Category: Baseball

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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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Juan Soto homered during New York’s three-run third inning, Carlos Rodón got his first postseason win and the Yankees took advantage of Cleveland’s wildness in a 5-2 victory on Monday night in Game 1 of the AL Championship Series.

Cleveland became the second team to throw a pair of run-scoring wild pitches in a postseason inning and tied a postseason record with five overall. Guardians pitchers walked six in a nine-batter span and nine overall.

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Giancarlo Stanton added his 13th career postseason homer for the Yankees, who are seeking a record 41st AL pennant. New York batters have walked 36 times in five postseason games.

Rodón rebounded from the Yankees’ only loss in the Division Series, limiting the Guardians to a pair of singles before Brayan Rocchio’s sixth-inning homer.

Steven Kwan pulled the Guardians within three runs when he extended his postseason hitting streak to a team-record 11 games with an RBI single in the eighth off Clay Holmes.

Luke Weaver entered with runners at the corners. He struck out pinch-hitter Will Brennan and retired José Ramírez on a groundout, and then followed a leadoff walk in the ninth with three straight strikeouts for his fourth save this postseason.

Game 2 is at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night. Entering this year, teams taking the opener of a series with a 2-3-2 format have won 66 of 99 times.

Before a sellout crowd of 47,264 that included pop star Taylor Swift, Soto hit his first postseason homer for New York when he drove a high slider from Alex Cobb into the Yankees’ bullpen in right-center.

Making his first playoff appearance in 11 years, Cobb walked the bases loaded in the third and rookie reliever Joey Cantillo threw a pair of run-scoring wild pitches.

Cantillo had four wild pitches overall, one shy of the record for a postseason game set by Rick Ankiel of St. Louis in a 2000 NL Division Series opener against Atlanta. The only other time a team scored twice on wild pitches in a postseason inning was by Minnesota against Oakland in the 2002 AL Division Series.

Rodón struck out nine and walked none, getting 25 misses among 53 swings, matching the fourth-most misses in a postseason game since pitch-tracking began in 2008. His pitches broke so much that catcher Austin Wells had to throw to first three times on strikeouts for the putouts.

Cobb dropped in 0-2 in the playoffs, making just his fifth start in a season limited by injuries. He threw 36 of 65 pitches for strikes, getting only one swing and miss, and allowed three runs, five hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: LHP Nestor Cortes (flexor strain in pitching elbow) is to throw a second bullpen session Wednesday and is a possibility for the World Series roster, should the Yankees advance.

UP NEXT

Yankees RHP Gerrit Cole makes his third postseason start on Wednesday after beating Kansas City in the Division Series clincher. He is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA this postseason. RHP Tanner Bibee starts for the Guardians. He had a 2.08 ERA without a decision in a pair of Division Series starts against Detroit. Bibee has pitched once at Yankee Stadium, his second big league outing in May 2023. He allowed two runs over 5 1/3 innings in a no-decision, giving up Anthony Volpe’s opposite-field homer over the right field short porch.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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What’s better than watching baseball? Watching baseball and winning money!

You can partake in the best of both worlds while watching the MLB playoffs this weekend with our free-to-play FOX Super 6 game.

How do you play? Enter the MLB Playoff Super 6 contest by predicting the correct answers to six questions before the games start for your chance at weekly cash prizes. 

All you have to do is finish in the top six to win a prize.

It really is that simple, and again, it’s free.

And if you need a little help before heading to the app to make your picks, we have you covered this week.

Read below for our thoughts on the playoffs, which can be seen on FOX and the FOX Sports app. 

Let’s dive into the questions and predictions below.

1. Which player will have the MOST RBI in the LCS round?

Shohei Ohtani, Francisco Lindor, José Ramirez, Aaron Judge

Lindor has been on a tear this postseason, and is one of eight players with six or more RBI after Monday. The Mets will need a big peformance from him throughout the series against the Dodgers and we expect he’ll do so. Ohtani is a good choice here too as he’s one of the best power hitters in baseball and already has five RBI himself after Game 2 of the series.

Prediction: Francisco Lindor

2. Which pitcher will have the MOST STRIKEOUTS in the LCS round?

Gerrit Cole, Jack Flaherty, Sean Manaea, Tanner Bibee

While Manaea has been electric with 17 strikeouts in three games played this postseason, it’s hard to go against the reigning AL Cy Young award winner in Cole. He has eight Ks himself in two games played in the playoffs, and had 99 in 17 regular season starts this year. He is one of eight pitchers to have over 570 strikeouts in regular season play since 2022, and is the only one of those eight whose team is still in the playoffs.   

Prediction: Gerrit Cole

3. Which trio of players includes the 2024 NLCS MVP?

Ohtani/T. Hernandez/Lux OR Lindor/Alonso/Vientos OR Betts/Freeman/Muncy OR None (another player wins MVP)

The Dodgers entered the season as the betting favorites to win the World Series, and they’ve consistently proven that they are the team to beat throughout the year. Los Angeles had the best record in baseball, finished top four in the league in team batting average (.258), home runs (233) and runs batted in (815)— and have a generational player in Ohtani. He’s likely going to win the regular season MVP, so we like him or either of the other Dodgers players to take home the NLCS award. It’s also worth mentioning that Hernandez hit 33 home runs this season, and already has two in seven playoff games along with a .250 batting average.

Prediction: Ohtani/T. Hernandez/Lux

4. Order by total TEAM RUNS in Game 4 of the ALCS and NLCS (highest to lowest)

Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, Guardians

New York’s trio of Aaron Juge, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton is one of most prolific power-hitting trios baseball has seen in quite some time. They combined for 126 home runs and a whopping .285 batting average in the regular season— not to mention they did that with Stanton missing 48 games. It’ll be an uphill battle for the Guardians’ pitching staff to quell this sort of firepower. The Dodgers are a reasonable choice here as well to have the most runs, but the Mets pitching staff has been on a tear this postseason— having thrown 76 strikeouts after Monday. 

