Mookie Betts #50 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Bobby Valentine believes his former team, the New York Mets, are on a collision course to meet the Los Angeles Dodgers in a rematch of last year’s NLCS.
Both National League teams enter with high expectations as two of the best squads in the league. It’s no coincidence that both the Mets and the Dodgers met in the 2024 NLCS, with Los Angeles prevailing in six games before eventually defeating the New York Yankees in the World Series.
Fast forward a season later and both the Dodgers and Mets have two of the largest payrolls in Major League Baseball. The Dodgers return the core of their powerhouse team from last season along with the addition of Japanese pitching sensation Roki Sasaki. Meanwhile, the Mets made the biggest move of the offseason by signing All-Star veteran Juan Soto to a record-breaking 15-year, $765 million deal.
“I can’t imagine it not happening,” says Valentine to RG of a potential rematch in the NLCS between the Mets and the Dodgers this season. “I mean, I can imagine it not happening because anything happens in a short series, but I think they’re two of the best teams.”
Valentine was the manager of the Mets from 1996 until 2002, leading New York to a World Series appearance in 2000 while also leading them to the NLCS in 1999. The 74-year-old former manager says there will be “a lot of eyes” from Japan on the two National League powerhouses due to the amount of star power they both have from the country.
All Eyes on Japanese Stars
“I’m not sure about the young, young kid, Sasaki, whether or not he’s going to be ready this year or if it’s gonna take a little longer,” says Valentine. “He is only 23 years old, but I don’t think he’ll be delayed. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani are spectacular. You know (Mets pitcher) Kodai Senga is going to play a part in the Mets’ situation too. There’s going to be a lot of eyes from Japan looking at these two teams during the season.”
Both teams are off to sensational starts to the season, with the Mets at a division-leading 8-3 and the Dodgers at 9-4. Prior to going 1-4 in their past five games, the Dodgers had started the season 8-0, becoming the first reigning World Series champ to accomplish the feat.
Following the team’s 8-0 start, Valentine says that while the Dodgers remain the team to beat in the MLB, they do have some flaws.
“Well, everything’s going for them right now,” says Valentine.
“They’re coming back to win games and their bullpen looks better than it was last year. But Freddie Freeman hasn’t really been part of the act yet. And Mookie Betts is a little less than Mookie Betts, even though he is doing spectacular things, he still has to regain all of his strength.
“I think the Dodgers are flawed in their defense and some of the bottom of their lineup needs to be addressed eventually,” Valentine continues. “But they’re a really, really strong team, especially on the mound and at the beginning of their order.”
Doubts About the Yankees’ Chances
While Valentine says it’s “too early” in the season to determine who is the biggest threat in Major League Baseball to the Dodgers’ dominance, he does state that he believes the New York Yankees—the franchise that beat his Mets in the 2000 World Series—have too many injuries to overcome to repeat as American League champs. Ace pitcher Gerrit Cole is out for the season while fellow rotation pitchers Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil are out at the start of the season. That’s not even mentioning injuries to key batters such as Giancarlo Stanton and D.J. LeMahieu.
Valentine may not be too optimistic on this year’s Yankees given their injuries—they’re currently 6-5—but he says it would be “cool” to see the Subway Series take place again 25 years later. It nearly happened last season, with the Mets two wins away from making it happen.
“It’d be cool for me,” says Valentine when asked about the possibility of a Mets-Yankees World Series again. “I’d like to see it happen again. I think baseball in New York would really like it. There’s not all that much attention nationally to the New York teams (rivalry). When you bring the West Coast and the East Coast together, that’s pretty spectacular. For all of us who are New York-centric, that would be spectacular. It is 25 years later, so maybe the calendar will dictate that.”
DJ Siddiqi is a sports reporter who focuses on football, basketball and pro wrestling. He has covered some of the biggest sporting events, including the NBA Finals and Wrestlemania and often interviews high-profile athletes on a weekly basis. Siddiqi has interviewed the likes of Dan Marino, Emmitt Smith, Shaquille O'Neal, Tony Hawk and Giannis Antetokounmpo. His previous experience includes working as a lead NBA writer at CBS Sports and 247 Sports in addition to working as a beat reporter covering the NFL and the Denver Broncos at Bleacher Report. Follow Siddiqi for exclusive one-on-one interviews and analysis on key topics in sports
