Oct. 21--The champagne, no doubt, is on ice for the Mets to celebrate in the cramped visitors' locker room at Wrigley Field if they win on Wednesday night.
But Mets players insist their focus is solely on the Cubs in Game 4 of the NLCS, and not on the World Series.
"We understand just like we've won the first three games, these guys can win the next three games very easily," Mets third baseman David Wright said.
"This is an excellent (Cubs) team, and you give them room to win a game or streak along a couple good innings, and they're going to get all the confidence in the world and expect to beat us three in a row. So it's as simple as that.
"You can't look past (Wednesday). You have to continue to put your foot on the gas and try to play good baseball and take advantage of the type of baseball that we're playing and the type of pitching that we're getting. It starts with our starting pitching."
Jacob deGrom stifled the Cubs over seven innings Tuesday night in Game 3, allowing just four hits and striking out seven before the bullpen took over.
"As you saw, just like the close-out game in L.A., Jake probably didn't have his best stuff, his best command, his best fastball," Wright said. "But he found a way to win, and that is the biggest compliment you can give a starting pitcher, is when they don't have their best stuff, they figure out a way to give you seven innings of two-run ball. That's, like I said, a tremendous compliment."
Mets manager Terry Collins said he will not allow his players to look beyond Wednesday night's game.
"That clubhouse right now, that's all they're talking about is (Wednesday night)," he said. "They know what they're facing. We've got some experienced guys who have been in playoffs before, and they're not looking forward ... we've got to get ready to play."
