Japanese pitching ace Kodai Senga says he’ll “go at it 100%” when he takes the mound for the New York Mets in game one of baseball’s National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza announced on Saturday that Senga will get his second post-season start on Sunday in the opener of the best-of-seven series to decide a World Series berth.
The 31-year-old right-hander, a five-time Japan Series champion for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, was the surprise starter for the Mets in game one of their division series against Philadelphia after a season that saw him make just one start in July because of injuries.
He pitched two innings in the Mets’ 6-2 road victory, and after Mendoza said he could go as many as three innings on Sunday, Senga said he’d do whatever the team required.
“There’s not a number I have in mind,” he said. “I’m going until they take the ball away from me. And I’m going to go at it 100% until then.”
But Senga wasn’t about to discuss tactics against a potentially explosive Dodgers lineup that features Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
Asked specifically about how he would approach pitching to his illustrious compatriot Ohtani, Senga politely declined to say.
“I don’t think any pitcher would reveal how we’re going to approach an opposing hitter at this point,” he said.
Jack Flaherty was expected to get the start for the Dodgers, who fended off elimination in game four before getting past the San Diego Padres with a 2-0 game five triumph on Friday in their division series.
“It’s relief, it’s redemption,” admitted Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who watched his 2020 World Series champions fall in the division series in each of the past two seasons.
That included a loss to the Padres in 2022.
– ‘Job’s not done’ –
“I wanted to beat those guys,” Roberts said. “We all wanted to beat those guys really bad.
“But the job’s not done, and you will see the focus, the fire going forward, with the expectation to win eight more games,” he said. “And that Mets team is playing really good baseball — but we’ll be ready.”
The Mets and Dodgers will be meeting in the playoffs for the first time since 2015, when the Mets beat the Dodgers in five games in the division series.
They met in two series in the 2024 regular season, the Mets taking two of three in April and the Dodgers sweeping three games at Citi Field in May.
Back then, the Mets were floundering, but they stormed home for an 89-73 record, capturing a wild card berth in their penultimate game of the season and ousting the Milwaukee Brewers before dispatching the Phillies in four games.
Francisco Lindor has played a key role, batting .273 with 33 home runs in the regular season and collecting seven hits so far in the playoffs — including a go-ahead grand slam in game four against Philadelphia.
But the Dodgers have also proved themselves resilient, shaking off multiple injuries to post a league-leading 98 regular-season wins.
“I haven’t been a part of as much adversity as this ballclub has had,” Roberts said. “And not one time have we made an excuse or given ourselves an out to not win 11 games in October.
“I’ve never believed in a group of guys more than this group. I really haven’t.”
bb/js
