandon Nimmo 2-10, 3B, 2 BB, K
- Tyrone Taylor 1-2, 2B
- Luis Torrens 0-3, K
- Jesse Winker 4-15, 2 HR, 2 K
Three Things To Watch For:
- Mark Vientos. Vientos had his first rough game of the postseason on Sunday, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. He responded with another two-hit game on Monday going 2-for-5 with a grand slam. He has multiple hits in six of the nine postseason games he’s played in with three home runs, 11 RBI’s and is slashing .378/.410/.676. He will not be doubted for the rest of this series.
- Lindor’s power is back. This postseason Lindor has hit three doubles and two home runs. Four of those five extra-base hits have come in his last four games, and that includes a game where he went 0-for-3 with a walk (NLCS game one). The Mets are 4-0 when Lindor has an extra-base hit (2-3 and when he doesn’t).
- Pete Alonso. Alonso has had a quiet start to NLCS hitting 1-for-7 with two walks (and a stolen base, whaaat?). From the end of wild card round to the third game of the NLDS, Alonso had three home runs over four games (including the biggest home run of his life). He has five hits against Walker Buehler lifetime, and four of them have been homeruns. Tonight would be a great time for the Polar Bear to flash some power.
Let’s Go Mets!
