Dodgers best Padres in Game 5, setting up date with Mets for NL pennant

NEW YORK — The Mets’ California flight will officially head to Los Angeles.

The Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres in Game 5 of the NLDS on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered five shutout innings and a pair of solo homers from Kike Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez punched their ticket to the NLCS.

In addition to the Mets, the Padres appeared to be the other team in the NL that caught fire, but they ran out of steam, going 24 consecutive innings without scoring a run and dropping the final two games of the five-game series resulting in their elimination.

The Mets and Dodgers will meet in the postseason for the first time since 2015 where the Amazins won in five games thanks in large part to Daniel Murphy’s heroics.

The star-studded Dodgers bring a lineup that features likely NL MVP Shohei Ohtani, 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts and notorious Mets-killer/2020 NL MVP Freddie Freeman. Dave Roberts' squad enters the series short on starting pitching as right-hander Tyler Glasnow’s season ended due to an elbow injury and veteran southpaw Clayton Kershaw will not participate in October due to a season-ending toe injury.

Jack Flaherty figures to be the choice to start Game 1 on Sunday for the Dodgers. The 28-year-old posted a career-altering, bounce-back season as he posted a 3.17 ERA over 28 starts between the Detroit Tigers and Dodgers.

The Mets faced off with the Dodgers in two series this season. The Amazins got the best of Los Angeles in their first series Apr. 19-21, taking two out of three in Chavez Ravine. However, the Dodgers got their revenge the following month, securing a three-game sweep at Citi Field.

Granted, the Mets are a significantly different team now than they were then. The Grimace, OMG and other magic hardly had begun to ignite their sensational run.

Storyline to watch

The New York-Los Angeles battle will feature the two frontrunners for the National League MVP award. Ohtani figures to take home the honors fairly handily as the 30-year-old posted a slash line of .310/.390/.646 with 54 homers, 130 RBIs and 59 stolen bases. The two-way megastar was the first player in MLB history to join the 50 homer-50 stolen base club.

Mets star Francisco Lindor made an incredible case of his own as Ohtani was strictly a DH and the shortstop played superb defense as well as being the engine of the Mets’ offense. The 30-year-old slashed .273/.344/.500 with 33 homers and 91 RBIs.

Whichever of the two MVP candidates has the bigger stamp on this upcoming series could determine which of the two squads is playing in the Fall Classic.