Mets providing blueprint to beat Cubs

In case you have been living under a rock the past week, the New York Mets steamrolled the Chicago Cubs, and it was just as I expected. Good pitching beats good hitting almost every single time. This is why until the latter half of the season, I was excited about the playoffs for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals had that good pitching that every team is searching for. They had the best rotation in baseball and the best bullpen in baseball and things were going good, real good. However, if you’re like me and you’re stats and trends junky, it was a pretty much forgone conclusion that the Cardinals were going to struggle with the Cubs.

If you watched any of this series at all, you noticed that it was distinctly different from the Cubs/Cardinals NLDS that we all endured last week. Up until Game 4 last night, the Mets did not let the Cubs get runners on base, which limited their power. No, they weren’t necessarily able able to cool off Kyle Schwarber and keep him in the ball park all series long, but both of Schwarber’s blasts were solo shots, showing that the Cubs were unable to get guys on in front of their big bats for most of the series.

In the four games of the series, the Cubs’ hitters had a slash of .164/.225/.297 totaling just nine extra-base hits through the series (4 home runs and five doubles) in 128 at-bats, they also struck out 37 times in those 128 at-bats, for a 29% strikeout rate. Oh it gets worse, in 19 at-bats with runners in scoring position the Cubs had four total hits (one being Bryant’s HR last night), and two walks, while striking out in seven of those at-bats, that’s good for a 37% strikeout rate (not good).

To start the series, the Dark Knight (Matt Harvey) shut the Cubs’ offense down going 7.2 innings, allowing four hits, two walks, and two runs, all while striking out nine Cubs’ batters. The next night “Thor” (Noah Syndergaard) shut the “lovable losers'” lineup down himself going 5.2 innings, allowing, three hits, one walk, and striking out nine Cubs’ hitters.

Tuesday night, the Mets’ third ace Jacob deGrom, took the hill and did his part. He went seven strong innings, allowing two runs, on four hits and one walk, striking out seven Cubs’ batters in his seven innings. Now, deGrom did give up two home runs (Schwarber and Jorge Soler), but that was only two of the four hits that deGrom allowed.

Last night was a bit different, as the inexperienced rookie Steven Matz took the hill for the Mets. Matz had a somewhat disappointing night as he was the only Mets’ starting pitcher who failed to go five innings. Matz wasn’t too bad as he only allowed four hits, one run, and two walks in his 4.2 innings, striking out four.

Matz’s early departure was due to a 76 pitch count with two outs in the fifth, and Cubs’ hitters starting to put hits together against him. Easy choice for Terry Collins to go to his well rested bullpen to finish the night off. Keep an eye on Matz as he’s either going to be trade bait for the Mets to get some offense this winter or he’s going to be a solid rookie of the year candidate for the Mets next season.