Mets first baseman Pete Alonso's fourth straight game with a home run set the tone for New York in Thursday's 6-1 victory against the Padres, a series-deciding result that saw manager Carlos Mendoza's group (79-74) take 2 of 3 from San Diego (83-70) and hold the NL wild card's third spot by at least two games with nine regular-season contests left.

"He's locked in," Mendoza said of Alonso, whose two-out solo shot to center field off Randy Vásquez in the first inning put the Mets on the board at 1-0. "And when he's doing things like that, he can carry a team. We know he's a streaky hitter. We've seen it when he gets cold. And then when he gets hot, man, he gets on one of those streaks that he's pretty dangerous. And right now, where we're at -- if we get that type of Pete Alonso, our offense obviously will benefit from it, of course."

Alonso, whose 1-for-2 afternoon at Citi Field included a third-inning walk and seventh-inning sacrifice fly that capped the Mets' 6-1 lead, is slashing .270/.345/.526 with 37 home runs and 121 RBI through 153 games.

"I mean, I'm just happy that I'm seeing stuff to hit in the middle of the zone," Alonso said. "With that being said, getting those pitches in the heart of the plate, not missing them, is big. I just want to keep having quality at-bats and stay in every pitch and just capitalize on mistakes."

With a trio of three-game series left on the regular-season schedule, led by this weekend's set against the Washington Nationals and Friday's 7:10 p.m. opener on SNY, Alonso appears to be rounding into form for the Mets' postseason push.

"You always want to play your best baseball at the end of the year," Alonso said. "And if we can continue to do that -- it's not about how you start, it's not about how things happen in the middle, it's about how you finish. If we keep continuing to stay within ourselves and do the best we can and execute, then we're going to be in a really good spot."

The Mets picked up a crucial 6-1 win over the San Diego Padres on Thursday, clinching a series victory and getting them closer to stamping their spot in the postseason.

While young starter Jonah Tong was dominant and the offense -- led by Brandon Nimmo's three-run homer -- led the way, it was the bullpen that stood out and helped seal the win and the series.

Often maligned for its inconsistencies, outside of closer Edwin Diaz, four arms -- including Diaz -- shut down a high-powered Padres lineup to just two hits in four shutout innings. Tyler Rogers, Brooks Raley, Gregory Soto and Diaz each pitched an inning with the closer -- having not pitched since Sunday -- picking up two strikeouts in a ho-hum 1-2-3 ninth.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was asked about the bullpen and whether the piggyback situation on Tuesday, which saw Clay Holmes start and pitch four innings and Sean Manaea finish off their win, pitching the final five innings, helped save the bullpen for Thursday's series finale.

"It always helps," he said. "When I’m trying to be aggressive, taking the ball from the starters, when you know you’re set up with the guys, you’re trying to piece it together. But it was good to see those guys get the job done. Rogers against the top of the lineup in the sixth, Raley, Soto, and then Sugar finishing it there. It was good to see. 

"We’re going to continue to rely on those guys, but yes, having the piggyback situation on Tuesday, not having to use any of those guys, puts you in situations like this where you’re able to win series."

Nimmo for three

The Padres had just tied the game at 1-1 when the Mets came up to bat in the bottom of the third. A Juan Soto groundout pushed across Francisco Lindor to give back the lead for the Mets. After Pete Alonso walked to put runners at the corners with one out, Padres manager Mike Shildt pulled starter Randy Vasquez for southpaw Wandy Peralta to face Nimmo.  

Peralta got ahead of Nimmo in the count, 1-2, when he threw an 87 mph changeup that rode in on the Mets outfielder. However, Nimmo pulled his hands in and got the barrel of the bat on the ball and launched it over the right-center field wall for a three-run shot. That blast put the Mets up for good and after the game, he spoke about his approach in that at-bat.

"[Peralta's] very tough on lefties, great relief pitcher for a long time now," Nimmo said. "Just trying to get a job done, find the barrel to the ball and usually the way you do that is by getting him in the strike zone, and I was able to do that there and get the job done with two strikes. Just trying to keep things simple…sometimes you come through, sometimes you don’t.

"You miss all the shots you don’t take. Trying to go up there with a good plan, and we were able to execute and do something big there and get more done than I went up there hoping for."

Nimmo's blast in the third was the 24th of the season, tying a career-high he set back in 2023. It's the seventh game this season that Nimmo has driven in three or more runs in a game and he has now hit safely in 25 of his last 31 starts.

