Is the Mets' magic exhausted? 3 takeaways from another Dodgers teardown

The faces in the crowd told the story. In the eighth inning Thursday night, many of the 43,882 fans at Citi Field found their way out. Those who remained mostly stared straight ahead, stone-faced, seemingly shocked and disbelieving, except for a moment when they let out sarcastic cheers after their pitchers finally succeeded in retiring Max Muncy.

The New York Mets, who had shown so much resilience and fortitude to advance to the National League Championship Series, suffered another tough loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were coming off an 8-0 loss in Queens in Game 3 suffered a 10-2 rout at the same venue in Game 4.

Here are three takeaways as the Dodgers pushed the Mets to the brink and were one win away from returning to the World Series for the first time since sweeping them all in 2020.

1. Is the Mets' magic exhausted?

The Mets' relentlessness is what got them here. As of June 2, they were 11 games under .500. From that point on, no one in baseball was better. A McDonald's mascot became an enduring image of a rising team and a changing mood. When the team started winning, “OMG” became their anthem. Not only were they good, they were fun too.

Francisco Lindor ensured the aura would last into October with his game-winning home run that sent them into the playoffs on the final day of the regular season. When Pete Alonso followed in the Wild Card Series and the team drove in two runs, was two outs from elimination and hit a game-winning home run against one of the best closers in baseball, this seemed to be a team of destiny.

Until they faced the Dodgers, who outscored them by 21 runs in four games.

The Mets hit .265 with an OPS of .808 with runners scoring during the regular season. In the NLCS, they hit .138 with a .541 OPS and seven RBIs in those situations. The Dodgers, meanwhile, are batting .333 with a .942 OPS and 24 RBIs with runners in scoring position.

In Game 4, the Mets had 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position and failed to score in any of them. Their most blistering offense came in the sixth inning, after Mookie Betts sent in one of his four hits that night for a home run, increasing the Dodgers' lead to five. The Mets responded in the bottom half of the frame by loading the bases with no outs.

And then?

Jose Iglesias struck. Jeff McNeil sent a fly ball to center field that might have been deep enough to hit Brandon Nimmo if it weren't for the plantar fasciitis that has hampered the Mets outfielder throughout the series. He didn't even try to score. When Jesse Winker's promising drive to right field failed just short of the warning track, it was all over.

At the beginning of September, the Mets' chances of making the playoffs were just 29.6%. If they're looking for some motivation, that percentage isn't far off the odds of winning an LCS with three elimination games to go. Teams that took a 3-1 lead won 82% of the time.

If the Mets can somehow find a way to climb out of the hole they've created here, it will be their biggest trick yet in a season that seemed magical up to this point.

2. The Mets' biggest advantage didn't materialize.

The tone for the series was quickly set as Jack Flaherty pitched seven scoreless innings in the best start of his Dodgers tenure, while Kodai Senga allowed as many runs (four) as outs were recorded in Game 1, the only matchup to go seemed to work out in the Dodgers' favor. The Mets should be the group with the premier pitching depth.

Sean Manaea proved this again in Game 2, battling through the opposing lineup as the Mets thwarted the Dodgers' bullpen game plans, ending the Los Angeles pitchers' streak of 33 consecutive scoreless innings and reversing the momentum as the series went to New York.

They had to be feeling good as Luis Severino and Jose Quintana faced Walker Buehler and Yoshinobu Yamamoto the next two nights.

Then the Dodgers crushed them in both meetings, beating Severino four times in Game 3 and Quintana four more times in Game 4, while a disciplined LA lineup forced both Mets starters off the field early. It was a difficult task for Quintana, who lives for the chase, against a team that was unwilling to leave the attack zone.

Meanwhile, Buehler and Yamamoto combined to strike out 14 batters and allow two runs in 8.1 innings.

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The Mets hadn't played Yamamoto since April 19, when he allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings. He didn't throw any sliders in this meeting. He stepped it up in Game 4, throwing 14, which tied a season high. The Mets failed on half of their 10 hits against the pitch, accounting for four of Yamamoto's eight strikeouts.

It was the same pitch that Yamamoto used on his last visit to New York to stun Yankees hitters when he hit with the lights on on June 7 in a game that many cited as an example of his ability before the playoffs to be, pitching seven scoreless innings was her brightest. However, it has been suggested that increased use of his slider may also have contributed to the shoulder problem that sidelined him for three months not long after his start against the Yankees. But there's no denying how effective the pitch is and how it plays with the rest of his arsenal, and he clearly felt good about it on Thursday night.

After Buehler posted 18 swings and misses in Game 3, his highest total of the season, Yamamoto followed with 16, his third-highest total of the year, in just 4.1 innings. That's all the Dodgers need before they put the game in their own hands, where they have a clear advantage.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza opted to save David Peterson despite Quintana's struggles on Thursday. Now, with their season on the line, they will turn to him for life and death in Game 5, perhaps with less suffering than Mendoza was willing to grant to Quintana as his night came to an end on Thursday.

3. The Dodgers' MVPs thrived. But there's much more to this relentless cast.

Since a former MVP was not there, two others took on the main roles. While the Dodgers gave Freddie Freeman a night off to rest his injured ankle, the rest of the Dodgers lineup picked up the slack.

“There was no excuse,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We expected to win this game tonight.”

It started from the top. Shohei Ohtani and Betts each reached base four times, with both going deep and the latter completing a three-pointer short of the cycle.

Ohtani started the night hitting 17-for-20, dating back to the end of the regular season, with runners in scoring position, a record in the live-ball era. Strangely, it was a completely different story as there was no one on base. On Thursday, he was 0-for-22 with the bases empty when he immediately ended the strange gaffe by smashing a 117.8 mph Quintana sinker on the second pitch of the game for a 422-footer. scored home.

He got on base three more times with a walk, which meant he was pitching to another MVP who often made them pay. Betts went 4-for-6 with 4 RBIs and singled Ohtani with a double in the fourth and a home run in the sixth.

There was no place for the Mets pitchers to rest. Tommy Edman had two hits and batted in three runs, October legend Kiké Hernández added two more hits and Muncy reached base each of his first four times, increasing his on-base streak to an MLB postseason record of 12 consecutive plates appearances before he was eliminated from the eighth.

“I wasn’t even aware of it,” Muncy told FOX Sports’ Tom Verducci after the game. “That's pretty cool. The biggest thing for me is getting on base for my teammates.”

Up and down the lineup, the Dodgers have coached the Mets' pitchers.

After drawing five walks in a win in Game 1 of the NLDS, the Padres stopped giving free passes to the Dodgers and did not allow more than three walks in a game in any other matchup. Against the Mets, the Dodgers walked at least seven times in every game. By the time of Betts' two-run double in the fourth inning, all four of her run-scoring hits had come with hitters leading.

The Dodgers have 16 hits and 24 RBIs with runners in scoring position in the NLCS. The other three teams in the LCS combined for 11 hits and 20 RBIs with runners in scoring position.

“I'm still having a bit of fun right now, but I'm already thinking about Peterson tomorrow,” Roberts said. “Yes, we still have some work to do.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the LA Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. Rowan, an LSU graduate, was born in California, grew up in Texas and then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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