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It was a big night for New York teams, the Dodgers’ ploy didn’t work for the second time, and we take a look at Jayson Stark’s playoff format survey. I am Levi Weaverhere with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!

NLCS Game 2: Mets rebound to even series

Mets 7, Dodgers 3 — What if Francisco Lindor had hit in the bottom of the first inning last night instead of leading off the game? It’s likely the opponent wouldn’t have been the Mets; Lindor was the team’s undisputed MVP this year. But in the 2019-2020 offseason, Andy McCullough reports, the Dodgers tried to turn Lindor into a Dodger.

It’s a fascinating reflection on what could have been. It’s possible the Dodgers wouldn’t be here without Mookie Betts, who they acquired in the offseason when the Lindor deal didn’t materialize.

Anyway, in this timeline, the Mets version of Lindor broke the Dodgers’ record-tying scoreless streak at 33 innings last night when he hit a leadoff home run. Mark Vientos added a grand slam in a five-run second inning, and it looked like the Mets would return the favor for LA’s Game 1 blowout.

Instead, things got a little tricky late. In the eighth inning, with the score 6-3 and two runners on, Mets-manager Carlos Mendoza had to call on closer Edwin Díaz for a four-out save. After an insurance run in the top of the ninth, Díaz gave up a single and a walk before striking out Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernández and Freddie Freeman to end the series and tie the series at 1-1.

For Vientos, whose grand slam came on an intentional walk to load the bases, the “personal” moment was just the latest in what is becoming quite a long list of big Mets moments in October. This slowed the momentum in the series as the teams flew cross-country to Queens for a day off before Walker Buehler took on Luis Severino in Game 3 (tomorrow at 8:08 PM ET, FS1).

Ken’s notebook: Dodgers face bullpen game questions

By my last column:

LOS ANGELES – The level of difficulty is high. The margin of error is small. The Los Angeles Dodgers played a masterful bullpen game in Game 4 of the Division Series. But their plan quickly went awry on Monday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, and they never recovered in a 7-3 loss to the New York Mets.

Manager Dave Roberts’ choices are fair game. Why didn’t he use high-leverage relievers early on Tuesday, with the day off, instead of avoiding them entirely? Why didn’t he retire rookie Edgardo Henriquez in the ninth on a one-out walk to Pete Alonso, trailing 6-3 and leading the Dodgers on a hit? With his team three wins away from the World Series, why did he pull it off with so little urgency?

All reasonable questions. Roberts revealed he had two leverage relievers behind him — not just lefty Alex Vesia, who is out for this series due to an injury to his side, but also righty Daniel Hudson, who is 37 and said he was only available in case of distress after reporting pain. after his 20-pitch performance in Game 1. So Roberts needed nine outs or more from rookie righty Landon Knack, who had a 3.65 ERA in 69 innings during the regular season. Knack entered the second inning and allowed five runs in two innings, putting the Dodgers behind 6-0.

The problem with any debate about Roberts’ decisions is that the Dodgers should never have been so dependent on Knack. They found themselves in this position because numerous pitching injuries this season put them in jeopardy. And if Game 3 and/or 4 starters Walker Buehler and Yoshinobu Yamamoto struggle, their plans could further crumble.

The Dodgers, after winning the first game of the series, were not nearly as desperate as they were when they were eliminated by the San Diego Padres in Game 4 of the DS. Vesia and Hudson both pitched that night, and Roberts didn’t use Knack until the ninth with an 8-0 lead. The team’s scoreless streak eventually reached 33 innings, tying a postseason record. But it was unrealistic to expect continued perfection from every reliever. Ryan Brasier, the opener, had three balls thrown at him at 100 miles per hour or faster in the first inning, including Francisco Lindor’s leadoff home run.

What if Roberts had started saying Banda in the second, Kopech in the third, stacking the high-leverage relievers one after the other and avoiding Knack as long as possible? The Dodgers might have kept the score closer, but Roberts said he ultimately had to use Knack. Knack, a second-round pick out of East Tennessee State in 2020, could one day be a mid-rotation starter. But your classic postseason pivot isn’t that right now.

More here.

ALCS Game 1: Yankees take 1-0 lead in Bronx

Yankees 5, Guardians 2 – One thing about having a lights-out bullpen as your biggest weapon: You can’t protect a lead if you never have one. That was the case last night for the Guardians, who trailed from the third inning.

But the last four runs did scoring with a reliever on the mound. After starter Alex Cobb loaded the bases with three walks in the third inning, reliever Joey Cantillo allowed the second and third runs to score on wild pitches (with a walk in between).

However, Cantillo’s blunders were not the difference in the match. The Yankees scored again in the fourth and seventh inning (the latter of which came on Giancarlo Stanton’s final home run). Those two points, combined with Soto’s solo shot in the third, would have been enough to overcome the single points Cleveland scored in the sixth and eighth.

So maybe I’m wrong. Perhaps sometimes the best way to protect a lead is preventatively.

Whatever the case, it didn’t happen. The Guardians’ vaunted pitching staff wasn’t able to get the job done against a Yankees lineup that suddenly looks a lot deeper, with Anthony Rizzo — who returned to action after being sidelined with two broken fingers — batting in the eighth spot.

Meanwhile, the Yankees got a big performance from Carlos Rodón to take a 1-0 lead in tomorrow’s game between Gerrit Cole and Tanner Bibee (7:38 PM ET, TBS).

Debates: Let’s talk about the playoff format

We linked to Jayson Stark’s story on the playoff format in yesterday’s Windup, but I wanted to revisit it today when we have a little more space, as it’s a topic that comes up a lot!

The question, simply put, is this: Is this the fairest format, or would some minor adjustments make it more “fair”?

To be fair, the assumption, of course, is that the fairest thing would be that the teams with the best regular season records would have the best chance of playing in the World Series. That’s not to say the deck should be heavily stacked in those teams’ favor, but as Stark notes, both the NBA and NHL — neither of which have byes — are seeing their top-rated teams win their first games at a higher rate then MLB. .

But here’s what I appreciate about Stark: he always digs a layer deeper. And he found that even before the new format, the teams with the best records weren’t exactly winning at an overwhelming pace:

• 1998–2011 (no wildcard round): 51.5 percent
• 2012-21* (single game wild card round): 54.1 percent
• 2022-24 (current format): 50 percent.

*2020 excluded

It’s only been three years, so we’ll have to wait a few more years before we can say it’s a disadvantage to have a bye (three of the four teams with a bye advanced this year, by the way).

You should definitely read Stark’s column; he examines the subject from every angle you can imagine, adding numbers every step of the way.

But if you want Mine opinion? I think baseball is just a high variance sport. In basketball, there aren’t five different point guards every fifth day, but that’s how starting pitchers work. In hockey, it is not necessary for defensemen to take as many shots as the center, but that is how batting orders work.

It’s one of the reasons baseball is the only sport with triple-digit regular-season schedules. It takes a huge sample size to truly determine the best team. Even a seven-game series can be a crapshoot.

As Stark concludes: “If you don’t want any setbacks, you shouldn’t have the playoffs.”

Handshakes and high fives

(Top photo: Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)