Cubs vs. Mets: By The Numbers
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The inevitable question was asked of Cubs ace Jake Arrieta after Tuesday night's NLDS win over the Cardinals: Dodgers or Mets?
As one might expect, it doesn't matter to Arrieta -- although he did toss a no-hitter against the Dodgers. However, the Cubs were 7-0 against the Mets. They were 3-4 against the Dodgers.
The Cubs' next opponent will be determined on Thursday with a decisive Game 5 in Los Angeles.
But that got us to thinking, how do the teams stack up statistically?
Here's how the Cubs' starting pitching fared against the Mets' hitting. We selected the Cubs pitchers used on the NLDS against the Cardinals: Arrieta (22-6), Jon Lester (11-12), Kyle Hendricks (8-7) and Jason Hammel (10-7).
(Click on images to enlarge.)
Here's how the Cubs' offense fared against the Mets' pitching. We selected three of the four Mets' NLDS starters: Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Matt Harvey. The fourth starter, Steven Matz, didn't pitch against the Cubs in 2015.
While the Cubs line up their rotation to their choosing, the Mets-Dodgers winner will have far less flexibility, as they both trot out aces Thursday when New York turns to right-hander DeGrom and Los Angeles gives the ball to right-hander Greinke. That would almost certainly prevent either of those players from pitching until Game 3.
Here's a similar comparison with the Dodgers.
Stats come from MLB.com.