NEW YORK — Welcome to one of the most unique postseason series in baseball history. Let’s just close it under the term The Series of Beatings.
Every day we look forward to a thrilling October classic in this exciting National League Championship Series. Then you look at the scoreboard, and it’s 10-2 in the fourth inning.
While we’ve already played five games of this matchup, the Dodgers and Mets travel across the country for another clash on Sunday. At least there is that! Although it doesn’t really look like a thrilling game, the Dodgers have the slight advantage with 3 wins to 2 for the Mets. We’re getting really close.
Let’s take a moment to reflect on the scores from these first five games. The term thrilling match Don’t even touch on what we witnessed:
- Match 1 (Sunday): Dodgers 9, Mets 0
- Match 2 (Monday): Mets 7, Dodgers 3
- Match 3 (Wednesday): Dodgers 8, Mets 0
- Match 4 (Thursday): Dodgers 10, Mets 2
- Match 5 (Friday): Mets 12, Dodgers 6
If you are wondering, Is it as crazy as it sounds? — know that you are not alone. Even the players involved in this drama series seem perplexed by the results.
“Well, it’s different,” said Brandon Nimmo of the Mets.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” teammate Ryne Stanek added thoughtfully. “But it’s the playoffs. You almost expect things to get a little crazy.”
“You know,” said fellow reliever Phil Maton, “baseball is just baseball.”
And what baseball, indeed! Luckily, we have October’s Weird and Wild column to try to understand just how off-kilter this series has been.
Plus, games like Friday — where the winning team (the Mets) surprisingly recorded no strikeouts in 44 at-bats — are difficult to understand. After the match, Francisco Lindor asked to see the scoresheet on my phone before he could accept this as reality. More on these Mets Hero Zero very soon.
“That’s not how I imagined things,” Nimmo noted, and he was right to say so.
How unusual are series like this? I consulted our colleagues at STATS Perform for some ideas. No matter how we look at it, the answer always points to one conclusion: Incredibly rare.
We journalists covering this series spent a considerable amount of time wondering if we could remember a series like this, and we really struggled. There have only been three such series in playoff history where five games had a difference of four runs or more. However, this number might seem exaggerated, since it takes into account the total beatings in these series.
In fact, only once — in the last 121 postseason baseball seasons — have the first five games of a series been decided by four runs or more, and that was in the World Series. 1965, where the first six matches were all decisive.
But wait, there’s more! In this series, a four-run game hardly seems close! Friday marked the fourth game where the winning margin exceeded six runs. Only two other postseason series have featured so many one-sided matches.
However, those two series spanned seven games, and this NLCS is only five games in. So… stay tuned!
Isn’t it crazy that the average margin of victory in this NLCS is seven runs? According to STATS, another series of five or more games saw this happen. It was in the 1999 ALDS between the Red Sox and the Indians, where the total difference reached 37 runs — an average of 7.4 runs per game.
However, with a strict focus on best-of-seven series, this NLCS is poised to break records for one-sided results. The research revealed only four other best-of-seven series with a total gap of more than 35 runs.
This series must have its work cut out for it to make up for these total gap meetings. However, after the first five matches, she has already surpassed them!
But here’s the kicker: the real weirdness and madness lies in what came before this series. Remember, the Mets are coming off two opposing series, where their games against the Brewers and Phillies were thrilling and intensely competitive.
So how does a team go from such gripping matchups to what seems like a completely different scenario? Ryne Stanek summed this up perfectly.
“In the postseason, you have to prepare for unpredictability,” said Stanek, who is playing in his 12th playoff series. “Expect the unexpected, or you will be caught off guard. It’s crazy here.”
Isn’t that just baseball to you? It’s a delightfully chaotic game. And that’s not all, this series isn’t over yet! We might see an epic battle soon, so let’s hope there are fireworks on Sunday!
Now, an intriguing question arose on Friday…
A baseball game without any strikeouts is like a basketball game without three-pointers, a Broadway musical without singing, or a movie theater without popcorn. Is this even possible in modern America?
Under normal circumstances, absolutely not! However, something extraordinary happened to the Mets on Friday; they went an entire game without a single strikeout. How amazing is this? They were almost reluctant to accept that this had happened!
None of the Mets I spoke to even realized what happened — except those who had already been informed by others. But my most entertaining exchange was with Lindor, a player who I imagine is very aware of everything that is happening on the field. Clearly, not this time!
WEIRD AND CRAZY: “On your scale of baseball rarities, where would you rank your team not hitting any strikeouts today?”
E&F: “You made history, and you didn’t even know it? Think about how difficult that is in today’s game!”
LINDOR: “Are you sure we didn’t knock?”
E&F: “Would you like to see the score sheet? Look at the strike-outs column: 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.”
LINDOR: (After examining it: Laughs and shakes his head.) “I had no idea.”
So yes, something truly amazing happened in Game 5 of this NLCS — and yet almost no one was aware of the historical significance. Allow us to elaborate on how Strange and Crazy this was, because it’s a rarity you might never see again.
IN THE POSTSEASON — It was only the 11th game in playoff history where a team finished without a strikeout. However, don’t take it lightly…
How many times in playoff history has a team sent out as many batters as the Mets did on Friday (44) and recorded zero strikeouts? You bet you would say Never.
REGULAR SEASON STATS: In the 2,429 games played in the major leagues before this postseason, only once did an offense finish without a strikeout. This happened with these same Dodgers (just not the hitters).
The Mets themselves had not had a game without a strikeout since May 25, 2010, against the Phillies, more than 2,000 games.
In nearly 10,000 regular-season games, the Mets have only avoided striking out once in a game with as many at-bats as Friday’s — going back 60 years, to August 28, 1964. , at Wrigley Field, preventing the Cubs from hitting strikeouts.
Additionally, these Dodgers pitchers had only experienced one game without a strikeout in the last 30 regular seasons, and to find the last time Dodgers pitchers struck out no batters in a game involving 44 batters , we would have to go back to September 9, 1955, once again at Wrigley Field.
“I’ve never been in a game like that,” Jesse Winker said. “I’m not even sure I’ve ever heard of a match like this. It’s remarkable!”
But before you rush to the next fascinating story, wait! Here is an assortment of four more Weird and Crazy thoughts:
- CRAZY EIGHT: Baseball is full of surprises! Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty gave up eight runs in that game, just five days after pitching seven shutout innings against the Mets.
- EIGHT MORE CRAZY: It’s essential to remember that the Dodgers were included in two other one-sided games during their NLDS against San Diego before reaching this series.
- DO THE OPPOSITE: If Dodgers pitchers had only given up five runs Friday instead of twelve, maybe we’d remember this as the Andy Pages Game? Maybe so!
- POLAR BEARS X3: Finally, Pete Alonso’s massive first-inning home run signaled that this game was destined to change. Interestingly, the Mets’ elimination games have only featured two three-run home runs in their playoff history.
2024-10-19 12:51:00