Author: Rowan Kavner

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The faces in the crowd told the story. In the eighth inning Thursday night, many of the 43,882 fans at Citi Field found the exits. Those who remained were mostly staring straight ahead, stone-faced, seemingly in shock and disbelief, save for a moment when they offered a round of sarcastic cheers after their pitchers finally managed to retire Max Muncy. 

The New York Mets, who had demonstrated so much resiliency and fortitude to get to the National League Championship Series, endured another thorough beatdown at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who followed up an 8-0 shellacking in Queens in Game 3 with a 10-2 thrashing at the same venue in Game 4. 

Here are three takeaways as the Dodgers put the Mets on the brink and moved one win away from returning to the World Series for the first time since winning it all in 2020. 

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1. Has the Mets’ magic run out? 

The Mets’ unyielding nature is what got them here. They were 11 games under .500 on June 2. From that point on, no one in baseball was better. A McDonald’s mascot became a lasting image of an ascending squad and a changing vibe. As the team started winning, “OMG” became their anthem. They were not only good, they were fun.

Francisco Lindor ensured that aura would last into October with his game-winning homer that sent them to the playoffs on the final day of the regular season. When Pete Alonso followed in the wild-card series with the team down two runs, two outs away from elimination with a game-winning homer against one of the best closers in baseball, this seemed to be a team of destiny. 

Until they ran into the Dodgers, who have outscored them by 21 runs through four games. 

The Mets hit .265 with an .808 OPS with runners in scoring position during the regular season. In the NLCS, they’re hitting .138 with a .541 OPS and seven RBIs in those situations. The Dodgers, meanwhile, are batting .333 with a .942 OPS and 24 RBIs with runners in scoring position. 

In Game 4, the Mets had 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position and failed to record a hit in all of them. Their most flagrant offense came in the sixth inning, after Mookie Betts sent one of his four hits on the night out for a homer to increase the Dodgers’ lead to five. The Mets answered back in the bottom half of the frame by loading the bases with no outs. 

And then? 

Jose Iglesias struck out. Jeff McNeil sent a fly ball to center field that might have been deep enough to score Brandon Nimmo if not for the plantar fasciitis that has hobbled the Mets outfielder throughout the series. He did not even try to score. When Jesse Winker’s promising drive to right field died short of the warning track, it was all but over. 

At the start of September, the Mets’ odds to make the playoffs were just 29.6%. If they’re looking for some motivation, that percentage is not far off from the odds of winning an LCS with three elimination games to go. Teams that have gone up 3-1 have won 82% of the time. 

If the Mets can somehow find a way to dig out of the hole they’ve created here, it’ll be their greatest trick yet in a season that seemed magical until this point. 

2. The Mets’ biggest advantage has not played out. 

The tone for the series was set quickly when Jack Flaherty spun seven scoreless innings in the best start of his Dodgers tenure while Kodai Senga allowed as many runs (four) as outs recorded in Game 1. But considering Senga’s lack of innings this year, that was the one matchup that seemed to be in the Dodgers’ favor. The Mets were supposed to be the group with the starting pitching depth. 

Sean Manaea demonstrated as much in Game 2, carving through the opposing lineup as the Mets foiled the Dodgers’ bullpen game plans, ending Los Angeles pitchers’ streak of 33 consecutive scoreless innings and flipping all the momentum with the series going to New York. 

They had to feel good with Luis Severino and Jose Quintana going against Walker Buehler and Yoshinobu Yamamoto the next two nights. 

Then the Dodgers annihilated them in both matchups, walking four times against Severino in Game 3 and four more times against Quintana in Game 4 as a disciplined L.A. lineup forced both Mets starters out early. It was a tough assignment for Quintana, who lives for chase, against a team unwilling to leave the strike zone. 

Buehler and Yamamoto, meanwhile, combined to strike out 14 batters and allow two runs in 8.1 innings. 

RELATED: Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts make Dodgers look unbeatable: ‘You’re facing Hall of Famers’

The Mets hadn’t faced Yamamoto since April 19, when he allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings. He didn’t throw any sliders in that meeting. In Game 4, he switched it up, throwing 14 of them, which represented a season high. The Mets whiffed on half of their 10 swings against the pitch, which was responsible for four of Yamamoto’s eight strikeouts. 

It was that same pitch that Yamamoto used to flummox Yankees hitters the last time he was in New York, when he tossed seven scoreless innings on June 7 in a game many referenced before the playoffs as an example of his ability to thrive with the lights at their brightest. There was some thought that the increased usage of his slider, however, might have also contributed to the shoulder issue that sidelined him for three months not long after that start against the Yankees. But there’s no denying the effectiveness of the pitch and how it plays with the rest of his arsenal, and he clearly felt OK about it Thursday night. 

After Buehler got 18 swings and misses in Game 3 — his highest total of the season — Yamamoto followed with 16, his third-highest total of the year, in just 4.1 innings of work. That’s all the Dodgers needed before turning the game over to their pen, where they hold the clear advantage. 

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza elected to save David Peterson despite Quintana’s struggles Thursday. Now, with their season on the line, that’s who they’ll turn to in a do-or-die Game 5, perhaps with less of a leash than Mendoza was willing to grant Quintana as his night unraveled Thursday. 

3. The Dodgers’ MVPs thrived. But there’s much more to this unrelenting lineup. 

With one former MVP out of the lineup, two more took starring roles. With the Dodgers giving Freddie Freeman a night off to rest his injured ankle, the rest of the Dodgers’ lineup picked up the slack.

“There was no excuse,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We were expecting to win this game tonight.”

It started from the top. Shohei Ohtani and Betts each reached base four times, with both going deep and the latter finishing a triple short of the cycle. 

Ohtani entered the night 17-for-20 dating back to the end of the regular season with runners in scoring position, a record in the live-ball era. Strangely, it was a far different story with no one on base. He was 0-for-22 with the bases empty entering Thursday, when he immediately ended the peculiar skid by crushing a Quintana sinker 117.8 mph off the bat for a 422-foot home on the second pitch of the game. 

