After a roller coaster of comeback wins against the Milwaukee Brewers last week, the New York Mets took Game 1 against the Phillies 6-2, but the Phils squeaked by the Mets 7-6 in Game 2, which brings the series to Citi Field today(October 8) for the tie breaker and who will take the lead in the NLDS.
Game 1 was one of the most exciting games of the 2024 MLB postseason, with the Mets scoring five of their six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to win the opening of the series in Citizens Bank Park on Saturday. Even with Kyle Schwarber’s leadoff homer in the bottom of the first, leading the Phillies’ momentum, still didn’t keep the Amazins’ bats from cracking in the top of the eighth inning. The moment that Zack Wheeler left the mound, who kept New York to just one run throughout seven innings, the Mets took full advantage, driving in five runs on five hits. With Game 1 being the fourth comeback win for the Mets in the past week and a chance to bring the series back to Citi Field, it’s almost as if the Mets’ pennant position is destined.
The second of the two games put the NL East Division-leading Phillies in a comparable situation, knowing that they had to go back to New York for at minimum two more games against the Mets and their rivalrous crowd. Nick Castellanos could’ve possibly saved the postseason for Philly, hitting a walk-off single to left field to drive in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning in the Phils’ 7-6 win over the Mets in Game 2.
Castellanos ran to first base, dropped his helmet then ran back to home plate, where he met his son Liam.
“Lets Go!”, the father/son duo yelled to each other. “The best,” Castellanos said in his post-game interview with MLB.com. “Because when I’m old, and no one cares about me as a baseball player anymore, we’re going to be at home and be able to remember and look back at that.”
This NDLS Mets vs. Phillies series is so evenly matched, that down to today’s upcoming game, the Phillies and Mets record against each other in their past 100 outings, going back to August 2018, the record is split 50-50. Even in their past 1,000 games, dating back to July 1966 when the Mets franchise was just a few years old, the record is still in splitsville, 500-500. This rivalry leads up to the anticipation of Game 3, which will the give the winner the lead in this series and ultimately, bragging rights in their beef on the diamond.