LOS ANGELES — Upon taking ownership of the Mets five years ago, Steve Cohen named the Dodgers as the organization that would serve as the blueprint and standard for his own franchise. 

Four years in, things looked very promising. The Mets staged a magical run and took the Dodgers to six games in the NLCS last year, and it felt like they were making progress, if not closing ground on baseball’s best team. But now, a full five years into Cohen’s regime, it feels like the Mets have a lot of work to do to close a gap that suddenly seems as wide as the country. 

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The Mets couldn’t even beat out the not-ready-for-prime-time Reds, who the Dodgers wiped out in a wild-card round that felt like the biggest overmatch in playoff history. Now the Dodgers are headed back to the World Series after going 9-for-10 in postseason games while the Mets are busy refilling open coaching slots after finding scapegoats for the longest, slowest collapse in their star-crossed history. 

Anyway, the Mets have real work to do.