Four games weren’t enough to decide who advances to the NLCS this year, as the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers persistently refuse to give in to one another. Hence, a fitting do-or-die Game 5 will be commencing this evening at Dodger Stadium. Who will emerge victorious and finally advance to next round?
Read on below for a full breakdown of this clash. And while you’re at it, check out as well our preview of the Thursday Night Football Game between the Falcons and Saints. Enjoy.
[sc:MLBArticles ]New York Mets vs. Los Angeles Dodgers Preview
Where: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA
When: Thursday, October 15, 8:05 PM ET
Line: New York Mets (+135) vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (-150); Total: 6.0—View all MLB Lines
Betting on the New York Mets
In front of their home crowd at MetLife Stadium, the New York Mets blew their best chance of capturing their first postseason series win since 2006. They barely got anything off Clayton Kershaw, who allowed just a single run and three hits through seven innings to lead the Dodgers to a 3-1 Game 4 win. But luckily, the Mets still have one more chance to win this series when they travel back to California for a Game 5.
[sc:MLB240banner ]Getting the nod for the Mets will none other than be their ace, Jacob deGrom (14-8, 2.54 ERA). The 27-year-old righty was absolutely outstanding during his Game 1 start, logging in seven scoreless innings for the eventual 3-1 triumph and became the first pitcher in franchise history to strike out 13 batters in a playoff game since Tom Seaver.
Moreover, deGrom’s has been sensational over his previous three turns as he’s only surrendered a total of one run and 10 hits in 17 innings of work. He’ll definitely be striving to keep this form up later this evening at Dodger Stadium, while carrying an 8-4 record with a 3.09 ERA, a 1.00 ERA and .219 opponents’ batting average across 15 road starts this year.
But needless to say, the Mets will need to provide the timely contributions on offense in order to get the win.
The onus will be on their best hitter, Daniel Murphy (.281), to light up the plate. Murphy has managed to at least get a hit in each of the first four games of the series and has fared really well opposite the Dodgers in his career, holding a triple-slash line of .317/.356/.446. He’s also been a huge headache to Zack Greinke, batting 4-for-13 lifetime opposite the righty.
New York is 7-3 in its past 10 games with deGrom starting.
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Betting on the Los Angeles Dodgers
Thanks to a remarkable performance from Clayton Kershaw in Game 4, the Los Angeles Dodgers managed to bring back the series to Dodger Stadium and force a winner-take-all Game 5 against the New York Mets tonight. This time, they’ll be putting their trust on Zack Greinke (19-3, 1.66 ERA) to lead them on the mound and help them advance to the NLCS.
Greinke, the majors’ ERA leader this season, will look to build on and improve on his solid Game 2 stint Saturday night, where he gave up two runs—solo homers—and five hits in in over seven innings to notch the victory. That wasn’t his usual dominant performance but was nonetheless good enough to extinguish the Mets.
The Cy Young hopeful seems to be also on track for a strong outing later. Greinke has been ridiculously better whenever he pitches at Dodger Stadium, as he owns a 10-1 win-loss mark with an unforgiving ERA of 1.46, a .81 WHIP and .186 opponents’ batting average throughout 17 starts.
As for the offense, expect the Dodgers to heavily lean on the hot batting of Adrian Gonzalez, who holds a team-best .275 batting average in the regular season, and Justin Turner.
Gonzalez is 5-for-16 with a homer and 5 RBIs under his belt in the series and is 3-for-18 in his career opposite Jacob deGrom. Turner, meanwhile, has been spectacular in the series as well, going 7-for-15 with four doubles and three RBIs. But he is 0-for-5 against the same matchup.
Los Angeles is 6-4 in their last 10 home games versus New York.
Writer’s Prediction:
The Dodgers (-150) win, 2-0, and move on to the NLCS versus the Cubs.
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