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The Chicago Cubs dominated the New York Mets during the regular season, but will that matter in the postseason? The Cubs won all seven regular-season games against the Mets in 2015, although both teams will start from scratch when they meet for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Saturday in New York.
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Cubs manager Joe Maddon, whose team knocked off the St. Louis Cardinals in four games in the NL Division Series, does not think it means a thing.
"I really don't believe it does," he said. "The only thing that matters is we know we can beat them. They know they can beat us because based on what they've gone through this particular moment. So I don't think there is any real weight to be attached to that whatsoever. They're an entirely different team."
Indeed the Mets are a much different team. When the teams last met on July 2, Darrell Ceciliani started in center field for the Mets and Eric Campbell started in left field, while Johnny Monell was the catcher.
They have since added left fielder Yoenis Cespedes in a trade, outfielder Michael Conforto was promoted, and third baseman David Wright and catcher Travis d'Arnaud came off the disabled list.
And the Mets' young pitching staff has improved.
One of that Mets group of young guns is right-hander Matt Harvey, who will start Game 1 against Chicago veteran lefty Jon Lester.
Harvey was outstanding in his only 2015 start against the Cubs back on May 13. Harvey pitched seven shutout innings, yielding just three hits and two walks while striking out nine. Nonetheless, the Mets lost that game 2-1, one of four games against the Cubs decided by a single run.
"I think obviously everybody knows the series matchup through the year didn't quite go in our favor," Harvey said. "But I think we all believe that we're a completely different team, and the development of Noah Syndergaard and what Jacob (deGrom) has done all year, I think we match up very well against them."
In the first postseason appearance of his career, the 26-year-old Harvey gave up three runs over seven innings while getting the win against the Dodgers on Monday.
Lester, meanwhile, will be making his 16th postseason appearance and 14th start. He was the losing pitcher in his only start against the Cardinals, giving up three runs in 7 1/3 innings.
He knows the Mets lineup got stronger with the addition of Cespedes, who has two postseason homers.
"He obviously has a threat and makes that lineup a little deeper which always makes our job a little harder," he said.
The Cubs will start their ace, right-hander Jake Arrieta, in the second game on Sunday, while the Mets have not yet named a Game 2 starter.
Arrieta has not suffered a loss since July 25 and is 1-0 in his two postseason starts. He pitched a complete-game shutout in the wild-card win over Pittsburgh and gave up four runs in 5 2/3 innings without getting a decision against the Cardinals on Monday.
