Dodgers-Mets series exceeded the hype. What did it teach us?

By Deesha Thosar
FOX Sports MLB Writer

NEW YORK — Three of 162.

The battle-tested Mets faced the juggernaut Dodgers this week in a three-game series that felt like it had a little of everything — and chiefly, a playoff feel. Sharp pitching matchups. Fastballs that hit 102 mph. Clutch home runs. Key saves. Incredible catches. Trumpets. 

In the end, it was the Mets, the second-best team in the National League, who won the season’s series against the Dodgers, the team with the best record (90-40) in baseball. It was the Mets who passed their litmus test — splitting the four-game series in June in Los Angeles and taking two out of three this week at Citi Field. 

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Once it was all over, players on both teams agreed on one thing: This three-game matchup was just another series. The results of their much-anticipated clashes will mean zilch come elimination time. For two teams with World Series aspirations, these battles may have had a postseason feel, but they were no playoffs. Both teams called it what it was: three games out of 162.

That tells us the Mets and Dodgers are locked into an unshakeable mindset right now. These teams want us to believe that they paid minimal attention to the sold-out crowds and intangible energy that swept through Vin Scully Avenue and Tom Seaver Way in June and August, respectively. That’s all well and good for the teams, but for the gargantuan fan bases, this series meant something. 

For fans, this series lived up to the hype. And it made everyone wonder whether these results — again, the Mets winning four games out of seven — had an element of foreshadowing for a potential National League Championship Series between New York and L.A.

Sure, there was some aggressive home-field advantage involved with Australian musician Timmy Trumpet amping up the Citi Field crowd with a live performance of “Narco” for Edwin Díaz‘s nine-pitch save on Wednesday. But the Mets were undeniably electric, from Díaz to Jacob deGrom‘s seven innings of one-run ball to Mark Canha‘s fourth home run in 10 games, all of which brought the house down. Those three moments, in particular, felt like the Mets were shutting the door on the Dodgers for good. Yet at the same time, New York was just giving Los Angeles a glimpse of the tenacity it could bring this postseason. 

“They’ve got good pitching. We’ve got good pitching,” said Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman. “It’s going to be like that if we do face them in the playoffs. This is what’s going to happen with two good teams.”

About two hours before first pitch on Wednesday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, certainly, facing deGrom is a challenge for his team — for any team. But Roberts was also treating the Dodgers-Mets series a bit like a study session, trying to gather useful information for an exam in the playoffs. The way that deGrom would approach pitching to the Dodgers’ lineup, for instance, was critical information for Roberts and his coaching staff in case they see him again in October.

“There’s a certain way that they want to attack each guy individually,” Roberts said. “So I think that’s certainly helpful. And just for the hitter, to see how the ball is coming out. He’s obviously sitting at 99-100 [mph], and the slider is 93 [mph]. Just to kind of put eyes on him I think is very helpful.”

Roberts wasn’t the only one taking notes with an eye toward the playoffs. Mets ace deGrom, after a nine-strikeout performance that helped lower his ERA to 1.98, said: “You probably pay a little closer attention to this and what they seemed to be on and what [they] weren’t, and take a little mental note to that.” 

Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts‘ home run off deGrom in the sixth inning Wednesday was a blueprint for how to make him pay for a costly mistake. DeGrom, after all, is only human. No matter how rare, he will mess up from time to time, and it was Los Angeles’ job to pounce on those missteps. DeGrom missed with his slider, and Betts sent it to left-center for his 32nd homer of the year. While it was gratifying for Betts — who later described deGrom as “maybe the best to ever pitch” — it was telling that it took his elite hitting acumen to garner just that one run off the Mets’ ace.

But the Dodgers also learned that, against this well-rounded 2022 Mets squad, it’s not always as easy as capitalizing on mistakes. When Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner punished deGrom for a belt-high fastball, Mets center fielder Brandon Nimmo chased down a rocket to the right-center field wall, leaped and robbed Turner of a game-tying home run. It was easily the best catch of Nimmo’s career. He was delighted to help deGrom by taking a home run off his ledger, but the center fielder took more pride in the importance of the play, in that he prevented the Dodgers from tying the game and stealing the momentum.   

“We’re a good team, too. We know that,” Nimmo said of facing the Dodgers. “Don’t get me wrong, they’re a great team, and they have been for a while. So nothing can be taken away from them. But we do feel like we match up well. It’s been good games that we’ve played against them. It’s two really good teams getting together and playing. It feels like playoff baseball.”

Now that the Mets and Dodgers have faced each other for the last time in the regular season, the two teams have different responsibilities with a month remaining before October baseball. 

The Dodgers, with a ridiculous 18-game lead in the NL West, have the benefit of giving their everyday players some rest before the nonstop electricity of the postseason. Key players like Freeman and Trea Turner, who have played every single game this season, will get some days off this month. But the Dodgers do not want rest days to mean they’re taking a lackadaisical approach to end the regular season. Instead, they want to find a way to give their stars much-needed rest while also keeping their edge. It’s a tricky endeavor that is also a privilege. 

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