Nimmo's outfield assist

Before his heroics at the plate, Nimmo made a pretty big play in the outfield.

Tong found himself in some early trouble in the first inning, giving up back-to-back one-out singles to Luis Arraez and Manny Machado. However, on Machado's hit, Nimmo threw to Lindor, who quickly pitched the ball to Jeff McNeil at second base to apply the tag on Machado, who was trying to stretch the hit into a double.

"Able to get Manny at second and putting the pressure back on them and not make it so easy with second and third there, it definitely does change momentum in a game," he said. "Glad to be a part of that, Francisco and Jeff executing the play, glad we can help out there."

Tong was able to get out of that jam by striking out Jackson Merrill to leave Arraez stranded at third base. The young right-hander was able to coast from there, allowing one unearned run through five innings and striking out a career-high eight batters.

What we learned as Giants' offense struggles in demoralizing loss to Dodgers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX SCORE

LOS ANGELES — The Giants did not get any help before they took the field Thursday. The New York Mets won their afternoon game and the Cincinnati Reds got a shutout from ace Hunter Greene.

They did, however, get a few gifts once they took the field at Dodger Stadium. Yoshinobu Yamamoto walked six batters and a couple of Dodgers relievers combined for four free passes in an inning, but the Giants couldn’t capitalize. They had just one hit, losing 2-1 in what was a must-win game given how good Logan Webb was.

The Giants fell behind 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth, but right-hander Michael Kopech walked the first two batters of the seventh. After a strikeout, right-hander Blake Treinen entered and walked Heliot Ramos and Rafael Devers, pushing a run across.

A well-placed ball in play would have tied the game and anything in a gap would have given the Giants the lead, but Willy Adames went down looking and Matt Chapman struck out swinging.

The Giants drew double-digit walks at Dodger Stadium for the first time since July 19, 2002, but that game went 12 innings. On this night, the walks were clustered in seven innings but led to one run.

With the loss, the Giants are now four games behind the New York Mets if you include the tiebreaker. They have just nine games left in the season and probably need to win out to have a shot.

Digging Deep At Short

Adames had a really slow start defensively this season, but he has looked like an above-average shortstop for several months and he made two strong plays in the sixth inning Thursday. With runners on second and third, Adames made a perfect throw to the plate to cut down catcher Ben Rortvedt, but Patrick Bailey dropped it and the go-ahead run scored.

Later in the inning, with runners on first and third, Adames saved a run with an athletic play on a grounder to the hole at short.

Willy Adames made two really good plays at short that inning. Patrick Bailey couldn't hold onto the first throw, but this one ended the inning and saved a run: pic.twitter.com/38sBZLuV0B

— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) September 19, 2025

Adames entered the night at two Outs Above Average, although he had to dig out of a huge hole. His March/April metrics were the second worst in a single month for a shortstop this season, but the Giants now feel pretty good about his ability to stay there for years to come.

That’s More Like It

Given the stakes, last Saturday’s loss at Oracle Park was one of the most disappointing days of Webb’s career. But he bounced back in a big way Thursday, keeping the Giants in the game even as the offense struggled to get anything going against Yoshinobu Yamamoto. After throwing just eight sinkers last weekend, Webb was his old self, throwing 32 of them.

Webb allowed two runs — only one earned — in seven innings and struck out five. He threw 103 pitches on a muggy night, but there was some bad luck in the only rally. The whole feel of that inning would have been different had the play at the plate been made.
Webb is now 4 1/3 innings away from becoming the first big leaguer this season to reach 200 innings. He got to 211 strikeouts on the season, moving two ahead of Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes.

Left on Left

The Dodgers brought in lefty Jack Dreyer to face Bryce Eldridge with the go-ahead run on second in the top of the sixth and manager Bob Melvin stuck with the rookie instead of pinch-hitting Wilmer Flores. It nearly paid off.
On a 2-2 pitch, Eldridge smoked a 102 mph line drive to right, but it was hit directly at Teoscar Hernandez. In two earlier at-bats against Yamamoto, Eldridge struck out. The rookie has had some solid at-bats through his first three starts in the big leagues, but is still looking for his first big league hit.

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The holy grail is upon them.

For the first time in franchise history, and in the year after a global superstar led them to a World Series championship, the Dodgers will hit 4 million in attendance this season.

