October 22, 2015 12:49 PM ET
CHICAGO — The Cubs still will win at least as many games as the Mets this year even if the Mets win the World Series (it’s 101 to 97 now), and they still beat the Mets seven times out of 11. But by the end of the Cubs’ run, the Mets were easily the better team. The Mets group that went 0-7 against the Cubs during the regular season was nothing like the one that swept the Cubs of the NLCS to move to the World Series.
One Met nicely summed up the team’s total transformation while champagne was being sprayed in the cramped but happy clubhouse late Wednesday night; as this fellow pointed out, Wilmer Flores was the cleanup hitter at one point in the dead of summer, and is now the No. 8 hitter.
How did they get so good so fast?
Michael Conforto was called up. David Wright healed up. Yoenis Cespedes became the catch of the trade deadline. And then Daniel Murphy transitioned from a good hitter who was known for occasional on-field lapses to become a player “on a different planet,” as teammate Lucas Duda fairly called him.
The Cubs knocked off the team with the second best record (the Pirates) in the Wild Card game, then did the same to the team with the best record (the Cardinals) in the NLDS before running into a team that was better than the best of the regular season. At present, the Mets seem to have everything going for them.
As for Murphy, well, he stood above not only everyone in this NLCS but anyone who’s ever played in the postseason. And while other Mets weren’t quite up to Murphy’s standards — who could possibly be? — some of them were extremely efficient. The young and vaunted rotation was exceptional; all four were very good. Game 1 starter Matt Harvey set the tone with a big performance, flipping up breaking balls and changeups in 40-degree weather from the get-go, shocking Chicago.
Even beyond the heroics, the Mets were simply a lot more solid in this series. The Mets played almost perfectly, while the Cubs, known as a decent defensive team, were hampered by lost fly balls, ill-fated diving attempts, wild pitches they couldn’t corral and even forgetfulness. With only two strikes on Steven Matz, Cubs catcher David Ross, one of the smartest players going, tossed the ball to a fan on his way to the dugout before retrieving the ball after realizing they hadn’t actually recorded the third out. (Lucky for him, there was no one on base at the time!)
The Cubs looked cold battling the elements in New York, then got overwhelmed back in balmy Chicago, with conditions more to their liking. The Mets scored in the first inning of all four games, and never trailed even once over the four-game sweep. It got so bad that even Cubs fans, desperate to see their team break their 107-season streak of no World Series titles, got quiet at times.
“They outplayed us across the board,” Cubs ace Jake Arrieta said.
That they did.
Here are a few more observations from the NLCS …
1. We knew the Mets’ young rotation was special, but it is even better than anyone realized. Harvey, Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom and Matz absolutely dominated, And they did it on a shoestring. Never before has a rotation that makes so little — Harvey is the only one over $600,000, and he’s only over by a bit — performed so superbly.
Folks talked about how great the Cubs’ young nucleus is. But as Michael Cuddyer pointed out about the Mets, “This team is going to be good for a while, too.”
Indeed, it is.
2. The Cubs’ need for one more starter was illuminated in the NLCS. After Jason Hammel bombed in Game 4, one rival GM joked, “Either David Price and Zack Greinke just made $200 million.”
Cubs people are suggesting that they may not have the money to compete with the Dodgers and others. But by all rights, they should. Their revenues are among the highest in baseball. And they could use the help.
Hammel was quite upset to be removed early a couple times earlier this season, and friends say his confidence may have suffered as a result. But on this occasion, Maddon may have left him in a bit too long. Hammel’s walk to David Wright in the second inning led to the Mets’ fifth run. And you just knew that was going to be too many to overcome, even with the wind blowing out. (Actually the four in the first were enough, as it turned out.)
3. Kyle Schwarber should spend the winter working on his catching, because a big-hitting catcher is terrifically valuable. Also, based on his outfield play in this series, he’s probably closer to being a catcher than a left fielder. He misplayed at least three catchable balls in the series, and never looked quite comfortable.
Schwarber’s bat is such that he’s going to need to play somewhere. But better to work with him as a catcher. Because a catcher who hits like he does is invaluable. But a left fielder who can’t corral a fly ball isn’t good to anyone.
