Mets Win NLCS and Advance to World Series

Behind dominant starting pitching and a Not of This Earth offensive display by second baseman Daniel Murphy, the New York Mets swept four straight in the 2015 National League Championship Series from the Chicago Cubs and advanced to the World Series. They’ll face the winner of the Kansas City Royals—Toronto Blue Jays American League Championship Series.

New York’s pitching held the Cubs power laden lineup to just eight runs in the four games. The Mets defense helped a lot with that, turning sharply hit grounders and line drives alike into outs. Murphy, who hit a career high of 14 home runs during the regular season, became the first player ever to hit home runs in six straight post season games (going back to the last two games of the Mets’ Division Series against Los Angeles).

The Mets outplayed the Cubs in every aspect in this series, but this young Cubs team has a lot to be proud of this season and more importantly, they are positioned well for contending for years to come. With 97 regular season wins, plus a victory in the N.L Wild Card game over the Pirates and winning the Division Series over the Cardinals, they over achieved if anything. This was a team that was 73-89 in 2014. Starting position players Kyle Schwarber, Kris Bryant, Jorge Soler, Starlin Castro, and Anthony Rizzo range from 22 to 26 years old. This team is built for the long term, and hasn’t mortgaged the future to win now.

The Cubs still have some things to work on. The outfield defense, except for CF Dexter Fowler, needs improvement. Schwarber in left and Soler in right aren’t up to big league standards, but they’re young and will improve with experience and work in Spring Training and perhaps winter ball. The Cubs also need to add some depth to their starting pitching. Jake Arrieta (22-6, 1.77 ERA) carried too much of the load and cannot be expected to match this year’s performance next year. Still, most of the pieces are in place, so a run at the top in 2016 will be a reasonable expectation.