The New York Mets will continue their trip through California in Los Angeles, where they will take on the Dodgers. The Mets come off a series win against the San Francisco Giants, where they were carried by their starting pitching. The Dodgers are red hot and just swept the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Dodgers also swept the Mets when they came to Queens earlier this season.
Probable Pitching Matchups
(9/3, 8:10 PM) Jacob deGrom (8-8, 1.68 ERA) vs. Alex Wood (8-6, 3.42 ERA)
(9/4, 10:10 PM) Jason Vargas (5-8, 6.56 ERA) vs. Rich Hill (6-5, 3.59 ERA)
(9/5, 7:35 PM) Zack Wheeler (9-7, 3.37 ERA) vs. Hyun-Jin Ryu (4-1, 2.24 ERA)
Solid Starting Pitching
The Mets starting pitching has been tremendous during this trip through the rotation. During the last five games, Mets starters have combined for 36.1 innings, 5 Runs and 47 strikeouts. Every starter has reached their potential during this hot streak and it will be up to the offense to decide a winner in these games. Somehow the Mets have only won three out of those five games.
Jacob deGrom takes the mound trying to continue his brilliance over the entire league. The entire Cy Young award chase surrounds three pitchers in the NL East. deGrom, Max Scherzer and Aaron Nola are the front runners to win the award. deGrom will have another tough test against a lineup that features Manny Machado, Max Muncy and Matt Kemp. deGrom has allowed three runs or less in 24 consecutive starts and has six straight starts of allowing two runs or less.
Muncy’s Emergence
With the likes of Manny Machado, Matt Kemp and Cody Bellinger in their lineup, Max Muncy has emerged out of no where to lead the Dodgers offense. He leads the team with 31 home runs and a .582 slugging percentage. Muncy only has 85 hits and 31 of them have been home runs which makes his season even more impressive.
The Dodgers incredible weekend series against the Diamondbacks catapulted them back into first place in the NL West. Despite many injuries they finally seem to have a rotation in place that can bring them back to the World Series. Clayton Kershaw has been one of those injury riddled pitchers but has still been dominant with a 2.40 ERA. Kershaw is still chasing his elusive ring and at age 30 his dominant years are slowly running out.
Matchups to Lookout For
Brian Dozier vs. Jason Vargas: 7-29 (.241) Double, 2 Walks, 7 Strikeouts
Chase Utley vs. Jacob deGrom: 4-19 (.211) Double, 4 Walks, 3 Strikeouts
Wilmer Flores vs. Alex Wood: 5-16 (.313) Double, Home Run, 2 Walks, 5 Strikeouts
Austin Jackson vs Alex Wood: 2-10 (.200) Double, 3 Strikeouts
Interesting Stats
Kevin Plawecki Batting 8th in 2018: 18-50 (.360) 4 Doubles, Triple, 3 Home Runs, 6 Walks, 13 Strikeouts
Yasiel Puig when leading off an inning in 2018: 27-76 (.355) 6 Doubles, 3 Home Runs, 13 Walks, 13 Strikeouts