He got on base three more times via walk, which meant pitching to another MVP, who often made them pay. Betts went 4-for-6 with 4 RBIs, bringing Ohtani home with a double in the fourth and a homer in the sixth. 

There was nowhere for Mets’ pitchers to rest. Tommy Edman had two hits and knocked in three runs, October legend Kiké Hernández added two more hits and Muncy reached base each of his first four times up, running his on-base streak to an MLB postseason record 12 straight plate appearances before striking out in the eighth. 

“I wasn’t even aware of that,” Muncy told FOX Sports’ Tom Verducci after the game. “That’s pretty cool. The biggest thing, to me, is that means I’m getting on base for my teammates.” 

Up and down the lineup, the Dodgers have worked the Mets pitchers. 

After walking five times in a Game 1 win in the NLDS, the Padres stopped gifting the Dodgers free passes, issuing no more than three walks in a game in any subsequent matchup. Against the Mets, the Dodgers have walked at least seven times every game. At the time of Betts’ two-run double in the fourth inning, all four of their run-scoring hits had come with hitters ahead in the count. 

The Dodgers have 16 hits and 24 RBIs with runners in scoring position in the NLCS. The other three teams in the LCS have combined for 11 hits and 20 RBIs with runners in scoring position. 

“Right now, I’m still kind of enjoying it a little bit, but I’m already thinking about Peterson tomorrow,” Roberts said. “Yeah, we’ve still got some work to do.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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In a billion-dollar Dodgers offseason, a one-year, $4 million move is making all the difference. 

It wasn’t until weeks into spring training that the Dodgers brought back Kiké Hernández, but they did it with this time of year in mind. Now, the career .238 hitter is once again morphing into an October sensation. 

After homering in the winner-take-all Game 5 of the National League Division Series against the Padres, Hernández added to his growing list of postseason heroics with another home run Wednesday night in Game 3 in Queens. In an 8-0 trouncing of the Mets that put the Dodgers back ahead in the NLCS, manager Dave Roberts called Hernández’s blast — the 15th postseason home run of his career — the biggest hit of the game. 

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“This guy always rises to the occasion,” Roberts said before the series. “The reason we got him this year was to win 11 games in October.”

Every night before playoff games, Hernández practices visualization. As he’s going to sleep, he envisions every situation he can think of that might come up the following day, and he imagines himself succeeding. 

It’s a practice he began after a couple postseason failures. 

In the decisive Game 5 of the 2015 NLDS, Hernández went hitless and grounded into a double play in a one-run loss. The following year, he walked three times in the NLCS against the Cubs but went hitless in his eight at-bats as the Dodgers lost in six games. 

So, the following year, facing the same team, he decided to switch gears. 

Entering Game 5 of the 2017 NLCS, he was 6-for-29 with one extra-base hit in his postseason career. It was a tumultuous time in his life personally, having just lost his grandfather and watched Hurricane Maria wreak havoc on his native Puerto Rico. 

And yet, through the chaos, the visualization techniques began. 

“I was like, I’m tired of feeling, ‘What if?'” Hernández recalled. 

He thought about not only delivering in the biggest moments but also how he would answer questions after putting the team into the World Series. Less than 24 hours later, he did just that. Hernández launched three home runs and knocked in an LCS-record seven of the Dodgers’ 11 runs in a rout at Wrigley Field. 

“And I haven’t looked back since then,” Hernández said earlier this postseason. “You’ve just got to understand that there’s only two ways it can go: You can either have success or you can fail. You just can’t be afraid of failure. And you’ve just gotta want the moment, gotta want the at-bat.”

With that, his October legend began. 

He has now launched 15 home runs in his past 62 playoff games, tied with Babe Ruth and Jayson Werth for the 18th most in postseason history.

Of the 20 players with at least 15 postseason homers, Hernández’s 13.33 at-bats per home run trail only Nelson Cruz, Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Mickey Mantle for the best mark in postseason history. He’s hitting a home run more than twice as often in the playoffs as he does in the regular season (once every roughly 29 at-bats). 

With each standout swing, his visualization techniques help him quell any anxiety he might be feeling. 

“You just find a way, whatever it is that you’ve got to find so that when the moment shows up, when the big moment shows up and you step up to the plate or whatever it is, you don’t let the moment get too big,” Hernández said. 

After six years with the Dodgers, Hernández sought an everyday opportunity in Boston. In the 2021 postseason, Hernández homered in Games 2 and 3 of the ALDS with the Red Sox. Then he homered three times in the first two games of the ALCS. Though the Red Sox lost in six games to the Astros, Hernández finished the 2021 postseason hitting 20-for-49 with 10 extra-base hits. 

“I feel confidence is a choice,” Hernández said. “It’s a thought. It’s a feeling. If you can find your way to feel differently about that, everything is going to change, your body language is going to change and good things — when you carry yourself with good body language, confident body language, confident energy — more times than not, good things tend to happen.”

Last year, Hernández returned to the Dodgers at the trade deadline. He was close to a league-average hitter in the second half, which represented a  jump from his struggles of the first half in Boston. This spring, he was still a free agent when the Dodgers sent Manuel Margot, who was acquired two months prior in their trade for Tyler Glasnow, to Minnesota. A reunion with a super utility player with a penchant for postseason production made sense. 

Hernández’s playoff success with the Dodgers continued into 2024. 

But the first half was again a slog for Hernández, who entered the break hitting .191. Around that time, he found a remedy. Hernández learned he had astigmatism in his right eye and began wearing prescription glasses on the field for the first time. He caught fire in the second half, slashing .274/.307/.458 after the break. 

Still, on a deep Dodgers roster, he had only two at-bats through the first three games of the NLDS. He did not get his first start this postseason until Game 4, when shortstop Miguel Rojas was too injured to continue. Before the game, with the Dodgers facing elimination, Hernández delivered a message to the team that would serve as a rallying cry. 

The gist?

“F— them all,” Max Muncy explained succinctly. 

Added Gavin Lux: “Kiké has the best mentality when it comes to playoffs, and I think everybody kinda feeds off his energy. I absolutely feed off of it.” 