The Dodgers have led the major league in attendance every year since 2013, the first full season under the Guggenheim ownership group chaired by Mark Walter. In press releases, the Dodgers regularly note the team has “the highest cumulative fan attendance in Major League Baseball history.”

Yet the 4-million barrier has been an elusive milestone. Lon Rosen, the Dodgers’ executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said the team would officially pass 4 million tickets sold on Sunday, in the regular season finale.

“We’re proud of the accomplishment,” Rosen said.

Read more:'A baseball legend.' Clayton Kershaw announces retirement after 18 seasons with Dodgers

No major league team has hit 4 million since the New York Mets and Yankees in 2008, the final season of Shea Stadium and the old Yankee Stadium, respectively. The Yankees also sold 4 million in 2005-07. The only other teams to do it: the Toronto Blue Jays (1991-93) and Colorado Rockies (1993).

No team besides the Dodgers can hit 4 million anymore. The Mets, Yankees and Rockies all moved into smaller stadiums; the Blue Jays downsized theirs.

A team that hits 4 million must average 49,383 tickets sold per game. The Arizona Diamondbacks play in the stadium with the second-largest capacity in the majors: 48,330. The Dodgers’ average entering play Thursday: 49,589.

The Dodgers sold 3.97 million tickets in 2019, coming off back-to-back World Series appearances, and 3.94 million last year. They have not sold fewer than 3.7 million under Guggenheim ownership, aside from the two seasons with pandemic-related attendance restrictions.

“We’re a very successful franchise, and I attribute it all to the players," Rosen said. “We have incredible players. We have very popular players.”

Technically, the Dodgers sold 4 million tickets in 1982, former Dodgers vice president of marketing Barry Stockhamer told The Times in 2010. Under National League rules at the time, teams were required to announce how many fans actually showed up, not how many tickets were sold. The Dodgers’ attendance that year was reported as 3.6 million.

The Dodgers’ dominance on the field under Walter and his partners — two World Series titles, four World Series appearances and 13 consecutive playoff berths — has been accompanied by dominance on the business side.

In essence, at a time when cable and satellite revenues are collapsing, the Dodgers can finance their player payroll either from ticket revenue or from local television revenue. The Dodgers’ payroll is about $340 million this season.

The Dodgers’ SportsNet LA contract with Charter Communications, the parent company of Spectrum, pays an average of $334 million per season. However, the contract started in 2014 and extends through 2038, with the annual payment rising each year — to more than $500 million by the end of the deal, according to people familiar with the deal but not authorized to disclose its terms.

The Dodgers generated $4.29 million in ticket revenue last season for each regular-season home game, according to an internal league document first reported by Sportico and confirmed by The Times. That totaled $343.2 million for 80 home games last season, at an average ticket price of about $80.

As the Dodgers compete with the San Diego Padres for the National League West title, the Dodgers’ SportsNet LA contract exacerbates the financial disparity. The Padres have sold out 66 of 75 home games this season and have sold more tickets than any team besides the Dodgers and Yankees, but the Padres have cut payroll over the past two years, following the bankruptcy and subsequent implosion of the parent company of what was then called Bally Sports.

In August, the Padres told season ticket-holders their average price increase for 2026 would be 7% — the fifth consecutive season with an increase, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The Padres raised prices by an average of 20% for the 2022 season and 18% for the 2023 season, the Union-Tribune reported.

Rosen declined to discuss how much the Dodgers had raised the price of season tickets for 2026, although several fans told The Times their seats had increased in the range of 20%. Rosen said the Dodgers’ renewals were “going well.”

The Dodgers still have bills to pay beyond player payroll, of course: a robust staff in both baseball operations and business operations, Dodger Stadium operations and maintenance, minor league operations, revenue sharing and more than $100 millon in luxury taxes among them.

They also make money in ways besides tickets and SportsNet LA, among them national broadcast revenue, national and local merchandise revenue, corporate sponsorships, and stadium parking and concessions.

“We put the money back into the team,” Rosen said. “Our owners have done that from day one.”

Read more:A dominant Blake Snell provides 'a huge boost' as the Dodgers shut out the Phillies

With Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, the Dodgers already had a star-studded roster. The addition of Shohei Ohtani, and the tourists that follow him from Japan, supercharged the Dodgers’ business and finally vaulted the team over the magic 4-million mark.

