The Dodgers dominate the New York Mets in a shutout win in NLCS Game 1

The Dodgers had been here before.

After an emotional five-game division series against a National League West rival. Playing in an NL Championship Series against a team they were much less familiar with. Four wins to reach the World Series and are considered the safe favorite to get there. But we have to regroup and make a 48-hour change from one series to the next.

In 2021, the Dodgers couldn't get it done. After defeating the San Francisco Giants in Game 5 of the NLDS, they lost Game 1 of the NLCS to the Atlanta Braves two days later. They never recovered. Their October ended early.

“We beat a really good team back then and then played another really good team and lost because we thought we could restart and get back into the flow,” recalled outfielder Mookie Betts, one of several holdovers from that team 2021. “That’s not really how it works. I think it was a great learning experience for all of us.”

Three years later, they were able to apply that knowledge this week.

On Friday, the Dodgers experienced the highlight of their season when they eliminated the San Diego Padres in a win-take-all game at Dodger Stadium.

They were back at it again on Sunday against the New York Mets, under a set of circumstances eerily familiar from the 2021 season.

This time, however, the two-day turnaround went more smoothly than before. In Game 1 of the NLCS, the Dodgers went 9-0 to keep the momentum going.

“I think we just stayed at that high level,” Betts said. “We didn’t try to reset it.”

Instead, the offense jumped on Mets starter Kodai Senga early, tagging him with three runs in less than two innings before adding three more in the fourth inning.

Jack Flaherty pitched seven dominant innings, extending the team's scoreless innings streak to a whopping 33 innings – a Major League Baseball postseason record – while also producing the longest shutout start in a playoff game for the Dodgers since Clayton Kershaw in 2020.

As if that weren't enough, the Dodgers' defense was brilliant, making diving catches at the wall, reaching for snags over the foul-ground barrier and even throwing out a baserunner after an unwitting error by the Mets' designated hitter Jesse out of Blinker in the fifth inning.

When the game finally ended, most of the 53,503 spectators had already left the stadium.

At this point, a clear statement about Game 1 had already been made a long time ago.

“The most important thing,” Flaherty said, “was to come out and set the tone.”

Sunday wasn't going to be that easy for the Dodgers, not after all of their preparatory work was limited to a 48-hour window.

Unlike their preparation for the Padres, a team the Dodgers had faced 13 times this year, including the penultimate series of the regular season, their last meeting with the Mets came in late May.

At that point, the Mets were 11 games under .500, appeared to be headed for a fire sale at the trade deadline, and it got to the point where one of their relievers reportedly said he was playing for the “worst team” (reliever Jorge López). , later claimed he had been misquoted), it was still credible.

Freddie Freeman celebrates with Mookie Betts after both scored on a single by Max Muncy in the first inning on Sunday.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Since then, however, the Mets have played like a “completely different team,” manager Dave Roberts said.

Their 66 wins after May 29 – the last loss in a three-game sweep against the Dodgers – were the most in MLB. Their first two rounds of the postseason were marked by dramatic moments, including Pete Alonso's go-ahead ninth-inning home run in the wild-card series and Francisco Lindor's NLDS-sealing grand slam a week later.

While the Dodgers struggled with the Padres, the Mets also enjoyed a few extra days of rest so they could start their top pitcher, Senga, as the starting pitcher for Sunday's opener.

But the Dodgers were ready.

The pitfalls of 2021 never appeared again.

Although the preparation lasted only one day, their coaching staff and scouting department worked much of Friday night, all of Saturday off and into the early hours of Sunday morning to get both the lineup and pitching staff up to speed bring.

“Basically, you study for a test,” said hitting coach Aaron Bates, who, like most of the Dodgers staff, spent more time in meetings than sleeping between the two series.

“You sleep later,” Bates joked. “Just drink lots of coffee, ashoc (energy drinks), whatever you need to do to stay awake. And then let the adrenaline out.”

The Dodgers also had a plan against Senga, the Mets' Japanese right-hander, knowing he would still face a limited number of pitches after just one start in the regular season due to shoulder and calf injuries.

“A saying that we've always had when you approach a guy who maybe doesn't give a lot of innings, or maybe it's an opener or something else, is: He'll go as long as we let him go,” said third baseman Max Muncy.

Because Senga lacked any command, the Dodgers didn't let him go deep.

Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy struck out Mets baserunner Jesse Winker in the fifth inning on Sunday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

In the first inning, Betts walked on four pitches, Freddie Freeman reached for a free base after a full count, and Teoscar Hernández watched as four more balls missed the strike zone to load the bases.

A subsequent flyout by Will Smith provided only a temporary reprieve.

After hitting a 2-for-1 count with two outs in the inning, Muncy threw a down-the-middle cutter to center field for a single. Betts scored easily in this game. Then he turned and watched as Freeman hobbled across home plate, with heavy ligaments wrapped around his sprained right ankle. Since Freeman couldn't slow down quickly enough, Betts took him in his arms and then hugged him.

“I got Mookie to stop me from falling over at the end,” joked the 6-foot-2 Freeman.

“I'm only 170 pounds and he's a big guy who's almost collapsing,” added Betts, who stands just 5-foot-10. “Luckily I lift weights so I was able to hold him.”

After another walk in the second inning, which was followed by a sacrifice bunt and an RBI single by Shohei Ohtani – who is six for eight with runners on base this postseason but otherwise hitless in 16 at-bats – Senga finally became chased out of the game.

“I thought the hitting coaches did a great job of coming up with a game plan,” Roberts said. “And then the players executed.”

The Dodgers further extended the lead in the fourth inning when another successful sac bunt (it was their first game with two of them since September 2021) helped spark a three-run rally.

The 6-0 lead was more than enough for Flaherty, who retired his first nine batters, held the Mets scoreless through the first four innings and finished his 98-pitch gem with six strikeouts.

“It was just a pitching clinic,” Roberts said, particularly pleased that it gave the club’s all-important bullpen some much-needed rest. “For us to get seven innings in a long series was huge.”

Flaherty faltered briefly in the fifth, giving up two consecutive singles to start the inning. The second time, however, Winker was thrown on the bases as the lead runner and made a puzzling decision after being hit by Kiké Hernández in center field.

Shohei Ohtani points to Mookie Betts after Betts hit a three-run double in the eighth inning on Sunday.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

When Hernández caught the bouncing ball, he lined up his body as if he was going to throw to third, but fooled Winker – who was between second and third – by shooting to second instead. While Winker bobbed his head back and forth in confusion as to where the ball had gone, he slowed his trot, allowing Gavin Lux to shoot to third, where Muncy subbed him out.

It was that kind of game for the Dodgers, who followed it up with a three-run double from Betts in the eighth.

“It’s about playing our game,” Freeman said. “It’s about continuing to apply pressure.”

Now they're in for another quick turnaround in this series, with a Game 2 matinee scheduled for Monday afternoon at 1:08 p.m.

But sleep can wait in October, as the Dodgers coaching staff happily noted before the game.