In his first start of the NLDS, Hernández recorded two hits in an elimination game. He has started every game since. The Dodgers are outscoring their opponents 30-7 in games that Hernández has started this postseason. 

His career regular-season OPS is .654; in the postseason, it’s now over .900. 

“The fact that I’ve had a pretty good track record in October, I can’t help but [have it] bring me confidence,” he said after Wednesday’s win. “And it just makes you believe that you take your game to another level.”

At the time of Hernández’s 378-foot shot on the sixth pitch of his sixth-inning at-bat against Mets reliever Reed Garrett, Game 3 of the NLCS was still up for grabs. The Dodgers led by two runs with the bullpens set to decide the matchup the rest of the way. 

As it has gone so often this October for the Dodgers’ relievers, that played in their favor. Hernández’s two-run homer gave them some breathing room, doubling the lead. 

It wasn’t quite the same as his homer in Game 5 of the 2017 NLCS, when he began to earn his reputation, or the one from Game 7 of the 2020 NLCS, when he helped spark a trip to the World Series with a game-tying sixth-inning blast. But it once again was a difference-maker for a group of Dodgers players hoping to bring another title to Los Angeles. 

This time, there’s an added incentive for Hernández and his teammates, who want to celebrate a championship with their fans the way they couldn’t after their pandemic-shortened 2020 success. 

“If there’s something that this crowd is, it’s hungry,” Hernández said. “They want a championship. … We know how bad they want it.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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As the National League Championship Series shifts to New York, so does MLB on FOX analyst John Smoltz, who’ll be in Queens to continue covering an even series between the Dodgers and Mets.

Before Game 3, the Hall of Fame pitcher shared his thoughts on a Dodgers Game 2 bullpen game that unraveled on them, what makes Sean Manaea and Game 3 starter Luis Severino so productive this year, whether he’d move Shohei Ohtani out of the leadoff spot, if he thinks certain players are built specifically for October, what’s impressed him most through two games and more.

Kavner: Through two games, who do you think has the upper hand right now between the Dodgers and the Mets? 

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Smoltz: The advantage, for sure, goes to the Mets and the starting pitching. That’s kind of an obvious, just because of what the Dodgers don’t have. But it all comes down to, this series and the past series, especially with the Dodgers, a lot of it has been determined through four innings. And if you think about baseball being played in the regular season, that was never the case. You would be a little more patient. I think the Dodgers are in a position now to really use leverage guys if they are up early, and they won’t wait around to get anybody in trouble. 

Now, what happened in Game 2 was not the protocol they were hoping for. But you think about what both teams did, it wasn’t really a typical starter for either team. Game 1 for the Mets, you could say they used a starter, but he wasn’t going to go more than two or three innings. He didn’t have it. The game got out of hand. For the Dodgers, I think the fact that the way they were going to have to use their bullpen, if the score was different, maybe they use higher leverage guys in situations that they didn’t use because the score got out of hand. So, you’re really seeing managerial decisions based on the early — or lack thereof — execution by both clubs. 

Kavner: It seemed like Dave Roberts had been pushing all the right buttons in terms of pitching matchups this postseason. Did you like the decision to go with a bullpen game for Game 2, and were you surprised that the Dodgers saved their best arms once they fell behind? 

Smoltz: I think I was surprised a little bit by the order. If they would’ve lost Game 1, I think the order would’ve changed, and I don’t think you would have seen that scenario play out. Now, you’re hoping Landon Knack does his thing. He didn’t, and the grand slam broke the game open. That changed the whole narrative of how and who he used after that. So, I think that they didn’t have the full resources. Of course, they’ve lost Alex Vesia, which hurts, and they probably didn’t have a couple of guys that weren’t ready based on using them the day before. 

So, that’s the problem the Dodgers face. Now you have three games in a row where they have to use their leverage guys, and they’re hoping to use them in winning situations, and not just to keep it close. That’s the nightmare for the Dodgers. Now, on the flip side, their offense can take care of a lot of things if they do their thing, but the Mets are going to have something to say about that with Luis Severino, Jose Quintana. They got their guys ready to go to battle a totally different strategic game than what the Dodgers are going to be playing. 

Kavner: We at least know the starters for the next two games: Walker Buehler versus Luis Severino and Yoshinobu Yamamoto versus Jose Quintana. When looking at those two matchups specifically, who do you think has the advantage? 

Smoltz: What the Mets have been able to do is show that they were a pretty darn good starting staff in the second half. They stayed healthy; they got it done; they’ve got guys on a roll. You know, the postseason is a different monster. You still got to be able to go out and execute your pitches. And I think with Severino, he’s one of the most dynamic arms in all of baseball. When he’s healthy, he could do some pretty incredible things. He has every weapon to get any hitter out. And I think for the Mets, they’re going to rely heavily on that, and they’re going to rely on the calm, cool, left-handed, not-throwing-hard pitcher in Jose Quintana. I think he’s an under-the-radar-pitcher that nobody really pays attention to until he goes to a streak that he’s been through in this year. 

On the flip side, the Dodgers are going to have two pitchers that when they’re healthy, they’re equally as dominant as these two pitchers we’re talking about. Buehler, now on the second time having Tommy John, he’s just a tick off, and we saw what Yamamoto can do when he’s healthy. Now, the challenge is going to be, do they pitch him at a rest that’s not typically the normal rest that he is used to? I think they have to, and I think that this last game gives them confidence in what he’s able to do. 

Kavner: We saw Sean Manaea carve through the Dodgers lineup with his lowered arm slot. Is it that simple, as far as what makes him such a difficult matchup right now? Does another Mets starter pose as great of a threat?

Smoltz: I think the biggest thing for Manaea, my goodness, he’s got that fastball that hitters just don’t see because the arm angle throws across his body. Now, what Severino does, he has three different fastballs. He’s got the two-seamer, the fastball, the four-seamer, and then the cutter. And I think the ability to manipulate the baseball on both lanes and both sides of the plate is what makes him so difficult. And if he stays out of the middle, then he’s going to be a tough, tough out. And I think that’s the one dynamic when he first broke into the league, 98 mph fastball that has two different movements to it. Man, that is such a luxury, and he’s showing, when he’s healthy, what kind of pitcher he can be. 

