NEW YORK The good news for the Cubs is that they have another chance to accomplish the main objective of a road teamin the first two games of a playoff series splitting the first two matches.And who better to rely on to get that splitthanstarting pitcher Jake Arrieta?The bad news for the Cubs is that, a night after striking out nine times in 7.2 innings against Matt Harvey in a 4-2 lo s in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, Chicago has to deal with Noah Syndergaard.MORE: Best photos from the NLCS | Matt Harvey leadsMets over Cubs | Series schedule Syndergaard, I know he’s a soft-throwing right-hander, right? Cubs catcher Miguel Montero said sarcastically. He’s only throwing 99.Syndergaard sometimes goes beyond 99 miles per hour, into the triple digits. The 23-year-old righty threw 6.1 innings in his playoff debut in Game 2 of the division series in Los Angeles, striking out nine while allowing three runs on five hits. He was outdueled that night by Zack https://www.padresedges.com/san-diego-padres/ozzie-smith-jersey Greinke, but returned to throw a scorele s inning of relief in the decisive Game 5.I told Syndergaard earlier this year, if he doesn’t win the Cy Young next year, that’s his own fault, said Mets left-hander Jon Niese, not sarcastically. That’s how good his stuff is. It’s really fun to watch him, to have the stuff that he has, to be able to throw strikes with all of it, it’s really impre sive.Think about that. That’s high praisewiththe other incredible pitching talents in the National Leaguelike Greinke, Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner. There’s also Rickey Henderson Jersey Arrieta, not to mention Syndergaard’s own teammates, Harvey and Game 3 starter Jacob deGrom.Although Syndergaard has thrown just 157.1 innings in the major leagues, his talent level is so high, Niese’s expectation for him cannot be considered out of line.I love our pitching staff, Mets manager Terry Collins said. I mean, I love these young pitchers. They’re going to be so good. We just thought if you had to sit down right now with what we’ve seen in the last month of the season, and that’s as far back as I’m going to go, if you had to put the four guys that were in the rotation right now, it would go basically deGrom, Harvey and Syndergaard at the top. No disrespect to Steven (Matz, the Game 4 starter), but he just hasn’t pitched a lot. We like the matchups. This is just like the Dodgers, we’ve got two of the best in the game we’ve got to face. So, we kind of like the matchups.It’s hard to like any matchup against Arrieta, who has allowed eight earned runs in 14 starts since the beginning of August, but again, that is a testament to what Syndergaard brings to the table. Plus, what Harvey did in Game 1 will serveas motivation, sincethe Mets’ starters push each other to be better.All year, we’ve competed with each other, said Niese, who was in the Mets’ rotation during the regular season but has a bullpen role for the playoffs. Nobody wants to be left out of that group. It’s a lot of fun this year, watching all the guys, watching each guy’s starts. Night in and night out, all of our starters are capable of having those kind of nights. That’s why we’re here, and that’s why I have a lot of confidence.It’s also why the Cubs know that even with the man who might win this year’s Cy Young on the mound, Game https://www.padresedges.com/san-diego-padres/randy-jones-jersey 2 is no sure thing.They’re young, but they’ve got a lot of talent, Montero said. They’ve got good arms and if they stay healthy, I see them pitching in the big leagues for a long time.Between the Mets’ young arms and the Cubs’ young bats, this could be the beginning of a special rivalry in the National League. Game 1 lived up to that. With Arrieta and Syndergaard on the mound, Game 2 has a chance to be something specialand is pivotal tothe rest of the series.