Schedule and 2015 Results
Regular Season Records: New York Mets 90-72, Chicago Cubs 97-65
Game 1 on Saturday, 17 October: Chicago Cubs lose at New York Mets, 4-runs-2
Game 2 on Sunday, 18 October: Chicago Cubs lose at New York Mets, 4-runs-1
Game 3 on Tuesday, 20 October: New York Mets win at Chicago Cubs, 5-runs-2
Game 4 on Wednesday, 21 October: New York Mets win at Chicago Cubs, 8-runs-3

SERIES NOTES:

After Game 4: The New York Mets visited and defeated the Chicago Cubs 8-runs-3 to complete a 4-games-nil best-of-7 MLB/NBA/NHL playoff series 1285 victory. With the series 1285 win, the New York Mets improve their best-of-7 MLB playoff series record to 5-5 overall and 3-3 in the Semifinals round. With the series 1285 loss, the Chicago Cubs see their best-of-7 MLB playoff series record fall to 2-11 (with an active ten-series losing streak) overall and 0-3 in the Semifinals round. The win order for the victorious New York Mets in series 1285 was WWWW: Series 1285 thus becomes the eighth MLB Semifinals-round series, the 29th MLB series (all rounds), and the 212th MLB/NBA/NHL series (all rounds) to follow that win order to completion. The Chicago Cubs have seen to it in series 1285 that the 2015 MLB Semifinals is the fourth consecutive MLB Semifinals season in which a team scored three or fewer runs on the road in an entire series. Since the New York Mets not only swept the Chicago Cubs but also denied them so much as a single lead, series 1285 thus becomes only the sixth best-of-7 MLB playoff series annihilation - a best-of-7 series sweep in which the swept team had not held any in-game lead at all during the series. During series 1285, the second and fifth innings of Game 3 were the only two innings in which the New York Mets did not hold a lead at some point in the inning. With their series 1285 loss, the Chicago Cubs best-of-7 MLB playoff series losing streak is now at ten and counting; the Cubs now have a 0-9 best-of-7 MLB playoff series record upon losing Game 1 of the series.

After Game 3: The New York Mets visited and defeated the Chicago Cubs 5-runs-2 to take a best-of-7 MLB/NBA/NHL playoff series 1285 lead of 3-games-nil. When leading a best-of-7 MLB/NBA/NHL playoff series 3-games-nil, the New York Mets have a series record of 0-0 and a Game 4 record of 0-0. When trailing a best-of-7 MLB/NBA/NHL playoff series 3-games-nil, the Chicago Cubs have a series record of 0-3 and a Game 4 record of 1-2. The Chicago Cubs become the 335th MLB/NBA/NHL team to fall into a 3-games-nil deficit in a best-of-7 playoff series, and will attempt to become the sixth team to achieve a 4-games-3 series victory in the wake of such a deficit. From the start of series 1285, the New York Mets led the Chicago Cubs at some point in the first 19 innings of the series without once trailing, thereby tying the New York Yankees in series 936 (against the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS) for the second-longest such streak in best-of-7 MLB playoff series history. Just as the Boston Red Sox rallied from a 3-games-nil deficit to defeat the Yankees 4-games-3 in series 936, so it is that the Cubs will try to do likewise against the Mets in series 1285. For their part, the Mets in Game 4 will attempt to achieve not only a sweep but also an "annihilation" over the Cubs, insofar as the Cubs have yet to hold a lead in series 1285.

After Game 2: The New York Mets hosted and bested the Chicago Cubs 4-runs-1 to take a best-of-7 MLB/NBA/NHL playoff series 1285 lead of 2-games-nil. When leading a best-of-7 MLB/NBA/NHL playoff series 2-games-nil, the New York Mets have a series record of 1-0 and a Game 3 record of 0-1. When trailing a best-of-7 MLB/NBA/NHL playoff series 2-games-nil, the Chicago Cubs have a series record of 0-4 and a Game 3 record of 1-3. Series 1285 appears to have become only the fifth best-of-7 MLB playoff series in which one team (the Mets, in this case) led at some point in each of the first 18 innings without ever trailing. The four previous series were series 21 (the New York Yankees over the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1928 MLB Finals), series 871 (the San Francisco Giants over the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2002 MLB Semifinals), series 936 (the New York Yankees over the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 MLB Semifinals), and series 938 (the Boston Red Sox over the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2004 MLB Finals). In those four previous series, only the Boston Red Sox in series 936 rallied for a series victory (and, in that series, for an unprecedented MLB comeback from an eventual three-games-nil deficit). A favorable precedent for the Chicago Cubs in series 1285 is offered by the Los Angeles Dodgers in series 396: Just as the Cubs in series 1285 lost Game 1 by two runs and Game 2 by three runs in New York, so it happened that the Dodgers in series 396 lost Game 1 by two runs and Game 2 by three runs in New York - to the Yankees in the 1981 MLB Finals . . . the Dodgers rallied to win Games 3-6 and thus the series.

After Game 1: The New York Mets hosted and topped the Chicago Cubs 4-runs-2 to take a best-of-7 MLB/NBA/NHL playoff series 1285 lead of 1-game-nil. When leading a best-of-7 MLB/NBA/NHL playoff series 1-game-nil, the New York Mets have a series record of 1-2 and a Game 2 record of 1-2. When trailing a best-of-7 MLB/NBA/NHL playoff series 1-game-nil, the Chicago Cubs have a series record of 0-8 and a Game 2 record of 4-4. The 0-8 best-of-7 playoff series record by the Chicago Cubs upon losing Game 1 is the worst such series record in MLB, and is the second-worst best-of-7 MLB/NBA/NHL playoff series record upon losing Game 1 (just above the NBA Denver Nuggets, whose best-of-7 playoff series record is 0-11 upon losing Game 1). The NHL Phoenix Coyotes had a 0-7 best-of-7 playoff series record upon losing Game 1 of the series. The original NHL Winnipeg Jets had a 0-5 best-of-7 playoff series record upon losing Game 1 of the series, and, since the original NHL Winnipeg Jets were the precursor entity to the NHL Phoenix Coyotes (now known as the NHL Arizona Coyotes), it could be argued that the Jets(I)/Coyotes have the worst such MLB/NBA/NHL record at a combined 0-12. The 2015 Cubs shall seek to emulate none of these teams in this regard.

Pre-series assessment: In the 2015 MLB regular season, the Chicago Cubs finished seven games ahead of the New York Mets (New York enjoys home-field advantage through its division title). From 1905 through the 2014 MLB Finals round, when MLB teams led their best-of-7 playoff series opponents by seven regular-season games, they have posted a best-of-7 playoff series record of 3-8 (.273) with an active four-series losing streak in those series against those opponents. MLB/NBA/NHL best-of-7 playoff series 1285 is the 13th best-of-7 MLB playoff series for the Chicago Cubs, and the tenth for the New York Mets. In best-of-7 MLB playoff series, the Chicago Cubs have an all-rounds series record of 2-10 (with an active nine-series losing streak), a Semifinals-round series record of 0-2, and a Game 1 record of 4-8, while the New York Mets have an all-rounds series record of 4-5, a Semifinals-round series record of 2-3, and a Game 1 record of 3-6.