Kavner: In light of Shohei Ohtani‘s dramatic splits with runners in scoring position compared to when no one is on, would you consider moving him down in the lineup or keep him in the leadoff spot? 

Smoltz: You got to keep him there just because of the threat. When he gets on base with nobody on, he’s going to be an absolute beast. We haven’t seen the running game because he’s always hitting with people in scoring position when he’s doing his damage. So, yeah, you leave him there. You know that this is just a numerical oddity, and you think it’s going to turn and when it does turn, it will certainly bode well for the Dodgers.

Kavner: Sticking with some numerical oddities, I know we’ve seen some guys who seem to thrive this time of year while others who might be superstars struggle. Do you think there are certain players who are built for October, or is that just a year-to-year, small-sample deal that will always fluctuate? 

Smoltz: I know everybody that is in the business of stats wants to put an absolute on things. You can’t do that when it comes to the postseason. There are guys whose heartbeat, whose mind, whose concentration goes to the next level, that just doesn’t do so in the regular season. And some people say that when you float the regular season, you kind of go through the long battle, then, all of a sudden, you get in a lockdown and think about things differently. And so, there is such a thing as clutch. I know that’s a hard thing to quantify for people, but there is such a thing. And guys are built differently. 

The guys who are kind of more ADD, that seems to lock them in the postseason versus the entirety of a season. It’s just a hyper focus, and then there’s a heartbeat, and a heartbeat gets faster when there’s pressure and there are games that matter a little bit more, and you’re asked questions. You’ve got to be able to handle the narratives of all the things that come with the postseason that aren’t rightfully fair. You just have to learn how to deal with that and be in the moment, present, and not afraid to fail. You would be shocked how many people are afraid to fail because of the notoriety. Everyone wants to be known for something great. They don’t want to be known for something bad, like, “How could you make that play? How could you drop that ball? How did you strike out five times in a row?” 

Those are the things that get magnified. So, 100 percent, there are guys who historically can come up big that normally, maybe in the regular season, they’re just kind of average. And I think that’s the human nature, and that’s the beauty of the postseason that everyone wants to quantify, but can’t really grasp. How does that happen? 

Kavner: Finally, I know we’re excited to see what could be a lengthy series. But through two games, has anything in particular surprised or impressed you from either side?

Smoltz: The Dodgers’ ability to respond. All the pressure in the world’s on them. If I’m the Mets, I’m going to keep putting as much pressure on them. But the thing that has surprised me is not that the Dodgers are built differently, but this attitude, like, we know that all the pressure’s on us, but we’re going to find a way to win. That’s not a Dodger model that was in spring training. The Dodger model was, “We are better than you. We’re built better than you. We got stars, we got studs, and we’re going to roll.” They put together an incredible team, and I think it’s an interesting dynamic now, going all the way back to Game 4 against the Padres, where there were so many stories being ready to be written that had to be thrown away. 

And so there’s a little bit of that attitude that I know Dave Roberts likes, and you match that with the unprecedented, unexplainable New York Mets‘ journey, where they’re sitting there with their chest out going, “You know what, nothing’s going to bother us. We’ve already been through the car washing.” I know that’s an intangible, but I think it’s something that you wouldn’t associate with the Dodgers, fair or not, because of their roster and their payroll. It’s not part of their DNA. It’s like, they’re just better, and now they’re having to deal with things that other teams are going, “Yeah, see, guess what? We got to deal with that, but we don’t have the reserves and the quantity. Good luck doing that.” 

I’m interested in that mindset of how they come out in Game 3. What do they do if they fall behind? And we’ve seen a special sauce that both teams have in different routes, different ways to get it done.

John Smoltz, a first-ballot Baseball Hall of Famer, eight-time All-Star and National League Cy Young Award winner, is FOX MLB’s lead game analyst. In addition to calling the network’s marquee regular-season games, Smoltz is in the booth for the All-Star Game and a full slate of postseason matchups which include Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series assignments.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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LOS ANGELES — After the Dodgers intentionally walked Francisco Lindor in the second inning Monday afternoon, the 24-year-old hitting behind the Mets‘ MVP candidate looked perplexed. Mark Vientos raised his sunglasses and tipped his head to the side, almost in disbelief that they wanted to pitch to him. 

“I took it personal,” Vientos said after launching the second grand slam of the Mets’ postseason in a 7-3 win that evened the National League Championship Series at one game apiece. 

If the Dodgers didn’t know much earlier this year about the Mets third baseman, who was 10 games into his 2024 season the last time these teams faced off in the regular season, they do now.

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“I mean, I want to be up there during that at-bat,” Vientos continued. “I want them to walk Lindor in that situation, put me up there.” 

Vientos, now a fixture hitting near the top of the Mets’ lineup, wasn’t even the likeliest 24-year-old to earn his team’s job at the hot corner this year. The 2017 second-round pick’s season began at Syracuse, and he sported a .610 OPS over parts of two big-league seasons entering this year. 

But this version of Vientos, who made the Dodgers pay for the free pass, is not like previous iterations. 

“My man’s got a lot of confidence in himself,” Sean Manaea said. “I love that.”

Why wouldn’t he? 

On Monday, Vientos’ blast gifted the Mets starter an early 6-0 lead that provided plenty of cushion during his five innings of work. 

“Ever since he got here,” Manaea continued, “he’s been doing some crazy things.” 

When the season began, Brett Baty was the Mets’ starting third baseman. But the former top prospect’s struggles out of the gate opened a door, and Vientos, who was recalled on May 15, stepped through with a giant leap. By the time Baty was optioned on May 31, it was clear the full-time third-base job belonged to Vientos, who never looked back. 

While his name might not hold the same weight or prestige as perennial third base sensations like Manny Machado or Alex Bregman, Vientos finished the season with a higher wRC+ than both of them. In fact, among MLB third basemen with at least 400 plate appearances this season, the only ones with a higher OPS than Vientos were José Ramírez and Rafael Devers. 

“The power is real,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. 

