Superior Dodgers ready to beat Mets en route to World Series

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The Dodgers are on the verge of wrapping up the National League Championship Series before you can say New York twice.

They turn the Mets into a small-town blues melting away.

They release the Mets into their vagabond shoes longing for… oh, forget it, you shouldn't have to rely on a cheesy song to describe what's happening here.

Fact: The Dodgers are a significantly better team than the Mets. Fact: The Dodgers are perfectly prepared to end this tussle by the end of the week.

On a cool, windy Wednesday night at Citi Field, the Dodgers acted like kings of the mound — sorry, I can't help it — and posted a dominant 8-0 win that gave them a 2-1 lead with their two best starting pitchers on deck .

It's a good thing the Mets are in a city that doesn't sleep – the last thing, I promise – because they won't get much of it in the next 48 hours.

In Thursday's fourth game, the Dodgers start Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who held the San Diego Padres scoreless in five innings in his final postseason start.

In Friday's Game 5, they'll start Jack Flaherty, who held the Mets scoreless in seven innings in his final postseason start.

“We're close, we have a chance to win,” said Blake Treinen, who threw his usual perfect inning of relief. “…I mean, the ultimate goal would be to be able to go home with a few days off and watch a World Series. So yeah, win tomorrow, focus on that, take care of business and see what happens next.”

He's right. They really have a legitimate chance to close out the game before returning to Los Angeles, especially after the way they devastated the Mets on Wednesday despite starter Luis Severino on the mound and a boisterous, chanting crowd behind him stood.

The fans cheered. The Mets stumbled. The fans sang. The Mets relented. The fans left in the sixth inning. The Dodgers kept going.

Starter Walker Buehler was good enough. A 10-hit offense was more than enough. And the Mets weren't nearly enough.

It was the first time in franchise history that the Dodgers managed three shutouts in five games while winning by more than seven runs.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said Michael Kopech, who relieved Buehler in the fifth and eliminated the Mets’ dangerous leader. “To see Shohei put on a show every night, to see a guy with Walker’s talent take the lead and do what he does… it was a lot of fun for all of us.”

As Kopech mentioned, the entire game and postseason so far has been dominated by two shots from Shohei Ohtani.

With a hack in the sixth inning, he hit a ball out of his groin before striking out in obvious and embarrassing pain. With another hack two innings later, he blasted a 397-foot, three-run home run high over the foul pole in right field for the first time in the series.

He was vulnerable, then invincible, just as the Dodgers have performed in an October that may appear to be heading into November.

They nearly fell short in the division series against the Padres before finishing with two dominant wins. Then, in Game 2 of that NLCS against the Mets, they stumbled badly before storming back to reassert themselves.

“Everyone goes through their ups and downs, but we all believe in each other and it’s showing right now,” Mookie Betts said.

That unity was on display on a night where the Mets fell apart.

Despite playing in a cozy stadium where fans sang along to Francisco Lindor's walk-up music “My Girl” and danced to the strains of infielder Jose Iglesias' “OMG,” the Mets simply weren't thrilled and almost conceded the game , before it started.

In the second inning against Severino, with Max Muncy on first after a leadoff walk, Teoscar Hernández hit a bouncer in front of the plate. Catcher Francisco Alvarez made a terrible mistake, throwing to second instead of making the safe throw at first. The ball bounced past Iglesias due to an error and both runners were safe.

Then Severino dropped a bouncer from Gavin Lux and missed the chance for a double play, then he fumbled a grounder from Will Smith to score a run, and a fly ball from Tommy Edman gave the Dodgers another run.

Two runs in five batters and only one ball leaves the infield. The Mets were disheartened, an observation that only became clearer in the bottom of the second when Buehler struck out Alvarez and Lindor with the bases loaded.

The rest of the game was controlled by a Dodgers team that was home to home runs not only from Ohtani, but also from Kiké Hernández and Muncy, who set a Dodgers record with his 13th long ball of the season.

“It's definitely a blessing,” said Muncy, who matched Corey Seager and Justin Turner, and it seems everyone on this team feels equally blessed.

When the game ended amid empty stands and silence, the transaction was complete.

It was a typically enticing New York evening that, unfortunately, belonged to Los Angeles, Los Angeles.