The Mets advanced to the first NLCS since 2006. “I’m anticipating a lot of what we’ve seen the last couple months”.
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Pitcher Jake Arrieta said, “I know in “Back to the Future” we win it in 2015, which is kind of insane, to say the least”. Chicago won six. New York won in 1994, when Michael Jordan played baseball instead of basketball.
Former Rays manager Joe Maddon working a few of his magic to lead the Cubs into the NLCS against the equally unlikely-to-be-there Mets is a pretty good story. After all, the Cubs are 7-0 against the Mets and were the only team that didn’t need to go five games in their division series.
Cubs: RH Hector Rondon (6-4, 1.67, 3 0/34 saves), RH Justin Grimm (3-5, 1.99, 3 saves), RH Pedro Strop (2-6, 2.91, 3 saves), LH Travis Wood (5-4, 3.84, 4 saves), RH Fernando Rodney (7-5, 4.74, 16 saves with Mariners and Cubs), RH Trevor Cahill (1-3, 5.40 with Braves and Cubs), LH Clayton Richard (4-2, 3.83). First, they have to make it by the Chicago Cubs, who beat the Mets in all seven of the regular season games the teams played against one another.
It’s not all that surprising that the Cubs won the simulation though as Fitz is clearly a big Cubs fan.
The Mets, too, will have continuity, and that will breed a new expectation here.
Maddon was the bench coach when Collins was the Angels’ manager in the late 1990s. Since then, New York has added Cespedes, Conforto, Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe, while d’Arnaud and Wright have returned from injuries…. In game three they hit a record six home runs from six different players which may seem incredible for other teams, but for this squad, it seems just like another day at the office. “I take zero stock in that whatsoever”.
Daniel Murphy gave Mets fans something to cheer about when he connected for a home run to right field in the third inning. With the city at a frenzied fever pitch, Chicago is trying to end a championship drought that dates to 1908.
Since the Cubs closed the NLDS on Tuesday, much has been written by Chicago media about how the win was the first time the franchise had ever clinched a postseason series in the city.
The Cubs visited New York for three more games from June 30 through July 2 and saw a similar roster.
The Mets will take on the Chicago Cubs at Citi Field Saturday night beginning at 8:07 p.m.
“I think the biggest thing that sold me, especially on not only these young guys, but the whole organization was just how arrogant he was about it – and I mean that in a good way”, Lester said. “We’re not going to utilize him”.
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One of the most quietly important performances of the Mets NLDS win over the Los Angeles Dodgers came in the first game of the series, when Jeurys Familia fired a four-out save – the sixth time this season that he’d done so, but answering a question about the 26-year-old closer’s ability to carry over his regular-season performance into his first postseason. It’s the Midwest versus East Coast. “But I think that the mental side of it and all the energy you burn leading up to the game does have a little bit of effect”.