It is not a coincidence that his ascension coincided with his team’s. 

From Vientos’ call-up through the end of the year, New York was one of three teams to compile 70 wins. His steady rise both in production and the Mets’ lineup — he went from hitting in the bottom half of the order in June to behind Lindor in September — helped turn around a team that was 11 games under .500 in early June. 

In regular-season games Vientos started this year, the Mets were 61-44. In games he didn’t, they were 28-29. 

“He’s embracing every opportunity and enjoying the ride,” Lindor said. “There’s one thing that Mark doesn’t lack, that’s confidence.”

Lindor is the only Mets player worth more WAR than Vientos. They both had exactly 26 home runs from the time Vientos was promoted in mid-May through the end of the year.  

Now, they’ve both come up huge through the team’s magical October run. 

For Lindor, there was the game-winning ninth-inning homer he launched against the rival Braves to get them into the playoffs and the go-ahead grand slam in Philadelphia that would send the Mets through the NLDS to face the Dodgers. 

When the Mets seemed to forget who they were in Game 1 at Dodger Stadium, getting blanked for the first time this postseason and looking uncompetitive in the process, Lindor got them back on business hours in Monday’s matinee with a leadoff home run that ended the Dodgers’ postseason record-tying streak of consecutive scoreless innings at 33. 

So, you can’t blame them for giving Lindor a free base with two on, two out and a bullpen game threatening to get out of hand quickly. 

Unless, of course, you’re Vientos.

“They would rather take a chance on me than him,” Vientos said. “But I use it as motivation. I’m like, ‘All right, you want me up, I’m going to show you.'”

In a postseason field filled with decorated stars, that self-belief is helping a less-heralded Met stand out. 

In the Mets’ first game of the playoffs, it was Vientos’ single off Aaron Ashby in the fifth inning that broke a tie and ended up being the deciding hit. 

In their first game of the NLDS, Vientos’ game-tying single in the eighth inning sparked a five-run frame in a comeback win.

In Game 2 of the NLDS, Vientos became the third-youngest player to record 10 total bases in a playoff game. 

On Monday, he became the youngest player to hit a grand slam in LCS history. Vientos would add a single in his next at-bat for his sixth multi-hit game in nine postseason appearances. 

He now leads all players this October in hits and RBIs. 

“He’s very confident,” Lindor repeated. “He’s a player who believes in himself. He doesn’t back down.”

Despite the self-assuredness and swagger, Vientos has still demonstrated preternatural poise to consistently deliver when presented opportunities. 

On his grand slam, Vientos said he wasn’t thinking about going deep. But when Landon Knack lofted a four-seamer right down the middle on the ninth pitch of the at-bat? 

“Yeah,” Vientos said, “I wasn’t going to miss it.” 

As he has done to opponents so often this month, and throughout a 2024 season that has solidified his place as the third baseman of the future in New York, Vientos delivered. 

While his 391-foot drive would have been a flyout at Citi Field and 23 other major-league ballparks, all that mattered was at Dodger Stadium, it kept going, and going and going … until it dropped over the wall in right-center field, lifting a Mets team that had found its form again and dismantling the Dodgers’ hopes early in a bullpen game. 

“You didn’t see a big swing,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It was, let me put it in play, let me stay in the big part of the ballpark, and he was able to drive that one. You see the next at-bat against a lefty, just going the other way with ease and just shoot the ball the other way. That’s a sign of not only a good hitter but someone that is mature and is under control.”

The Mets have demonstrated all year they’re not going to fold. 

In Game 2, after their worst loss of the postseason, they punched back behind their MVP candidate and the 24-year-old behind him who’s playing like one. 

“That’s who he is,” Lindor said. “I’m glad he took it personal. He’s got to continue to climb.” 

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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LOS ANGELES — After the Dodgers intentionally walked Francisco Lindor in the second inning Monday afternoon, the 24-year-old hitting behind the Mets‘ MVP candidate looked perplexed. Mark Vientos raised his sunglasses and tipped his head to the side, almost in disbelief that they wanted to pitch to him. 

“I took it personal,” Vientos said after launching the second grand slam of the Mets’ postseason in a 7-3 win that evened the National League Championship Series at one game apiece. 

If the Dodgers didn’t know much earlier this year about the Mets third baseman, who was 10 games into his 2024 season the last time these teams faced off in the regular season, they do now.

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“I mean, I want to be up there during that at-bat,” Vientos continued. “I want them to walk Lindor in that situation, put me up there.” 

Vientos, now a fixture hitting near the top of the Mets’ lineup, wasn’t even the likeliest 24-year-old to earn his team’s job at the hot corner this year. The 2017 second-round pick’s season began at Syracuse, and he sported a .610 OPS over parts of two big-league seasons entering this year. 

But this version of Vientos, who made the Dodgers pay for the free pass, is not like previous iterations. 

“My man’s got a lot of confidence in himself,” Sean Manaea said. “I love that.”

Why wouldn’t he? 

On Monday, Vientos’ blast gifted the Mets starter an early 6-0 lead that provided plenty of cushion during his five innings of work. 

“Ever since he got here,” Manaea continued, “he’s been doing some crazy things.” 

When the season began, Brett Baty was the Mets’ starting third baseman. But the former top prospect’s struggles out of the gate opened a door, and Vientos, who was recalled on May 15, stepped through with a giant leap. By the time Baty was optioned on May 31, it was clear the full-time third-base job belonged to Vientos, who never looked back. 

While his name might not hold the same weight or prestige as perennial third base sensations like Manny Machado or Alex Bregman, Vientos finished the season with a higher wRC+ than both of them. In fact, among MLB third basemen with at least 400 plate appearances this season, the only ones with a higher OPS than Vientos were José Ramírez and Rafael Devers. 

“The power is real,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. 

It is not a coincidence that his ascension coincided with his team’s. 

From Vientos’ call-up through the end of the year, New York was one of three teams to compile 70 wins. His steady rise both in production and the Mets’ lineup — he went from hitting in the bottom half of the order in June to behind Lindor in September — helped turn around a team that was 11 games under .500 in early June. 

