Daily News | Phillies avoid vaunted Dodgers, will face Padres in NLCS after wild rally
Not even close.
The Dodgers had entered the postseason as presumptive World Series favorites after winning a franchise-record 111 games in the regular season. With the National League’s second-largest payroll and a roster that includes four former league Most Valuable Player Awards, they and the Mets were the two biggest reasons to doubt whether the Phillies were true World Series contenders.
San Diego was one of the biggest stories in baseball over the second half of the season after an aggressive trade deadline performance in which they added the brightest young star in the sport in slugger Juan Soto plus a trio of other upgrades.Here’s an early look at some of the matchups and plot lines as the Phillies prepare to travel to San Diego for Tuesday’s NLCS opener, time TBD.
The Padres have a number of different options that they can choose from, but the smart money is on veteran righty Yu Darvish getting the start in Game 1. Darvish, a five-time All-Star who finished second in NL Cy Young voting with the Cubs in 2020, has won both of this starts this postseason while allowing four runs on 13 hits and two walks with 11 strikeouts in 12 innings.