Prediction: Yankees, Dodgers, Mets, Guardians

5. Which trio will have the most combined HOME RUNS in the LCS round?

Judge/Soto/Stanton OR Lindor/Alonso/Vientos OR Ohtani/T. Hernandez/Betts OR Ramirez/Naylor/Kwan

We said it above and we’ll say it again. Judge, Soto and Stanton are an incredible trio that smash home runs. While the guardians had the third-best team ERA (3.61) in the regular season, that number jumps to 5.46 when looking at their six matchups against the Yankees. The trio had nine homers in those games with a batting average of .288.

Prediction: Judge/Soto/Stanton

6. Who will win Game 4 of the NLCS?

Dodgers OR Mets

With the series tied 1-1, Los Angeles will be up 2-1 or down 1-2 entering Game 4— both being situations they’ll look for a crucial win in.

Prediction: Dodgers

Tiebreaker: What will be the final score?

Prediction: 6-2

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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.

–>

“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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Francisco Lindor and Mark Vientos homered as the New York Mets stopped the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ record-tying postseason scoreless streak in a 7-3 victory on Monday, tying the NL Championship Series at a game apiece.

Lindor added to his storybook season with a leadoff homer in the first inning against Ryan Brasier. Viento delivered during New York’s five-run second, connecting for a grand slam against Landon Knack.

Before Lindor went deep, Los Angeles had a string of 33 consecutive scoreless innings. Jack Flaherty led the Dodgers to a 9-0 victory in Game 1 of the NLCS on Sunday night.

Sean Manaea opened Game 2 with four shutout innings for New York. He was charged with three runs, two earned, and two hits in five-plus innings. Closer Edwin Diaz earned a four-out save.

Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani was 0 for 3 with two strikeouts and two walks. He remains hitless with the bases empty in his first postseason.

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Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is Wednesday in New York.

The Mets jumped all over the Dodgers after flopping in the series opener.

Lindor fouled off four consecutive pitches from Brasier before sending a 395-foot shot to right for his leadoff homer.

Knack took over for LA in the second and gave up a leadoff single to Starling Marte and then walked Jesse Winker. One out later, Tyrone Taylor doubled to left, scoring Marte.

After Francisco Alvarez popped to shortstop, Lindor was intentionally walked to load the bases. Vientos sent a 391-foot shot to center for the third grand slam in Mets playoff history. That extended the lead to 6-0 and silenced the sellout crowd of 52,926.

It was the Mets’ second slam of the playoffs. Lindor hit a go-ahead slam in Game 4 of the NL Division Series against Philadelphia. Edgardo Alfonzo had the club’s first playoff slam in 1999.

The Dodgers had the potential tying run at the plate with two outs in the eighth.

Tommy Edman singled and Max Muncy walked before the Mets brought in Diaz. They moved up on a double steal before Kiké Hernández flied out to shallow right field to end the threat.

After Muncy homered leading off the fifth, the Dodgers rallied in the sixth to trail 6-3, reigniting the crowd.

Manaea issued consecutive walks to Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernández to open the inning. Freddie Freeman grounded into a high bouncing fielder’s choice to second that Jose Iglesias couldn’t field cleanly. Hernández was safe at second on the error as Manaea exited.

Edman singled to right off Phil Maton with two strikes, scoring Betts and Hernández. Muncy walked to load the bases again and bring up Kiké Hernández.

He grounded into the glove of third baseman Vientos, who initially bobbled the ball before throwing to second, where Muncy slid into the leg of Iglesias. Pete Alonso then kept his foot on the bag as he stretched to haul in Iglesias’ throw.

The Dodgers challenged the double-play call, but it was upheld and the inning ended.

Manaea was the first left-handed starter the Dodgers have faced this postseason. They saw him plenty during his time with San Diego in 2022 and San Francisco last year. But he changed his delivery midway through this season with the Mets, dropping his arm slot and releasing the ball more horizontally.

The Mets took advantage of hard-throwing Dodgers rookie Edgardo Henriquez with an insurance run in the ninth.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are set to be at Yankee Stadium on Monday night for Game 1 of the ALCS between the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians, per multiple reports. 

The couple was most recently spotted in NYC on October 11 and 12.

It’s a bye week for Kelce’s undefeated Kansas City Chiefs, while Swift has a few more days off before she returns from a two-month break and takes the stage at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Friday to kick off the final leg of The Eras Tour.

Kelce, a Cleveland native, has shown his support for the Guardians in the past, including throwing the ceremonial first pitch before a 2023 game against the Kansas City Royals — although his attempt did hilariously send pitcher Shane Bieber and the Guardians mascot running for cover. 

Swift also has baseball ties, most notably when she sang the national anthem before Game 3 of the 2008 World Series between her hometown Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays.

The couple’s rumored appearance comes after the pair attended the US Open men’s final in New York, alongside Patrick Mahomes and his wife, last month.

Swift attended Kansas City’s first two games of the season. She was absent from the next two road games before returning to Arrowhead Stadium in Week 5, marking her 16th regular-season Chiefs game. Kelce recorded a season-high nine catches for 70 yards in that 26-13 victory.

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Swift will likely miss Kelce’s next game, as the Chiefs head to San Francisco for a Super Bowl rematch with the 49ers. Kickoff is set for 4:25 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on FOX, with Tom Brady and Kevin Burkhardt on the call. 

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