Is Mets-Dodgers A Preview Of The NL Championship Series? After Wednesday Night, Let’s Hope So

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has been asked prior to each of the first two games of this week’s three-game series against the Mets if this is a playoff preview.

If Wednesday night is any indication, let’s hope so.

After the Dodgers displayed their recipe for October success in Tuesday’s win, the Mets did the same Wednesday, when Jacob deGrom, Brandon Nimmo and Edwin-Diaz (accompanied by Timmy Trumpet live on the field) helped the Mets to a 2-1 win in a tidy 2:19.

“That was fun,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said in one of the understatements of the year.

A good old-fashioned pitcher’s duel between deGrom and hard-luck Dodgers loser Tyler Anderson was enough to lend a late October feel to a game played on the final night of August with a first-pitch temperature of 79 degrees. DeGrom did his usual thing — carrying a no-hitter into the fifth inning, throwing fastballs at 102 mph and changeups at 94 mph, for crying out loud — and struck out nine over seven innings of one-run ball.

But the Dodgers nearly made deGrom pay for the handful of mistakes he made. DeGrom got three warning track outs in the second before Mookie Betts hit a long homer into the left field stands to cut the Mets’ lead in half in the sixth. Will Smith came within a few feet of giving the Dodgers the lead when he flew out to the wall in right to end the sixth.

“That’s a good lineup,” deGrom said. “There were quite a few balls hit hard and they were all on mistakes. They mistakes and they hit them hard. I had good defense behind me tonight.”

Nimmo provided the best defense in the seventh, when Justin Turner smoked deGrom’s 100 mph pitch to straightaway center. Nimmo, who once looked overmatched as a backup corner outfielder, glided backwards and timed his leap so he crashed into the wall and snared the ball just as it was beginning to clear the home run line.

“I think the toughest part of it is it didn’t hang up there,” Showalter said. “He had to totally commit to it. And it was a huge play.”

Nimmo, never one to conceal his emotions, pumped his right fist and did a wrestling-style flex and pose as a few notes of Van Halen’s “Jump” blared out from the Citi Field loudspeakers. And deGrom, never one to show any emotion, raised his hands, grinned and doffed his cap.

“He doesn’t do that easily, so it meant a lot to me,” Nimmo said. “But I’ve been playing this game for a while now and I knew that I had made a good play. So I was pretty excited about that.”

A scoreless eighth inning by Adam Ottavino set up something else for the near-capacity crowd of 41,799 to get excited about — the sight of Timmy Trumpet playing the opening notes to “Narco” as Diaz trotted in for the ninth inning.

The Mets of yesteryear would have figured out a spectacular way to blow the game and ruin the mood. But Diaz struck out Trea Turner on three pitches before retiring Freddie Freeman and Smith on groundouts.

The win evened the season series between the two teams at three games apiece — their final meeting is scheduled for Thursday afternoon, when Clayton Kershaw returns from the injured list for the Dodgers — and provided evidence the Mets don’t yet have to be the east coast version of the Dodgers in order to win an NLCS against Los Angeles.

The Dodgers’ 4-3 win Tuesday underlined just how they are equal parts a big-market behemoth and a turnkey operation in which any homegrown player — or random dude off the street — can be plugged into a vital role and immediately perform as well as the better-known player whom he is replacing. Andrew Heaney and four relievers — two of whom, former Mets Heath Hembree and Jake Reed, were recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City earlier in the day — combined on the 10-hitter.

Steve Cohen’s billions and his ability to get out of the way of the actual baseball executives he hires has already made the Mets far more resourceful and efficient than they ever were under the Wilpons. Remember Adonis Medina’s save in June against the Dodgers?

Still, the Mets are a long way from matching the Dodgers’ top-to-bottom thoroughness. But a top of the rotation headed by deGrom and Max Scherzer and the throwback style of baseball the Mets have played under Showalter gives the Mets a chance to win any short series.

“I’ve got to tell you, when we have a full house, I want the hot dogs to be hot and the beer to be cold,” Showalter said Wednesday night. “I want the parking lot (not) to be a problem. I want them to leave here (and say) ‘Boy, that was worth it and I want to come again.’”

Let’s hope it’s in late October.