4. Yoenis Cespedes will be OK after leaving Game 4 early with a sore left shoulder, the Mets say. A picture of Cespedes playing golf earlier in the day at the fabled Medinah course in the Chicago suburbs surfaced on the Sun-Times Website, raising a question of whether one of the game’s greatest athletes could possibly have hurt himself playing the genteel game of golf.
“He plays golf all the time. No linkage,” a friend of his texted. (And kudos to the friend for the links/linkage pun!)
I believe it. This guy has the power and speed of Bo Jackson. He’s not going to injure himself standing over a putt.
5. Joe Maddon is the best manager in the game, as his Mets counterpart Terry Collins said afterward. He had a brilliant regular season and should be Manager of the Year, hands down.
The Cubs established a tone, fed off his relaxed nature and reached the playoffs at least one year ahead of schedule, then they got through two rounds against the only two teams in the league that had better record than them. But the NLCS was not his finest hour. Not having mandatory batting practice is fine, but it doesn’t look good when you don’t hit a lick.
He/they never figured out a way to deal with Murphy, who dominated the NLDS that preceded this series. The Cubs looked too cold too play in New York (they call themselves Chicagoans!), and they made too many gaffes in both their games at home.
The shifts Maddon started in Tampa were life savers for that small-market team, but the Cubs’ infield looked out of sync at times (on one hard grounder by Curtis Granderson, shortstop Javier Baez and second baseman Starlin Castro were playing so close together that they ran into each other.)
6. Daniel Murphy has an amazing ability to put the bat on the ball, but no one could believe what he did in the NLCS, or the entire postseason really.
“He’s absolutely locked in, not only at the plate,” Arrieta said. “He also made a couple (great) plays. He’s playing the game as good as you could possibly play it.”
He took third base in a key play in Game 5 of the NLDS to help beat the Dodgers, and he scored from third on a Duda grounder to first in game of the NLCS. Plus, he has made many tough plays in the field while playing his usual ultra-deep second base.
7. Granderson played Robin to Murphy’s Batman, reaching base and stirring things up. “Granderson’s ability to get on was huge,” Arrieta said. “Right now, there are no breaks in that lineup.”
Right now, there’s a pretty good reason to believe the Mets can keep this going, right into the World Series, against whichever team they wind up playing.
Around the Majors …
| Team | News |
|---|---|
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Boston Red Sox News |
| Hanley Ramirez is beginning his workouts in Fort Lauderdale and anxious to prove he can adjust to first base. The organization has asked him to shed a few pounds to gain agility for the footwork needed for first base. (And yes, they also want Pablo Sandoval to lose weight.) … Johnny Cueto is a name that’s been linked to the Red Sox. They will need to get a top-of-the-rotation starter. David Price had success in the AL East, so he’d make sense, too. Price also pitched for new baseball president Dave Dombrowski in Detroit. | |
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Chicago Cubs News |
| The Rays made a mistake not taking Joe Maddon up on his offer to stay for $14 million over four years. Rays owner Stu Sternberg was said to be upset about the way the whole thing went down (remember, he tried to go after the Cubs for tampering), and he and Maddon haven’t hashed it out since. Maddon said he still considers Sternberg a friend, though … Congrats to Dan Haren on his retirement after a very nice career. | |
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Detroit Tigers News |
| It can be told now: Then GM Dombrowski was not in favor of $68 million for four years for Victor Martinez. It was owner Mike Ilitch’s call to make sure to bring back V-Mart. | |
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Kansas City Royals News |
| The Royals do a terrific job of scouting. They also have a nice blend of players in the clubhouse. Hard to see them losing back-to-back games at home in the ALCS — though if the Jays do win those games, they will have earned their trip to the World Series. | |
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Los Angeles Dodgers News |
| The Dodgers and manager Don Mattingly agreed to part ways. More on that here … Rivals believe the Dodgers absolutely have to bring back Zack Greinke and will be shocked if they fail to do so. Happy 32nd birthday Wednesday, Zack. | |
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Miami Marlins News |
| Alex Cora has interviewed with the Marlins now, according to sources. Cora, who also interviewed with the Padres and Mariners and may interview with the Nationals, will be a manager at some point … Phil Nevin also has interviewed with Miami, as Bob Nightengale of USA Today and Robert Murray of Baseball Essential reported, and will indeed interview with the Padres, Mariners, Nationals and Marlins. He is a candidate all five other managerial openings, including the Dodgers’ now vacant job. | |
