Denied home field, Mets to open NLDS in LA

NEW YORK -- One indignity after another has the Mets far from worried. Shortly after Max Scherzer no-hit the Mets on Saturday night, sending them to a doubleheader sweep and their fifth straight loss, the Dodgers closed out a win over the Padres to clinch National League Division Series home-field advantage.

The Mets will open the NLDS on Friday in Los Angeles, with Jacob deGrom on the mound.

"We wanted to start out here at home," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "[Now] we've got to go out there. But we've played pretty good on the road lately."

The Mets finished 41-40 on the road, compared to 48-32 at home with one game to play. That road record includes two wins in three games at Dodger Stadium in July.

For days, Collins has talked about the potential for tricky shadows at Dodger Stadium, with the Mets anticipating an early evening local time start. He knows that will make facing Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke even more difficult, though the Mets are confident in their own pitchers -- deGrom for Game 1 and likely Noah Syndergaard for Game 2.

"We're running some pretty good guys out there, too," Collins said. "You've just got to go out there, play as well as you can and grind out at-bats against them. We've played the Dodgers pretty well, so we'll get ourselves ready this week, and if it means you've got to see Kershaw and Greinke in the shadows … it'll get dark eventually."