The New York Mets will travel to Los Angeles to square off against the Dodgers in the NLDS on Friday. It's New York's first postseason appearance since 2006, but they face a tough test ahead as they'll have to battle Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke in the first two games of this series.
Scroll to the bottom for the MLB NLDS live stream and radio broadcast.
Met's right-hander Jacob deGrom (14-8, 2.54 ERA) and Kershaw (16-7, 2.13 ERA) will kick off the series with a pitcher's duel at 9:45 p.m. ET tonight. It will be deGrom's postseason debut while Kershaw hopes to erase memories of his last four playoff starts, during which he is 0-4 with a 7.15 ERA (all against the St. Louis Cardinals).
A big topic of discussion is Kershaw's 5.12 ERA in the postseason, but the left-hander has been the most prolific starter in the MLB over the past five seasons. He's also 1-0 with a 0.56 ERA, 0.63 WHIP and 18 strikeouts in two starts (16 innings) against the Mets this season.
As for deGrom, the right-hander has excelled in his second MLB season after winning NL Rookie of the Year honors in 2014. He has one start against the Dodgers this year, during which Greinke was the opposing pitcher, and deGrom hurled 7 2/3 scoreless innings and stuck out eight batters. He got a no-decision in the Mets' 3-2 win.
This NLDS series provides arguably the best pitching matchups of any other. Greinke and Noah Syndergaard are set for Game 2 and Brett Anderson and Matt Harvey are slated for Game 3.
While it'll certainly be pitching-centric, the obvious key will be the run scoring.
Can the Dodgers rebound after an awful offensive second half? Will the Mets be able to maintain their unprecedented production since the All-Star break?
The Dodgers do boast two of the top three Cy Young candidates, but their offense ranked 28th in runs scored during the second half of the season. New York ranked third in that category, but they'll have to deal with all of their starters making their postseason debuts, which will play a significant factor on the road in their first two games.
New York will need Yoenis Cespedes to snap out of his mini slump (12-for-55 with no home runs and two RBIs in his past 16 games) if they hope to get after two of the league's best pitchers.
The Mets do have a young team, but don't forget veterans David Wright, Curtis Granderson, Michael Cuddyer and Kelly Johnson have some postseason experience and their leadership will be valuable for the rest of the inexperienced players.
Los Angeles has been to the postseason the past two years with a many of the players on this team, so this will be nothing new for Kershaw, Greinke, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Yasiel Puig and Andre Either. Those who are new to the club this year (Howie Kendrick, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Brett Anderson and Alex Wood) have postseason experience of their own, which will come in handy for Don Mattingly.
Tune in to TBS at 9:30 p.m. for coverage of tonight's Game 1 matchup.
Click here for tonight's lineups.
Check out the live stream for Game 1 of the NLDS here as well as the live radio broadcast here (LAD) or here (NYM).