In regular-season games Vientos started this year, the Mets were 61-44. In games he didn’t, they were 28-29. 

“He’s embracing every opportunity and enjoying the ride,” Lindor said. “There’s one thing that Mark doesn’t lack, that’s confidence.”

Lindor is the only Mets player worth more WAR than Vientos. They both had exactly 26 home runs from the time Vientos was promoted in mid-May through the end of the year.  

Now, they’ve both come up huge through the team’s magical October run. 

For Lindor, there was the game-winning ninth-inning homer he launched against the rival Braves to get them into the playoffs and the go-ahead grand slam in Philadelphia that would send the Mets through the NLDS to face the Dodgers. 

When the Mets seemed to forget who they were in Game 1 at Dodger Stadium, getting blanked for the first time this postseason and looking uncompetitive in the process, Lindor got them back on business hours in Monday’s matinee with a leadoff home run that ended the Dodgers’ postseason record-tying streak of consecutive scoreless innings at 33. 

So, you can’t blame them for giving Lindor a free base with two on, two out and a bullpen game threatening to get out of hand quickly. 

Unless, of course, you’re Vientos.

“They would rather take a chance on me than him,” Vientos said. “But I use it as motivation. I’m like, ‘All right, you want me up, I’m going to show you.'”

In a postseason field filled with decorated stars, that self-belief is helping a less-heralded Met stand out. 

In the Mets’ first game of the playoffs, it was Vientos’ single off Aaron Ashby in the fifth inning that broke a tie and ended up being the deciding hit. 

In their first game of the NLDS, Vientos’ game-tying single in the eighth inning sparked a five-run frame in a comeback win.

In Game 2 of the NLDS, Vientos became the third-youngest player to record 10 total bases in a playoff game. 

On Monday, he became the youngest player to hit a grand slam in LCS history. Vientos would add a single in his next at-bat for his sixth multi-hit game in nine postseason appearances. 

He now leads all players this October in hits and RBIs. 

“He’s very confident,” Lindor repeated. “He’s a player who believes in himself. He doesn’t back down.”

Despite the self-assuredness and swagger, Vientos has still demonstrated preternatural poise to consistently deliver when presented opportunities. 

On his grand slam, Vientos said he wasn’t thinking about going deep. But when Landon Knack lofted a four-seamer right down the middle on the ninth pitch of the at-bat? 

“Yeah,” Vientos said, “I wasn’t going to miss it.” 

As he has done to opponents so often this month, and throughout a 2024 season that has solidified his place as the third baseman of the future in New York, Vientos delivered. 

While his 391-foot drive would have been a flyout at Citi Field and 23 other major-league ballparks, all that mattered was at Dodger Stadium, it kept going, and going and going … until it dropped over the wall in right-center field, lifting a Mets team that had found its form again and dismantling the Dodgers’ hopes early in a bullpen game. 

“You didn’t see a big swing,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It was, let me put it in play, let me stay in the big part of the ballpark, and he was able to drive that one. You see the next at-bat against a lefty, just going the other way with ease and just shoot the ball the other way. That’s a sign of not only a good hitter but someone that is mature and is under control.”

The Mets have demonstrated all year they’re not going to fold. 

In Game 2, after their worst loss of the postseason, they punched back behind their MVP candidate and the 24-year-old behind him who’s playing like one. 

“That’s who he is,” Lindor said. “I’m glad he took it personal. He’s got to continue to climb.” 

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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LOS ANGELES — Before Jack Flaherty took the mound Sunday night, he noticed his mom taking her seat behind home plate. In the crowd, a group of his lifelong friends from Sherman Oaks Little League offered their support. 

Entering his second playoff start with his childhood team, he felt at ease. 

Eleven years after the Harvard-Westlake junior fired seven scoreless innings in the Southern Section Division I championship game at Dodger Stadium, the local product was back on the same mound, doing the same thing, only with considerably different stakes and circumstances. 

Instead of delivering his high school team a championship, Flaherty was orchestrating the most consequential victory of his eight-year big-league career with seven shutout frames in the Dodgers‘ 9-0 victory to begin the National League Championship Series against the Mets. 

“I’m sure every single one of us has done it and put ourselves in the scenario,” Flaherty said. “It’s the same thing, same game. You’ve just got to look at it as fun and try not to make things bigger than they are, not let your imagination get in the way.”

Flaherty’s Game 1 gem put the Dodgers in the driver’s seat of the series, ensuring there wouldn’t be an emotional letdown coming off a spirited series against the rival Padres in which the Dodgers staved off elimination twice. It also etched his team in the record books. 

Sunday’s victory ran the Dodger pitching staff’s consecutive scoreless innings streak to 33, tied with the 1966 Orioles for the most in MLB postseason history. 

Just as important, it allowed manager Dave Roberts to save his arms. 

Given their lack of starting pitching options, the Dodgers will need to use bullpen games at some point. In a seven-game series, that can be especially taxing. 

Because of Flaherty’s work, the Dodgers can now confidently deploy their highest-leverage relievers in a Game 2 bullpen game Monday afternoon. With an off day Tuesday, their relievers can then reset, with Walker Buehler and Yoshinobu Yamamoto well-rested for Games 3 and 4 in New York. 

“Incredible,” Dodgers reliever Michael Kopech said. “We know we’re going to be relied on heavily down there in the bullpen. We don’t know exactly when that is or how it’s going to be, but we know there’s games we’re going to have to cover some innings. For him to go out there and dominate Game 1, and to only use two other arms, there’s not really words for it.”

The past two years, the Dodgers have been uncharacteristically deprived of starting pitching in October. It doomed them in 2023. This year, the pitching staff has made it work. 

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In a do-or-die Game 4 in San Diego, it was eight relievers who cobbled together a shutout. The bullpen was crucial again in the deciding Game 5, following Yamamoto’s five scoreless innings with four more spotless frames. 

But at some point, especially in a seven-game series, the Dodgers needed length from a starter. Their prized deadline acquisition delivered. 

“This is certainly a childhood dream for him and his family,” Roberts said. “You just feel that he can handle this market, handle pitching in a playoff game, starting a playoff game.” 

