NL Playoff Preview: Can The Mets Win It All?

After a long 2022 season, the National League playoffs are set to begin.

It is no surprise that the Los Angeles Dodgers have a bye, and so do the Atlanta Braves, who won 101 games, the same as the New York Mets, but they won the tiebreaker. There will be some upsets in these playoffs so let’s see where they are coming from. 

Will The Mets Starters Dominate in Flushing?  

The early season talk was Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer could be the 1-2 combination to beat if the Mets could make the playoffs. I was all in with that but not with winning it all. Why? Buck Showalter with a weird decision at crunch time like bringing in Tylor Megill in relief, for the first time against the Braves in a critical series. The Mets hitting is the issue and the team was 10-10 when their aces toed the rubber. Yu Darvish against Scherzer is a toss-up. Blake Snell, a lefty, could face deGrom. He had a no-hitter through seven vs. the Mets in June. Either Sean Manaea or Joe Musgrove goes in Game 3 if necessary. I can see them using Manaea because he’s a lefty and the Mets hit .246 against lefties compared to .265 against righties and the power drops off the table. If the Padres go with two lefties, they will win. If they use Musgrove, they will lose. Stay tuned.

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Phillies vs. Cardinals Is All About The Pitching

The Phillies are a good hitting ball club. The Cardinals are good as well. A bit better than the Phillies regarding OBP and runs batted in. The area where the Phillies could give the Phillies the edge is their pitching. If Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola bring their best stuff, they will win the series. Phillies manager Rob Thomson was threatening a right-handed opener for a possible game three because Albert Pujols, Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt are all righties plus a few other starters. Suarez is a lefty, and the Cardinals eat up lefties. The Cardinals have home field advantage. Cardinals in three.

Best Of Three Series Are Fluky

In 2020, none of the Wild Card teams advanced beyond the Division Series round. The Houston Astros beat the Oakland A’s 3-1 and the Los Angeles Dodgers swept the San Diego Padres 3-0. In 2021, we had the one-game playoff series. The Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers advanced in them. The Dodgers did win 3-2 over the San Francisco Giants and advanced to the Divisional Round. The Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays and did the same. The Braves beat the Dodgers and the Astros eliminated the Red Sox, So neither Wild Card team made it to the World Series. The bottom line for me is the best teams are the best teams and that’s why 162 games are the best way to see who those teams are.