For the fifth time in franchise history, the New York Mets will be heading to the World Series behind a historic performance from their second baseman, Daniel Murphy.
Murphy powered the Mets to a sweep over the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS and he won the NLCS MVP as a result of his huge contribution to New York’s sweep. In the NLCS against Chicago, Murphy averaged .529 with 4 homeruns and 6 RBIs in the series. In game four, with the game already in hand, Murphy made sure the game would be out of reach when he blasted a homerun and became the first player to ever hit six consecutive homeruns in a postseason, breaking Carlos Beltran’s record in 2004.
Murphy wasn’t the only member of the Mets to showout in game four. Slumping slugger Lucas Duda exploded when it mattered most with three hits, including two doubles and finished with five RBIs, matching the most RBIs in a postseason game in franchise history. Duda got the game going with a three-run homerun in the first inning and he was shortly followed by young catcher Travis D’arnaud who hit a homerun of his own to give the Mets an early 4-0 lead.
The Mets swept the Cubs in dominating fashion, never trailing once in the series, becoming the sixth team in MLB history to do so, the last was the 2012 Detroit Tigers who swept the New York Yankees in 2012 ALCS but went on to get swept by the San Fransisco Giants. The Mets struggled against the Cubs during the regular season but when the postseason came around, they turned it up to another level. They are the first team to ever lose seven games in the regular season to one team and then comeback to win four straight games against that same team, per Elias Sports Bureau.
New York must now wait as the series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals heads to game six in Toronto with the Royals up in the series, 3-2. David Price, who is 0-7 as a starter in the playoffs, will be taking the mound for the Blue Jays in game six in an attempt to show everyone why Toronto gave up a hefty amount of talent to acquire him as their ace.
The World Series begins on Monday as the winner of the ALCS will be hosting the first two games of the fall classic.