In the hours and days leading up to the trade deadline, the Dodgers had some back-and-forth with Detroit about Flaherty before moving on to other fronts, thinking the Tigers would go in a different direction. With less than an hour to go, Detroit got back to the Los Angeles front office. The Dodgers got the frontline starter they coveted. 

At that point, they figured Flaherty would be additive to their postseason rotation. Instead, with Tyler Glasnow and Gavin Stone out for the year, he has become essential. 

Prior to Flaherty’s masterpiece, the Dodgers had not gotten even six innings from a starting pitcher in their previous 20 playoff games. The last one to do it was Max Scherzer in Game 3 of the 2021 NLDS. That year, the Dodgers also staved off elimination against a division foe by winning back-to-back do-or-die games in the NLDS to advance. But they had also exhausted all their energy battling back. They followed by dropping the first two games of the NLCS to the Braves.

On Sunday, Flaherty’s pristine work provided a more auspicious start to the NLCS, fulfilling a childhood dream in the process. 

“I usually have been able to keep it together no matter what, even if it’s the end of an outing,” Flaherty said.

This time, with 53,503 fans from his favorite childhood team giving him a standing ovation?

“Yeah,” Flaherty admitted, “it’s hard not to smile there.” 

If he was trying to stay grounded for his second playoff start with the Dodgers on Sunday, the familiar sights in the crowd helped. 

Flaherty grew up going to Dodgers games, sitting in the reserve level with his mother, Eileen. In 2015, then in pro ball in the Cardinals’ system, the first-round pick got back to Dodger Stadium to see the NLDS with his little brother. He was there when Chase Utley fractured Ruben Tejada’s leg on a hard slide, and he was there the night prior, when Jacob deGrom fired seven scoreless innings. 

Nine years later, Flaherty delivered the same type of performance. 

Max Muncy spotted him an early lead with a two-run double in the first inning, bringing a hobbled Freddie Freeman home from second base. The first baseman had a smile on his face as he touched home plate with his good foot. Sliding can create problems for his sprained right ankle, and so can stopping abruptly, so instead, he ran into the arms of a waiting Mookie Betts to slow his speed. 

The Dodgers continued to pile on with a Shohei Ohtani RBI single in the second. They jumped all over Kodai Senga, who had no control. By the time they tacked on three more in the fourth inning, it was a rout. 

Flaherty thought he had tried to do too much the past couple of times out. In front of friends and family, he felt relaxed. His defense was flawless behind him. The Mets mustered just four baserunners against him and did not help themselves when they got their few chances. Their best came at the start of the fifth inning, when they got two singles off Flaherty to start the frame only for Jesse Winker to run into an out at third base. 

Flaherty then retired the last eight batters he faced.  The Dodgers have now outscored their opponents 23-0 since the Padres plated six runs against them in Game 3 of the NLDS. 

“It was just a pitching clinic,” Roberts said. 

On Flaherty’s walk back to the dugout after his 98 pitches, Ohtani waited to slap his hand from the top step. Roberts gave the pitcher a hug. So did one of his childhood idols. 

That game Flaherty attended in 2015, when deGrom threw seven shutout innings? It came against Clayton Kershaw, who struck out 11 in that performance. Five years later, Kershaw struck out 13 batters in eight scoreless innings in a wild-card game against the Brewers en route to a Dodgers championship.

Kershaw’s outing in 2020 was the last time a Dodgers pitcher threw at least seven shutout innings in a playoff game — until Sunday.

“Getting a hug from him afterwards and him letting me know it was a really good job is special,” Flaherty said. “Things that you can’t make up.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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LOS ANGELES — Dave Roberts walked into the postgame press conference Friday night with a cigar clutched between his fingers, his voice hoarse from the revelry. As a player in 2004, his series-flipping steal helped the Red Sox overcome a 3-0 deficit in the American League Championship Series en route to winning a World Series. As a manager in the 2020 pandemic-shortened season, his Dodgers overcame a 3-1 deficit in the National League Championship Series against the Braves en route to snapping the franchise’s 32-year title drought. 

And yet he put this National League Division Series comeback against the Padres, which included consecutive shutout wins in elimination games and 24 consecutive scoreless innings from the Dodgers’ embattled pitching staff, in the same conversation as those successes. After losing to a lower-seeded division rival in the first round the previous two seasons, it would not happen a third time as Los Angeles knocked out San Diego 2-0 on Friday to advance to the NLCS versus the New York Mets. 

“This is right there with it,” Roberts said. “To kind of win this series how we did, to kind of fall behind — and those guys coming into the postseason had a lot of momentum — speaks to the character of our guys. This is right up there.”

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Before Game 5, Roberts told his players that he believed in this team more than any team he’d ever coached. 

“I just think that there’s a relentlessness, a refusal to lose,” Roberts said. 

Their first baseman, Freddie Freeman, was playing on one leg. Their shortstop, Miguel Rojas, left Game 3 early and never returned to the series, hindered by the torn adductor he had attempted to play through. Injuries had ravaged their starting pitching, enough that they only had one member of their Opening Day rotation still available in October. 

For many of those reasons, the Padres, who had lost the division but finished with the best second-half record in baseball, were viewed by many as the better club. Within the Dodgers’ clubhouse, a mantra began to form, stemming from a message Kiké Hernández delivered when the team was down 2-1. It continued to be spread throughout the clubhouse as Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” blasted through the speakers Friday night. 

“F— ’em all,” Max Muncy said. 

The one starter still standing, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, missed nearly three months with a rotator cuff strain and had thrown five innings just one time in his four regular-season starts back from injury. He got walloped by the Padres in his major-league debut in March and then again this past Saturday in Game 1 of the NLDS, enough that the Dodgers thought he might have been tipping his pitches. They attempted to clean up the issues before Game 5, when they decided to go with Yamamoto again. 

“In talking to him, you could get the sense that he wanted the ball,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. 

But the choice was not a given and was not announced until 9:31 p.m. PT the night before Game 5. They could have tabbed Jack Flaherty, their prized deadline acquisition. Or they could have used another bullpen game after it worked masterfully against the Padres two nights prior. All of their relievers were available again in another elimination game. 

