The Mets celebrated a 12-6 victory over the Dodgers in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series at Citi Field on Friday. Sunday night’s game is the Mets’ chance to keep their World Series hopes alive.
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How to Watch the New York Mets, Liberty and Jets Games Tonight

The Mets and the Liberty will each look to secure a crucial championship win, while the Jets will bring together two stars in an effort to reverse a losing streak.

by · NY Times

Sunday night will have a lineup that New York sports fans could hardly have imagined even a few months ago, with two championships on the line and a prime-time reunion of two of football’s biggest names.

The Mets face a win-or-go-home matchup against the Dodgers in Los Angeles; the Liberty will look to win the city’s first basketball title since 1976 in Brooklyn against the Minnesota Lynx; and quarterback Aaron Rodgers and star receiver Davante Adams will play their first game together since their Green Bay days when the Jets take on the Steelers in Pittsburgh.

For the Mets and the Liberty, the games are opportunities to redeem themselves after several close brushes with championship victory over the past few years. For the Jets, who are 2-4 so far this season, Sunday night will be a chance to end a hapless streak and prove themselves to be playoff contenders.

Mary Emma Heald, 27, wore a Liberty hat on her walk through the Upper East Side of Manhattan on Sunday. “I’m a fairly new women’s basketball fan,” she said, “but the energy it’s brought to the city has been really exciting.”

Ms. Heald, who is from Atlanta and roots for the Braves in baseball, added that she has nonetheless felt inspired by the Mets’ recent success.

The Mets, in their 62nd season, had the third-worst record in the National League on May 29. Then, in a remarkable turnaround, they went 62-35 and won a wild-card slot to clinch a playoff berth after missing the postseason last year. The Mets are down 2-3 in the seven-game league championship series. If they can make a comeback, they will face the Yankees — who are headed to the World Series after a 5-2 victory over the Guardians on Saturday — in the first Subway Series since 2000.

Frank Guridy, a professor at Columbia University who studies sports history, said that while there have been other moments when several New York teams were competing at a high level at the same time, “what makes this moment unique is that women’s sports is probably more popular than ever.”

“There’s been no analogous moment in women’s sports history” in the city, he said in an email.

The Liberty, after losing last year’s W.N.B.A. finals on their home court, dropped only eight games in a dominant season that saw them cruise to the finals behind career-best play from the star guard Sabrina Ionescu, including a last-second three-pointer to win Game 3 of this series.

After losing an opportunity to clinch the title, 82-80, to the Lynx on Friday, the Liberty now look to win in front of their home crowd (and their beloved mascot, Ellie the Elephant).

New York fans of other sports will also have something to root for on Sunday, with local teams active across seven leagues. Even if the Mets and the Liberty lose, Gotham F.C. remains on the hunt for its second straight N.W.S.L. title, the Rangers are off to a strong start in the N.H.L. and the men’s basketball season is underway with the Knicks looking to build on last year’s playoff run.

Here’s how to watch:

  • New York/New Jersey Gotham F.C. vs. Orlando Pride: 5 p.m. on ESPN
  • New York Liberty vs. Minnesota Lynx: 8 p.m. on ESPN
  • New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers: 8:08 p.m. on FS1
  • New York Jets at Pittsburgh Steelers: 8:20 p.m. on NBC

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