For the first time since 2015, the New York Mets have advanced to the National League Championship Series. The Mets ousted the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 of the Division Series on Wednesday night (NY 4, PHI 1). The Phillies are going home and the Mets will play either the Los Angeles Dodgers or San Diego Padres for the NL pennant.
The Game 4 win came courtesy of (who else?) Francisco Lindor. New York's MVP candidate turned a 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 lead with his sixth inning grand slam off Carlos Estévez. Here is the game-winning blast:
The Phillies did bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning. Edwin Díaz, who's had an extraordinarily heavy workload over the last two weeks, walked the first two batters of the inning. He rebounded, striking out Kody Clemens, getting Brandon Marsh to fly out to center, then striking out Kyle Schwarber to end the game. That was Philadelphia's last gasp.
Here is Díaz striking out Schwarber to send the Mets to the NLCS:
Jose Quintana held the Phillies to one unearned run in five innings while his counterpart, Ranger Suárez, had the epitome of a bend but don't break outing. He stranded the bases loaded in the first and second innings, and managed 4 1/3 scoreless innings despite allowing nine baserunners. Suárez struck out eight and really battled.
The story of the series was the Mets punishing Philadelphia's bullpen. They hit every relief Phillies manager Rob Thomson ran out there. In Game 4, it was Jeff Hoffman and Estévez. In the four-game NLDS, Philadelphia's bullpen allowed 17 runs on 20 hits and seven walks in 12 2/3 innings. The entire bullpen become unreliable.
The Mets, meanwhile, held the Phillies to 12 runs in the four-game series, and seven of the 12 came in Game 2. The Phillies scored only two runs in the first five innings of a game in the series. One was Kyle Schwarber's leadoff homer in Game 1. The other was Alec Bohm's RBI fielder's choice in the fourth inning of Game 4. They rarely played from ahead.
Since early June, the Mets have been the hottest team baseball, and they've already eliminated two division winners this postseason in the Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers. Their offense has been relentless -- Game 4 was no better than their fourth-most miraculous comeback the last two weeks -- and their rotation on point.
The Phillies will head home for the winter and shift their focus to 2025. The Mets don't know who they're playing in the NLCS yet, though they will open on the west coast either way. The NLCS begins with Game 1 on Sunday.