But not giving Yamamoto the ball with the season on the line would have sent a bad message to the player they had just made the highest-paid pitcher in the sport.

“At the end of the day,” Roberts said, “we’re making a bet on a guy to pitch the game of his life tonight.”

Yamamoto had big-game experience in the past, both from earlier this year and his career internationally. His best outing as a major-leaguer came in the Bronx, when he held the Yankees scoreless through seven innings on June 7. The 26-year-old also pitched in the World Baseball Classic. Roberts considered pitching for Japan, and a player’s country, “the highest stakes that you can have.” 

In addition to winning the Nippon Pacific League MVP and triple crown three straight years, Yamamoto also led the Orix Buffaloes to the Japan Series three straight seasons. Last year, he faltered in a Game 1 loss in which he surrendered seven runs. He got the ball again in Game 6, with the Buffaloes down 3-2 in the series, and struck out 14 batters in a 138-pitch complete game. 

He would not need to throw nearly that many pitches to give the Dodgers exactly what they needed. 

“Yoshinobu is here to be a top-end starter,” Robertse said, “and this is his time.”

Before Yamamoto reached the top step on his final walk off the mound Friday, Roberts slapped his hand and gave him a hug. A parade of high-fives awaited in the dugout. Shohei Ohtani rubbed Yamamoto’s head and laughed. The Dodgers had made it to this point without needing a starter to step up, but at some point that had to change. They gave Yamamoto 12 years and $325 million to deliver in these situations. With the relievers behind him, they did not need eight scoreless. If he could give them even three solid innings, the Dodgers figured they could cover at least six with their bullpen. 

Instead, he provided five spotless innings of work. 

“He has a little Walker Buehler in him,” Gavin Lux said. “The bigger the game, the bigger the moment, he’s going to give it his best stuff.” 

Two years ago, the Dodgers never got this chance. 

In 2022, the Padres took care of Game 4 before the series could go back to Los Angeles. Some questionable pitching decisions doomed the Dodgers that night. Tyler Anderson was cruising when the bullpen took over. Their best reliever at the time, Evan Phillips, watched from the sideline as disaster ensued in a five-run seventh that decided the series. At one point, Yency Almonte missed a pickoff sign from the dugout in an effort to allow Alex Vesia more time to warm up. Instead, he threw a ball. Vesia, who afterward said he was already warm, then entered in the middle of the at-bat and surrendered the eventual game-winning hit. By the time Phillips pitched in the eighth and struck out the side, it was too late. Roberts got crushed for the moves, as he did in 2018 for pulling Rich Hill in the World Series and in 2019 for putting Clayton Kershaw in relief against the Nationals. 

This was both redemption and relief. 

Roberts delivered a masterclass throughout the 2024 NLDS as the Dodgers outpitched, outhit and outmanaged their opponent. 

In Game 4, the Padres’ decision to use Dylan Cease on short rest for the first time in Game 4 backfired, while Roberts’ expert precision in deploying eight relievers resulted in the biggest shutout win in Dodgers postseason history. 

In Game 5, San Diego manager Mike Shildt decided to let starter Yu Darvish keep going into the seventh in a one-run game a third time through the Dodgers’ lineup, instead of turning to one of the scariest back-end bullpens in the sport. The move proved costly. Teoscar Hernández delivered in the clutch as he has all season in Los Angeles after signing a one-year deal with the club, depositing a no-doubt shot into the left-field pavilion and giving the procession of Dodgers relievers a little breathing room. 

The first matchup between two Japanese starting pitchers in MLB playoff history did not disappoint. Through six innings, the only damage for either team came off the bat of Kiké Hernández. Roberts played the versatile position player with the season on the line because of his penchant to deliver in October. 

“It’s kind of the person, that particular moment,” Roberts said, “and you’ve got to make a bet.”

The night before the deciding Game 5 of the 2017 NLCS against the Cubs, Hernández decided to start visualizing his success. He envisioned how the next day would go, the pitchers he would face, and how he’d deliver in the clutch. He proceeded to swat three home runs the next day to send the Dodgers to the World Series. He has continued that visualization technique and is hitting .394 with six home runs in the playoffs since the start of the 2021 postseason. 

“There’s anxiety and things like that, that we go through as athletes, especially in big situations, big games, especially in October,” he said before Game 5. “And whenever you feel that little anxiety or whatever it is creep in, you just go back to visualizing yourself having success.”

On Friday, he wore a shirt before the game that read “Good Vibes Only.” Then he delivered a solo shot in the second inning, which ultimately provided Yamamoto with the only cushion he needed. 

Roberts could have let Yamamoto keep going at 63 pitches through five frames. The starter was holding his velocity and hadn’t allowed a run, while getting away with some fastballs that leaked over the plate. But he had done his job. Instead, Roberts prudently turned to Phillips, who recorded the next five outs. Vesia followed with another, as the duo struck out the side against the heart of the Padres’ order in the seventh. 

Vesia was expected to stay out for the eighth, but an injury to his side forced him out during warm-ups. No panic. Roberts turned to Michael Kopech for that frame, then Blake Treinen for the next. The bullpen did not permit a single baserunner. 

With his team on the brink, Roberts said Game 5 was as stressed as he’d been “in quite some time.” He didn’t show it, pushing all the right buttons. 

Roberts has now won six of his eight winner-take-all matchups. 

“I thought he was surgical in Game 4 and in Game 5,” Friedman said. “I thought he had the right feel and pulse for when to make a move and who to go to.” 

The result was the Dodgers’ first postseason series clinch at Dodger Stadium since 2013, not including wild-card games. In 2020, their run to the World Series came in a bubble in Texas. While they won it all that year, many of their players have expressed a desire to win a full-season championship so they can celebrate it with fans. 

On Friday, facing a division rival that had been the hottest team in baseball for the past four months, the Dodgers’ clutch supporting players, along with their maligned pitching staff and manager, got them one step closer. 

“We know who we are,” Muncy said. “We’re the f—ing best team in baseball, and we’re out there to prove it.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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