Dodgers must now be standard Mets hold themselves to and exceed

The Brewers were better than the Mets across 162 games, but the Mets were able to solve that thanks to one forever swing of Pete Alonso’s bat, and so they advanced out of the National League play-in series. The Phillies were better than the Mets across 162 games, but the Mets were able to solve that because at some point across the four games and five days of the NLDS, just about everyone stepped up to be counted, and then Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam to serve as a forever bookend to the home run he’d hit to beat the Braves in Game 161. There was a lot of talk about “magic” as the Mets kept grinding deeper and deeper into October, and those of us with laptops and microphones were among the loudest sonneteers of that storyline.But in its way, reducing what we saw starting on Sept.

30 to the misty mire of mysticism did the Mets a disservice.They were, after all, the best team in baseball from June 1 on.

That’s real.That’s legit. But sometimes, legit runs into legit. And so the Mets ran into the Dodgers.

The Mets’ 65-39 record after June 1 was the best in the big leagues but the Dodgers’ was fifth, at 61-41, and the Dodgers had the benefit of already being 37-23 by then. There was a reason why the Dodgers won nine more games this year than the Mets, a reason why they were able to ease into October rather than sweat their way in, a reason why they were able to sit out the play-in round.A reason why they beat the Mets in six games in the National League Championship Series that ended at 11:24 p.m.

Sunday when Francisco Alvarez bounced out to second base, ending the game 10-5, ending the season six wins shy of where they wanted it to go. And a reason why the Mets want to co-opt their conquerors. “We not only want to be like them,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of the Dodgers, who will renew their ancient postseason rivalry with the Yankees beginning Friday night, “but be better than them.” The Dodgers have made the playoffs ever...