The Mets, again

The San Francisco Giants just faced the New York Mets, and took two out of three from them.

Now they meet again, and I strongly advise that they take three out of three this time.

Series details

Who: San Francisco Giants vs. New York Mets
Where: Citi Field, New York City, New York
When: Tuesday (4:10 p.m.), Wednesday (4:10 p.m.), and Thursday (4:10 p.m.)
National broadcasts: Wednesday (MLB Network, out of market only)

Where they stand

San Francisco Giants

Record: 80-44, 1st in the NL West
Run differential: +142, 2nd in the NL
Postseason standing: 1st seed
Momentum: 2-game winning streak, 7-3 in their last 10 games

New York Mets

Record: 61-63, 3rd in the NL East
Run differential: -24, 9th in the NL
Postseason standing: 6.5 games out of the division, 7 games out of the Wild Card
Momentum: 1-game winning streak, 2-8 in their last 10 games

Season series: Giants lead 2-1

Three Giants to watch

Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

Sammy Long: The series begins with a healthy dose of Sammy Long, which is always exciting. The Giants rotation has been a little hot and cold lately, with his 5.72 ERA but 3.63 FIP, certainly fits that bill. He’s been as fun to watch as he has been easy to root for, and this would be a good time for the best start of his young career.

Johnny Cueto: Johnny Cueto is back! I think that’s the good news, but based on how his season has gone that could either be the best news or the worst news. I guess we’ll find out!

The Brandons: Just going to lump Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt together here, with their gorgeous batting lines against right-handed pitchers: .312/.384/.554 for the former, and ... well, honestly, Belt’s actually hitting lefties a lot better than righties this year, but he’s still doing great against RHPs and for his career destroys them. The Mets are bringing three righties to the party this series.

Three Mets to watch

Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

Francisco Lindor: The Mets superstar offseason acquisition is back after missing well over a month on the Injured List. He hasn’t been great his first year in NY, hitting below league average after six straight seasons of hitting comfortably above league average to start his career. He’s still such an elite defensive player, at an offensively-challenged position, that he’s been a very good player. And at 27 with his history of success, I wouldn’t put it past him to right an entire season’s worth of ship against the Giants.

Tyler Megill: Megill is having a strong season, and was great against the Giants last week, allowing just 7 baserunners and 1 earned run in 6 innings. The Giants will improve their chances of sweeping this series if they don’t let Megill do that to them again.

Kevin Pillar: They’ll also improve their chances of sweeping the series if they don’t let former Giant Pillar hit go-ahead 3-run home runs.