The Chicago Cubs and New York Mets square off in a 2015 National League Championship Series clash of the perennial underdogs. Whether it's Chicago getting a chance to exorcise 96 years of demons in this year's World Series or the Mets heading to the big stage in search of their first title in 29 years, we're guaranteed history once this series is finished. Who's got the edge? Who's going to advance? Here's our Cubs vs. Mets: Complete NLCS Preview & Prediction.
Projected Pitching Matchups (CHI vs. NYM)*
* Game 2-7 matchups still TBA
Game 1: Jon Lester (11-12) vs. Matt Harvey (13-8)
Game 2: Jake Arrieta (22-6) vs. Noah Syndergaard (9-7)
Game 3: Kyle Hendricks (8-7) vs. Jacob deGrom (14-8)
Game 4: Jason Hammel (10-7) vs. Steven Matz (4-0)
Game 5*: Lester vs. Harvey
Game 6*: Arrieta vs. Syndergaard
Game 7*: Hendricks vs. deGrom
How New York Wins The Series
Lean on Harvey, Syndergaard, DeGrom. Steal one from Lester and Arrieta.
To be perfectly frank, New York becomes the favorite in this series if they get out of Games 1 & 2 in Flushing with a split. Taking down either Jon Lester or Cy Young favorite Jake Arrieta will provide a massive boost of confidence and swing the series in favor of New York's startling cache of starting pitching depth. Heading back to Chicago 1-1, the Mets will likely have Jacob deGrom on the hill for Game 3 against either Kyle Hendricks or Jason Hammel -- a matchup which tilts decidedly in NY's favor. All the Mets have to do is bleed a couple runs out of Lester or Arrieta in one or two of their four projected starts (likely with Curtis Granderson/Daniel Murphy-led small ball), hand the ball over to a streaking bullpen, set it and forget it.
It sound simple. It's not, but it's the key to this series for New York.
How Chicago Wins The Series
Win Lester and Arrieta's starts. If not, hold on for dear life.
Manager Joe Maddon employs a simple strategy with the two tiers of his pitching staff. He rides Lester and Arrieta like the ace workhorses they are, while keeping the others (Jason Hammel, Kyle Hendricks) on a short leash and yanking them as soon as they get into trouble. The Cubs offense is going to be a same walk, strikeout, home run three-true outcome beast that it's been all year. Even against the Mets' power pitching, Chicago's young sluggers will produce. The trick here is for Joe Maddon to supplement the offense in games not started by Lester and Arrieta will deft handling of the bullpen and smart left-on-left/right-on-right matchup plays.
If Maddon can do that, the Cubs may be able to neutralize a revived Mets lineup and survive an Arrieta/Lester loss (or two).
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Prediction: Cubs in seven
Just like the ALCS, this series is way too close to call with any real level of confidence. However, we do trust the Cubs' lineup construction more than we do the Mets'. Anthony Rizzo and company pull it off with some clutch late-inning heroics, sending Chicago back to the World Series for the first time since 1945.
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