Did the Mets really prove they’re a threat to the Dodgers?

We haven’t even mentioned the fact that they’re also likely to see Tony Gonsolin, who has a 199 ERA+ that leads the National League. Gonsolin will obviously have to come back healthy from the IL to be a threat, but when he’s on he’s one of the best in the league (who the Mets also couldn’t touch in June when he put up a statline of 0 ER on 2 H in 6 IP).

The other factor to consider with LA’s lefties is some of the other subtle, or not so subtle, ways that it’d affect the Mets’ lineup. Most notably it’d mean removing Daniel Vogelbach from the lineup. Since the Mets acquired him he’s hit for a 151 wRC+. That’s a huge hit to remove from the lineup since he doesn’t start vs lefties (and for good reason as he only has a wRC+ of 27 vs lefties this season). For most of this series the Mets’ biggest trade deadline acquisition would be rendered useless.

The Mets may be able to overcome the Dodgers in October, but if they do it’s going to need to be on the backs of their pitchers and they’ll need some of their guys to outperform their means. What they did this week was not enough to convince me they can beat the Dodgers in the playoffs.

Their best course of action may just be to hope for Atlanta or Philly (both of whom hit lefties well) to knock off L.A. and buy themselves a friendlier NL East matchup in the NLCS.