It is not just that the fans come out to see a winner, Kershaw said. It is that the fans provide an edge that helps keep the team a winner.

“Without question,” Kershaw said. "Any time you play in front of a packed house at home, it’s important. We play every day. It’s hard to create energy sometimes, just because you play so much. I think having the fans behind us every day and seeing that packed house gives you that little bit of added energy.

“You play a day game on the road somewhere, and there’s nobody there, it’s hard to mimic. Even though it is a big league game, there are levels to this. Playing at home in front of our fans is definitely a home-field advantage.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

After dominating every level of the minor leagues en route to his call-up to the Mets in late August, Jonah Tong hit his first speedbump his last time out against the Texas Rangers. The righty recorded just two outs while allowing four hits and walking three. He was charged with six earned runs, raising questions about whether or not he’d even stay in the rotation moving forward.

In Thursday afternoon’s ultra-important win over the San Diego Padres, Tong rose to the occasion and silenced any doubters, allowing just one unearned run on four hits over his 5.0 innings of work, setting a new career-high with eight strikeouts while not walking a single batter.

“I threw a lot more strikes,” Tong said with a smile when asked what the biggest difference was this time around. “I just think from the very first pitch I had the confidence to attack hitters. I feel like I did a better job with it this time around.”

Following the game, manager Carlos Mendoza said that Tong “wasn’t messing around,” noting that the 22-year-old didn’t let Padres hitters back into the count once he got ahead of them.

“There’s a lot to like, after the last outing and even today in the first couple of innings. They put together some good at-bats and he was kind of scattered there,” Mendoza said. “…That’s kind of like the guy we saw at the minor league level, pretty much the whole year. Getting swings and misses with the fastball at the top, the changeup, the curveball, he was attacking, he was pretty impressive.”

Pete Alonso, who smashed his fourth home run in as many games, echoed the words of his manager, noting that Tong’s outing was not just great for the young right-hander’s confidence, but for the rest of the team as well, as the Mets collected their third win in their last four games as they look to secure a spot in the 2025 postseason.

“He was poised the entire day. …Really stoked for him,” Alonso said. “Like those bounce-back outings are huge for development. Again, we talk about a kid who’s still 22 years old. Obviously, he’s got sky-high potential, and you’re seeing him kind of develop into a big-league professional right in front of your eyes.

“Really stoked for him, and he threw the ball excellent for us today. It was huge for the team, but I’m really happy for him, because seeing him succeed and bounce back like that shows a lot of character.”

Clayton Kershaw, one of the greatest pitchers of his generation, will retire at the end of the season.

The 37-year-old is nearing the end of his 18th MLB season, all of which he has spent with the Dodgers.

Kershaw’s final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium will be on Friday, although he is likely to appear in Los Angeles again during the upcoming playoffs.

Related: Mariners’ Cal Raleigh hits 55th and 56th homers of season to break Mickey Mantle’s record

“On behalf of the Dodgers, I congratulate Clayton on a fabulous career and thank him for the many moments he gave to Dodger fans and baseball fans everywhere, as well as for his profound charitable endeavors,” Dodgers owner Mark Walter said in a statement on Thursday. “His is a truly legendary career, one that we know will lead to his induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame.”

As Walter suggested, Kershaw is a lock for the hall of fame. He is a three-time Cy Young winner and was named National League MVP in 2014. He is also an 11-time All-Star – he made the cut again this season – and won the World Series with the Dodgers in 2020. He has an ERA of 2.54 across his career and maintained a respectable 3.53 ERA in 20 starts this season, even as his fastball started to slow.

If there was a knock on Kershaw’s career, it was a lack of postseason success. The Dodger owns a 13-13 record with a 4.49 ERA in the postseason, a stark contrast from his 2.54 career ERA in the regular season, to go with a 222-96 record. The 2020 World Series win calmed those criticisms somewhat, though (Kershaw did not pitch in the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series championship due to injury).

The Dodgers have a six-man rotation heading into this coming postseason – although they have not clinched their spot yet, it would require a spectacular meltdown for them to miss out – which may mean Kershaw does not start.

“I feel that there’s a place for him on our postseason roster,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told ESPN this week. “I don’t know what role, but I think that the bottom line is, I trust him. And so, for me, the postseason is about players you trust.”

Kershaw always looked destined for an excellent career and was highly touted coming out of high school. The Dodgers picked him No 7 overall in the 2006 draft, a selection they have never regretted.