Mets came back and beat the Brewers to advance to the Division Series

|| AP Agency

***Carlos Mendoza’s ninth took Milwaukee off the road in front of more than 40,000 people at American Family Field***

Pete Alonso hit a three-run homer off closer Devin Williams in the ninth inning, and the New York Mets defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2 last night to win the National League wild card series.

The comeback victory in the third and decisive game allowed the Mets to win their first playoff series since 2015, when they won the NL pennant. They now advance to the Division Series, which gets underway tomorrow in Philadelphia, against their bitter rivals, the Phillies, champions of the Eastern Division.

New York went 6-7 against Philadelphia in the regular season, falling six games back in the East standings.

The Brewers, who appeared in the playoffs for the sixth time in seven years, have not won a postseason series since 2018, when they reached the seventh game of the National Championship Series. Last Thursday’s defeat was particularly painful.

DODGERS CHANGED THEIR ROTATION

The Los Angeles Dodgers will change the order of appearance of Jack Flaherty and rookie Yoshinobu Yamamoto in their rotation for the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres.

Yamamoto will start the first game tomorrow and Flaherty will take charge of the second this Sunday at Dodger Stadium. The changes were made so Yamamoto can be available for a possible fifth game with an extra day of rest, as he has done in every outing this season.

The Division Series pits the Dodgers against the Padres for the third time in five years. The Padres won 3-1 in 2022 and the Dodgers swept 3-0 in 2020 on their way to winning the World Series in the pandemic-shortened campaign.

JUSTIN VERLANDER WANTS TO LAUNCH IN 2025 (BOX)

Three-time American League Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Justin Verlander said last Wednesday after the Houston Astros’ elimination that his career is still far from over.

“I feel like I have a lot more to give pitching-wise. This year was a difficult year, I learned a lot from it. Obviously, I talked to you about how I felt coming back and how I needed to push the issue a little bit,” Verlander said.