LOS ANGELES — Nine months ago, the New York Mets were watching the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate on the same field they played Monday. And after being beaten by LA in the 2024 NL Championship Series, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza acknowledged that his club still had a ways to go to get to the next level.
Dodger Stadium serves as a reminder of not only where the Mets were, but where they want to go.
“It was kind of like a sour taste,” Mendoza said before the game. “But also understanding that after everything that we went through as a team to get to the NLCS when nobody thought about this team. And we ended up facing the team that ended up winning the World Series.
“Different feeling this year. Understanding that they’re really good again, but we’re also good.”
It’s been a little over a year since All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor called the team meeting that salvaged New York’s season. The Mets would go on to have baseball’s best record from that point in late May en route to the NLCS.
One truth about baseball is how much things change dramatically from season to season. New players coming in and old players going out make duplicating the same chemistry challenging and oftentimes impossible. But the Mets have been able to do it.
Over the last calendar year, no team in MLB has a better record than the Mets, who are 103-61 since June 2, 2024. That’s six wins better than the Dodgers, who have the second-best record in that span.
In their first game back at Dodger Stadium since the NLCS, the Mets came out swinging. And who else would it be but their leader Lindor? The All-Star shortstop started the game with a leadoff homer, giving the Mets a 1-0 lead.
But even after relinquishing their lead late, and coming a matter of feet from being walked off by Shohei Ohtani, who already homered in the game, New York found its resolve. They’d go on to score two runs in the 10th inning to retake the lead, eventually winning 4-3.
“It feels good because you start the game 1-0, but at the end of the day, we understand that we have to play 27 outs,” Lindor said after the Mets’ victory. “That’s a really good team on the other side, tough team. They’re gonna play 27 outs, as well.”
This season, the Mets have shown that the identity they created last season was not only real, but also sustainable. This season, they have the second-best record in baseball (38-22) and are now 10-5 over their last 15 games.
“They’re grinding. It’s a group that continues to fight,” Mendoza said. “We went through a lot of adversity [last year]. Every team is going to go through adversity. … This group has been tested before.
And I just feel like not only do we have really good players, but they push each other, they prepare, and they’re not afraid to hold each other accountable.”
New York has now won three of their first four games against LA to take the upper hand on the season series. The Mets have started to get hot as they begin the month of June with a tough stretch, including two more in LA against the Dodgers, three games against the Philadelphia Phillies and six against the Atlanta Braves.
There is no revenge won in June, but the Mets’ win over the Dodgers and their success against them so far this season serves as a reminder of what they can be if they sustain this identity and level of play. And that’s not only one of the best teams in baseball, but one that can go toe-to-toe with the best in the West.
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