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New York Mets News |
| Juan Uribe has been shelved so far for the playoffs, but he has got a shot to become the fourth player in the expansion era (post 1961) to win World Series rings with three different teams. He won with the 2005 White Sox and 2010 Giants. The ones to win World Series with three different teams in the expansion era are Jack Morris (Tigers, Twins, Blue Jays), Lonnie Smith (Royals, Phillies, Cardinals) and Dave Stewart (Dodgers, A’s, Blue Jays) … Jeurys Familia has been as automatic as Mariano Rivera this postseason, with a 0.41 WHIP to go with his 0.00 ERA thus far. “He always had makeup and a good heart but he’s taken it to another level this year,” Mets exec Paul DePodesta said … With his big Game 4, Duda showed again he will easily top the three-year offer for about $25 million he turned down in spring … Jenrry Mejia isn’t here due to his steroid bans, but the Mets will have an interesting decision whether to tender him a contract. Since he is banned for the first half next year and had a salary of $2 million, he’d be required to get a pro-rated $1.6M via arbitration (so about 800K). If it’s just based on his talent, it’s an easy call. But it’s “more than a financial issue” following the two drug-test failures, according to a Mets person. He’s not a bad kid, though he’s obviously made mistakes, so the bet here is that they do tender him a contract … The Mets have great young talent in that rotation, but pitching coach Dan Warthen has done a terrific job with all of them. Kudos to him. | |
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New York Yankees News |
| The Yankees are interested in a right-handed bat, middle-relief help and perhaps one starter. Jeff Samardzija could be that guy, though apparently not Price, Johnny Cueto or Greinke. They aren’t high at the moment on $200 million deals for pitchers. | |
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Pittsburgh Pirates News |
| Jung-Ho Kang shattered his tibia on that takeout slide by Chris Coghlan and had to be rushed into surgery, though there was some good news in that he had no soft-tissue damage to speak of. There were death threats on Coghlan stemming from the slide, so Kang’s agent Alan Nero kindly issued a statement absolving Coghlan of any blame … With Kang’s immense rookie success, his former teammate in Korea with the Nexen Heroes, Byung-Ho Park, who has hit 50 homers three straight years, should benefit greatly Kang got $11 million, Park should get way more than that. | |
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San Diego Padres News |
| Friends still don’t think Moises Alou would take the manager’s job, if offered. Pirates third base Rick Sofield is a dark horse who possibly has a chance. | |
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Seattle Mariners News |
| Word is, they are heading soon to the second round of managerial interviews in Seattle. So far to interview: Jason Varitek, Tim Bogar, Alex Cora, Charlie Montoyo and Phil Nevin, at least. Contrary to a report, Varitek hasn’t already been offered the position … GM Jerry Dipoto is terrific. But man did he ever go outside the box when he hired Rockies mental coach Andy McKay to be the Mariners’ farm director. McKay’s title in Colorado was “peak performance director,” which begs the question: when exactly have the Rockies peaked? Player development was an issue last year, so hopefully it works out. But one Rockies person called it an “outstanding” hire, saying, “He will be great in that role – an impact type of guy.” … The Mariners caught a break when they were outbid for Victor Martinez, and wound up going with second choice Nelson Cruz. The Mariners were in at $45 million for three years for V-Mart when Detroit blew them away. | |
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Texas Rangers News |
| Ex-Ranger/Padres Miles Mikolas signed a $5-million, two-year deal with Yomiuri Giants following an excellent season there. | |
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Toronto Blue Jays News |
| Marco Estrada, free agent to be, has made himself a lot of money this postseason. It’s possible he may even get a qualifying offer based on his October pitching. | |
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Washington Nationals News |
| Along with all their other needs, the Nats may be well-served to address the catching situation. Wilson Ramos had quite a poor season. | |
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Major League Baseball News |
| Maybe it’s time to change the ground rule at Wrigley whereby it’s automatically only two bases if the ball gets lost in the outfield ivy that covers the beautiful outfield walls here at Wrigley. As Matt Snyder pointed out here, it wouldn’t be such a terrible idea to allow the umpires the discretion to award an extra base if it’s obvious one would have been taken, as was the case when Cubs right fielder Jorge Soler dived for a Wilmer Flores liner, only to face plant and see the ball roll all the way into the ivy. That cost the Mets a run, at least. | |
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