Mets-Dodgers: 3 things to know for Game 1 of the NLDS

For almost 10 years, Adam Wainwright's curveball has haunted New York Mets fans, many of whom can recall, in vivid detail, what they were wearing when Carlos Beltran sheepishly sulked back to the dugout, frozen by the rookie's bender for the final out of Game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series.

On Friday night, that lasting trauma may finally start to abate when the Mets, back in the playoffs after a nine-year hiatus, open the best-of-five National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, whose dominion over the West Coast continued in 2015 with a third straight division title.

Here are three things to know for Game 1 of the NLDS:

PLAYOFF DEMONS IN CITY OF ANGELS

What do the Mets get for winning their first division title in almost a decade? A date at Chavez Ravine with Clayton Kershaw, who has three Cy Young awards and an MVP trophy resting on his mantle at home.

Kershaw, arguably the most effective starter in baseball history, dominated once again this year, notably becoming the first pitcher since 2002 to notch 300 strikeouts in a season. Frankly, there isn't a meaningful metric in which Kershaw didn't rank among the game's elite in 2015. Wins above replacement? He led the majors. Strikeout rate? Also, the best in the business. Fielding independent pitching? Tops. Earned run average? Third, somehow.

At home, he was pretty much the left-handed embodiment of perfection, leading his club to 12 wins in 16 outings, while routinely turning even respectable NL lineups into nine-man contingents of David Ross.

2015 Home Splits

The most popular anti-Kershaw rhetoric has always come down to his performance in October. Despite historically magnificent regular-season numbers, the 27-year-old owns an ugly 5.12 ERA with a 1.24 WHIP over 51 career postseason innings. His playoff woes reached their nadir last autumn with two unforgettably bad starts against the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS: Kershaw allowed 11 earned runs in 12 2/3 innings, taking the loss in Games 1 and 4 as the Cardinals sauntered their way to the league championship series.

On Friday, in the friendly confines of his home ballpark, Kershaw will try to rewrite the least flattering chapter of an otherwise magical career.

METS' BATS MUTED

Buoyed by the addition of Yoenis Cespedes and the return of David Wright, the Mets were among baseball's most prolific offensive teams in the second half. However, since clinching the NL East last Saturday, they've looked, at best, unmotivated at the plate.

Though one week of data doesn't carry a ton of predictive value, there are more than few members of New York's regular lineup that started scuffling even before the Mets guaranteed their spot in the postseason:

Last 14 days

FOR DEGROM, THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

In a rotation replete with big names, no pitcher was more impressive than Jacob deGrom, who followed up his sublime rookie campaign by leading Mets starters in ERA (2.54), WHIP (0.98), FIP (2.70), WAR (5.2), and innings pitched (191).

At least some of his success can be attributed to the spacious environs of his home ballpark, where he allowed just two home runs in 95 innings. On the road, though, deGrom proved vulnerable to the long ball, allowing more homers per nine innings away from home than 77 percent of qualified starters in 2015.

deGrom still enjoyed plenty of success outside of Queens, but his margin for error will shrink Friday at Dodger Stadium, where he'll square off against a team that finished sixth in the majors with a .163 isolated power in 2015.