The Chicago Cubs and the New York Mets play in Game 1 of their NL Championship Series on Saturday night. The MLB Playoffs 2015 is nearing its climax and whoever can claim this series will book a spot in the World Series. The game has a scheduled start time of 8 p.m. ET and takes place from Citi Field in Flushing, New York. The game can be watched on TV on the TBS network or online through live stream via the link below.
The Cubs will be confident coming into this series have won 7 out of 7 encounters against the Mets in 2015. However, this NLCS will be much more tense and high-pressured than any of those match ups, and the Mets are a team fighting for a place in the World Series, so those previous results may have little implication as to how things will go today.
Cubs catcher David Ross has acknowledged that the Mets have been a team on a journey this year, and are much-developed from the team they faced before.
Ross has said, "I feel like New York is a lot like us. They've grown up over the year. They're a much different team than when we played them earlier in the year."
When the two teams met in July, the Mets were on just 40-40, and through their three game series only managed to score one solitary run. The Mets were also missing a number of key players at that time, including David Wright and catcher Travis d'Arnaud, who were both injured.
In addition, rookie Michael Conforto was not playing in that series, as well as Yoenis Cespedes, who was only acquired at the trade deadline.
So fans can expect a very different team from the Mets side that were swept by the Cubs this summer.
Today's pitching match up will see Jake Arrieta vs Noah Syndergaard as both teams look to get their noses in front early on in this series. Jake Arrieta has gone an impressive 22-6 this season with a 1.77 ERA. Earlier this year against the Mets he went 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 16 innings.
Opposite him, Syndergaard has gone 9-7 with a 3.24 ERA. He only made his MLB debut against the Cubs in May, and at that time he allowed 3 ERA in 5 1/3 innings pitched. He came to the mound on Thursday as a relief pitcher against the LA Dodgers and threw 12 of 13 fastballs at 99 pr 100 mph. The Cubs will have to do an excellent job to navigate their way past him today.
Today's big MLB Playoffs 2015 NLCS Game 1 between the Chicago Cubs and the New York Mets has a scheduled start time of 8 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the TBS network or online through live stream by clicking here.
