Battle Of National League's Best At Citi Field

Mets starting pitcher Taijuan Walker warming up, as Dodgers ' Trea Turner (left) and Mookie Betts size up the competition. Photo by Jason Schott.

Starting Tuesday night at Citi Field, the Mets will host the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game set between the two best teams in the National League that could be an October preview.

The Dodgers come to town with the best record in Major League Baseball at 89-38, followed by the Mets, who are 82-47. The Dodgers lead the National League West by a massive 19 1/2 games over the San Diego Padres, while the Mets, who have been in first place in the NL East for 140 straight days, since April 12, are three games ahead of the World Champion Atlanta Braves.

Los Angeles is the only team in the Majors with a .700 winning percentage, and are looking to be the first Dodgers team to finish a full 162-game season with that mark. (The 2020 Dodgers had a .717 winning % in the 60-game pandemic season) The highest winning percentage in Dodgers history was set by the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers (105-49) and the Brooklyn Superbas (101-47), with each team posting a .682 winning percentage. 

Mets Manager Buck Showalter was asked, in his pregame press conference on Tuesday, his thoughts on why the Dodgers are so successful, and he said, "Just well-rounded, that's it, hit well, pitch well, a lot of versatile players on both sides of the ball."

The Mets and Dodgers split a four-game set in early June at Dodger Stadium, which was a statement by the Mets at the time of how good a team they are.

The pitching matchups for this series are: Tuesday night, 7:10 p.m. first pitch , LAD - Andrew Heaney - 2-1, 1.94 ERA, vs. Mets - Tajuan Walker, 10-3, 3.38; Wednesday night at 7:10 pm, LAD - Tyler Anderson, 13-2, 2.69 vs. Mets - Jacob deGrom, 3-1, 2.15 since he debuted on August 2; and Thursday - LAD is TBA, while the Mets will send Chris Bassitt (11-7, 3.34) to the mound.

The Dodgers are 44-22 on the road, including 18-6 in their last 24 away from Dodger Stadium. Their .667 road wining percentage is third-best in franchise history. This will contrast nicely with the Mets, who are 43-20 at Citi Field, and winners of 11 of their last 13 at home. 

As they always do, the Dodgers turned it up a few notches as the weather got hotter, with a record of 44-10 since June 29, a 21-5 mark in July, and 28-8 since the All-Star Break six weeks ago. The Dodgers are 21-5 in the month of August and they began the month 11-0, which was the best start to a month by a Dodger team, surpassing the ten-game winning streak to open a month by the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers in April of that season, and the 1924 Brooklyn Robins that September. Their .807 winning percentage in August, with two games to go, is a franchise-best.

Los Angeles is led by Mookie Betts, who was just named the National League Player of the Week on Monday, as he hit .346 (9-26) with four home runs, seven RBI, nine runs, three doubles, one stolen base, ands a .923 slugging percentage in the six games the Dodgers played from August 22-28.

First baseman Freddie Freeman is having an incredible year, after coming over from the Atlanta Braves, as he is hitting .327 with 16 home runs and 81 RBI.

Trea Turner, in his first full year in Los Angeles after they brought him in from Washington at the 2021 trade deadline, is hitting .311 with 18 home runs and 86 RBI.

Tuesday night's game marks the return to New York City for Joey Gallo, whom L.A. acquired from the Yankees at the trade deadline on August 2. Gallo will be the designated hitter, batting fifth, and he is hitting .205 (9-44) with three home runs and seven RBI in 17 games with the Dodgers. He hit .159 with 12 home runs and 24 RBI in 82 games with the Yankees this season.

The Mets and Dodgers split a four-game set in Dodger Stadium in early June, which was a statement by the Mets at the time of how good a team they are.

Mets Manager Buck Showalter was asked, in his pregame press conference on Tuesday, his thoughts on why the Dodgers are so successful, and he said, "Just well-rounded, that's it, hit well, pitch well, a lot of versatile players on both sides of the ball."

The Mets enter this one with 82 wins and a .682 winning percentage, which is tied for the second-most in the National League and MLB, behind the Dodgers, which means if the Mets can overtake them for the best record, they would have home field throughout the playoffs.

Their 82-47 record through 129 games is the second-best in franchise history to that point in the season, behind the 1986 team, which was 87-42.

The Mets are 24-12 in the second half of the season, including an 18-10 mark in August, with both win totals the third-most in the Majors in their time spans. 

A big reason for the Mets' August surge is that second baseman Jeff McNeil has 41 hits in the month, most in the Majors, and the most in a calendar month in his career. 

In 34 games since the All-Star break, McNeil is hitting .366 (48-131) with three home runs, 14 RBI, 17 runs scored, 15 doubles, five walks, a .396 on-base percentage and a .550 slugging percentage. For the season, McNeil is hitting .321 with seven home runs and 49 RBI.

Showalter said of what he's noticed about McNeil this month before Tuesday's game, "Real good, one thing more than anything else is how he's played the field. Jeff's a guy that, as frustrated as he gets, he never once taken an at-bat or bad call out to the field, and he's always thinking of the game within the game."