It should surprise absolutely nobody that a winner-take-all Game 5 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets in the National League Division Series will come down to two of the best aces in baseball.
Zack Greinke gets the ball for the Dodgers at home, while Mets star Jacob deGrom takes to the mound in a Thursday night showdown that will decide who advances to face the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS.
L.A. has the momentum after Clayton Kershaw helped propel them to a crucial Game 4 win in the Big Apple, but it will need a similar outing from Greinke to keep the season alive.
Let's take a look at everything to know for Game 5.
Game 5: Mets at Dodgers
Date/Time (ET): Thursday, Oct. 15 at 8 p.m.
TV: TBS
Live Stream: TBS.com
Tickets: ScoreBig.com
Game 5 Preview
Baseball nuts may have already gotten their fill of Game 5 action Wednesday when a pair of thrilling ALDS affairs saw two teams get bounced from the postseason picture. But that was only the appetizer for what may turn out to be the best pitching duel of these playoffs.
Greinke has seemingly completed the impossible task of outshining the mighty Kershaw even while playing on the same team. His 19-3 record and 1.66 ERA are both jaw-dropping numbers, especially for the designated No. 2 pitcher on his own team.
He did allow two home runs in Game 2, but Greinke shook it off and dominated the rest of the outing to get the Dodgers back into the series. Beyond two pitches he would like to have back, he pitched marvelously against the Mets' streaky bats.
If he fails to repeat that performance, though, it could be the last time in a Dodgers uniform for the soon-to-be 32-year-old. Greinke can opt out of his remaining three years and $71 million, according to Spotrac, and is likely to do so after Max Scherzer and Jon Lester inked contracts nearing $30 million per year last offseason.
Those rumblings are even causing Dodgers players to wonder if this is the end of the road for Greinke in L.A., as Dylan Hernandez of Los Angeles Times reported.
"If this is Zack's last season with us, I've had a great time playing with him," Kershaw said. "Definitely some of the most fun I've ever had watching someone pitch every five days. I hope it's not the last one."
There won't be any such thoughts for deGrom, who is embarking on a special season in his own right and is arguably the best bargain in baseball. He only rakes in a base salary of $556,875 this season, according to Spotrac.
That number is obviously going to change dramatically this offseason, especially if he continues his torrid pace against Dodgers bats, as ESPN Stats & Info observed:
Money can't buy everything in baseball, as has been proved countless times in the recent past. When October rolls around, it's more about which squad has the belief and the confidence to put up runs against the best pitching.
So far in this series, that has gone the way of the Mets. Their bats have raked in 19 runs this series to L.A.'s 16, and they've done so in a more impressive fashion.
Greinke is pitching remarkably well this season, but deGrom has more of a command of his arsenal of pitches at the moment. That will ring true again Thursday, propelling the Mets to the NLCS for the first time since 2006.
Prediction: Mets 3, Dodgers 1
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