World Series 2024: What top players say about the MLB playoff round | News, results, highlights, statistics and rumors

The MLB playoffs are red-hot as two of the four teams compete for the championship and the other two will be decided in a high-stakes, high-pressure Game 5.

Ahead of the LCS in both the National League and American League, two of the most impressive players remaining this postseason have been blunt about their performances and the situations they find themselves in.

The ice water veins of MVP candidate Francisco Lindor

When Francisco Lindor launched the home run to center field in Game 4 of the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field on Wednesday night, he circled the bases with no expression of joy or satisfaction.

He entered his home base with a businesslike demeanor as his teammates waited to greet the MVP candidate and hero of the 2024 season.

Harrison Bader spoke to the New York Posts Jon Heyman on Lindor's big grand slam after the game.

“He’s balanced. He's a cold guy. He's the coldest guy I've ever been with. It’s colder than that champagne, baby,” the midfielder said.

When asked about his apparent lack of emotion, Lindor told Heyman, “I'm celebrating inside, but at the end of the day the work isn't done.”

The “job” is a World Series title. To get there, the Lindor and Mets still have a lot of work to do. Next up is a date with either the NL-best Los Angeles Dodgers or the red-hot San Diego Padres.

Either way, it will take the same intense focus that helped Lindor pull through at a pivotal moment in the Series to clinch the Mets' ticket to the World Series for the first time since 2015 and potentially their first World Series win since 1986 .

Speaking of the Dodgers and Padres…

“I don’t care if we are at the end of our last life. They’re also at the end of their last lives,” Padres breakout star Jackson Merrill said after Wednesday’s 8-0 loss to Los Angeles in Game 4.

He's right. Both teams, division rivals, are fighting for their championship lives on Friday night, with a date against the Mets on the line.

Merrill was a star for the Padres this season, posting 162 hits, 24 home runs, 90 RBI and 16 stolen bases in his first year in the MLB.

He needs to bring that bat into Game 5 against the Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the $325 million pitcher he acquired last offseason. Yamamoto pitched 90 innings, allowed 30 earned runs, struck out 105 batters and posted a 3.00 ERA.

Despite the hype surrounding the right-hander, the Padres hit Yamamoto hard.

In three starts against San Diego, Yamamoto lasted no more than five innings with a 9.0 ERA.

The Padres went 2-1 in those games.

If Yamamoto fights like he has, the Padres will win and advance.

Yu Darvish starts Friday in San Diego and has posted a 1.29 ERA this postseason.

How the explosive bats of Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Mookie Betts and NL MVP favorite Shohei Ohtani fare against them will ultimately determine which team continues its pursuit of baseball's most coveted prize.