NLDS Game 1 Odds & Over/Under Total: Mets vs. Dodgers

While the Dodgers are the favorites in many different betting odds, the Mets are a unsafe team that stole the NL East from the favorite in that division, the Washington Nationals.

Beyond the Los Angeles and New York city and postseason comparisons, both teams have also experienced somewhat similar runs to the postseason in 2015.

The Mets haven’t made it to the postseason since 2006. While Friday night will be DeGrom’s first postseason appearance, Kershaw’s been to October before. The kicker? Kershaw led the entire major leagues in ERA those four years, something neither Koufax nor Grove was able to do. Greinke went 19-3 for Los Angeles this year, with a league-leading 1.66 ERA as well as a league-leading 0.844 WHIP (which measures the combined numbers of walks and hits a pitcher allows per inning).

The Mets, by contrast, hobbled to the finish line, losing five of their final six regular season contests. We all love watching Colon pitch, but are Mets fans ready to count on him to save their season if they happen to be down 2-1 going in?

“Those are a few big games for me, but I don’t think they’re as big as this game”, he said Thursday about his start. This puts extra pressure on the Mets bullpen to get the job done. All three are supremely talented and rival any pitching staff in baseball, but all three seem to be suffering from fatigue in one way or another and it’s fair to question if they’ve hit a collective wall.

The Mets counter with youngster Jacob deGrom who has also had a stellar year, especially in the latter half.

Home cooking: Home field advantage could play an important role in this series. One of the game’s finest pitchers, Kershaw has won 114 games and lost only 56, with a career ERA of 2.43 in the regular season.

Outfielders; Andre Ethier, Enrique Hernandez, Carl Crawford, Joc Pederson, Justin Ruggiano and Yasiel Puig. VoteMets vs. Dodgers: Who has the edge in the NLDS?

Runs will likely again be at a premium when the Dodgers try to even the series Saturday night in Game 2. “All of a sudden guys are looking at their jobs saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve got to step up here, and they did”‘. One thing is certain about this group, they’re a lot more encouraging of a bunch than what Los Angeles had last season around this time.

First, they get Clayton Kershaw in Game 1 of the playoffs against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“We all know that they’re both two of the best pitchers in the game”, Cuddyer said this week.

Since Kershaw pitched that complete game shutout on July 23, the Mets have revamped their offense and pose a whole new set of challenges for the Dodgers’ lefty ace – challenges of which Kershaw is very much aware. If the Dodgers can’t do it now, when can they? Look for these guys to make or break the Dodgers first round series. However, he returned last week and played in the Dodgers’ last two games, starting and getting a hit in the first one.

Seager said that after he scanned the lineup card in the clubhouse, Manager Don Mattingly pulled him aside.

This brings the pitching advantage of the entire series down to splitting hairs.