A long World Series drought is guaranteed to end over the next couple weeks as the NL champion New York Mets battle the AL champion Kansas City Royals for the 2015 title...

The baseball globe spins differently now. It obeys the whims of a blue and orange team with a hapless history marked by spikes of the amazing.

Daniel Murphy homered in a record-tying fifth straight postseason game, and Jacob deGrom and the New York Mets topped the Chicago Cubs 5-2 on Tuesday to take a 3-0 lead in the NLCS.

In seven postseason games so far this season, Daniel Murphy has homered off Clayton Kershaw (twice), Zack Greinke, Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta. Three of those pitchers are legitimate National League Cy Young Award candidates,Mets win game 2.

The National League Championship Series will begin Saturday night at Citi Field as the New York Mets play host to the Chicago Cubs, with the first pitch of Game 1 scheduled for 8:07 pm.

The Mets beat the Dodgers in Game 5 of the NLDS on Thursday. Here are eight things to know about the game.

Dodgers 3 Mets 1

Granderson drives in 5, Mets beat Dodgers 13-7 for 2-1 lead in NLDS; Utley doesn't play

Where many might see only inefficiency, sloppiness and directionlessness (take your pick), we see the potential for a shambling kind of glory, the ability to summon form out of chaos and the reward in loving something not in spite of its imperfections but because of them.

9/5/15: Bartolo Colon shows off his athleticism by fielding a soft grounder and throwing out Justin Bour with a behind-the-back flip

Just a sample of what's on the way...