LOS ANGELES -- After two very different games at Dodger Stadium, the National League Championship Series is all tied up and we've decided ... precisely nothing.
The New York Mets' 7-3 win on Monday more or less reset the series, not just in games won but in less tangible categories. They've stemmed the momentum by which the Los Angeles Dodgers had been propelled since they turned the tide against San Diego in the NLDS and, perhaps, created momentum of their own. Plus, with a travel day on Tuesday, both teams enter Game 3 with fresh bullpens and extra time to heal for key players going through nagging injuries -- good news for Freddie Freeman, Brandon Nimmo and Gavin Lux.
So after two games in 18 hours, we're kind of back where we started? Only now we're looking at a best-of-five matchup with the Mets owning home-field advantage. That last factor might seem huge, but, well, if you've been watching the playoffs the past few years -- it's barely a factor. Neither, really, is the momentum that for now feels like shifted from the Dodgers to the Mets over the course of one nine-inning contest.
"Each game is going to bring a new task," Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts said. "We all have the same mindset. When we lose, we're all saying to flush it. When we win, let's ride the momentum. But there's no secret to it. The game will dictate what happens."
That we know nothing doesn't mean we don't know anything, which might or might not be a paraphrase of something Yogi Berra once said. There are things to be gleaned from these first two contests, little factors that might well loom large in the days to come.
