Three ways for the Mets to beat the Cubs

Matthew Cerrone
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Youth vs. Youth: The Mets have the young pitching, the Cubs have the young hitting. The Mets will throw Matt Harvey, 26, in Game 1. Later in the series, they’ll throw Noah Syndergaard, 23, Steven Matz, 24, and Jacob deGrom, 27. Meanwhile, the Cubs will start 1B Anthony Rizzo, 26, 3B Kris Bryant, 23, C Kyle Schwarber, 22, and outfielder Jorge Soler, 23, and SS Javier Baez, 22, all of whom have outstanding power. The winner of this battle will clearly end up taking the series.

Mets Hitters: The Cubs are going to hit, that much is clear. In their last series, New York faced Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke in four games, so it’s understandable they’d struggle to hit. In the one game those two didn’t pitch, the Mets erupted for 13 runs. The Mets will still need to face Jake Arietta twice in the NLCS. I need to see more from David Wright and Lucas Duda. I’m hoping Duda sits during Game 1 against Jon Lester, but after that he’ll be in the lineup and he’s got to do more to contribute to his team’s offense. He was 2-for-18 with 11 strikeouts and no extra-base hits in the NLCS. Similarly, Wright had only one hit in the NLDS. He drew five walks, which is great, but he also struck out in seven of his 16 at-bats. This has to change if the Mets want to outscore the Cubs.

It’s time to run: The Mets need to steal bases and hit and run against Game 1 starting pitcher Lester. The Cubs have been terrible at stopping people from stealing bases this season. Also, Lester is known for having issues throwing to first base. He tries to make up for it with a quick and inconsistent delivery to the plate. However, when teams run, it often throws off his rhythm. The Mets don’t steal a ton of bases, but they have smart runners, specifically Curtis Granderson, Wright and Daniel Murphy, who have proven to be successful when they believe it’s the right time to run. This is an area the Mets can tip the game a bit, if they have the guts to go.

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