Francisco Lindor and the New York Mets have already experienced a bit of a roller coaster ride thus far in the 2024 MLB season, starting the campaign with a horrible opening stretch before rebounding in recent weeks to currently sit with a somewhat respectable record of 10-8, good for third place in the vaunted NL East picture. Of course, that division has been owned by the bitter rival Atlanta Braves for the last few seasons, who are currently out ahead by two full games over the second place Phillies with an impressive record of 12-5, but the Mets are picking up steam as the season fully gets into gear, and Lindor has been playing like the star Mets fans have come to know and love over the last few years as the team rebounds.

Up next for the Mets will be a West Coast swing including a trip to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers, who are projected to be one of the best teams in the MLB this year but have been a relative disappointment thus far. Game 1 of that series is slated to take place at 10:10 PM ET from Dodger Stadium in Downtown Los Angeles, and recently, Lindor took the opportunity to speak on the upcoming matchup and how big it is for himself and for the Mets as a whole.

“It's’ going to be a great test to a good start of the year,” said Lindor, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. “Some people might disagree with me that it’s a good start. I think it’s a good start. So yeah, I’m looking forward to it. When you play the favorites to win the World Series, it’s going to be fun.”

A big series for the Mets

The series between New York and Los Angeles will be a bit of a measuring stick for this Mets squad to see if their recent relative success is indicative of something more promising.

“You can’t take it for granted,” Lindor said. “I’ve been on teams where you look up and you’re like, ‘Holy s—, we just got swept by a team that wasn’t supposed to [be good]. So I think we’ve just got to stay within ourselves, and go out there and play as hard as we can, no matter who’s on the other side.”

Lindor also took the time to speak on the atmosphere he expects to see at Dodger Stadium.

“I think the atmosphere [at Dodger Stadium] is going to be fantastic, but we had to play the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Kansas City Royals as hard as we’re going to have to play the Dodgers and San Francisco. Same thing with Arizona. Same thing with Cleveland. Any big league team is trying to have a great start.”

After the epic failure that was the 2023 season, it seems that Lindor and the Mets are finally turning the page into 2024, with Lindor leading the charge. As previously mentioned, the game is slated to have first pitch at 10:10 PM ET, meaning a late night for Mets fans back in New York.