213 Miles From Shea

Good teams bounce back and that is exactly what the New York Mets did on Thursday night.

The Mets had a frustrating start of the week in Minnesota with two fluky losses in a row. The best recipe to get out of slide before it becomes a funk is to win. Mark Vientos started the scoring with his first home run of the season and the Mets scored a total of four runs in the second inning. That was all they needed as they ended up beating the Cardinals 4-1. Now David Peterson looks to make it two wins in a row for the Amazin’s!

David Peterson has a 2.70 ERA, 4.14 FIP, 1.380 WHIP and a 141 ERA+ over 16 2/3 innings and three starts this season. He’s coming off of six innings against the Athletics holding them to two runs from seven hits while striking out five. Going deep into games has been a challenge for Mets starters this season, but not Peterson. Peterson has pitched six innings in two of his three start this year. Going at least six innings tonight would make it two games in a row where the Mets got at least six innings from their starter. The only Cardinal that has seen Peterson in a game before is Willson Contreras (1-for-8, 3 K).

The Mets bats draw the veteran Miles Mikolas tonight. Over three starts this season he has pitched 13 innings allowing 14 runs, 13 earned, from 16 hits and five walks while striking out ten (9.00 ERA, 2.61 FIP, 1.615 WHIP and a 45 ERA+). His stats are skewed from his second start this season where the Red Sox scored nine runs over 2 2/3 innings. In his last start he kept the Phillies to three runs from only three hits and two walks over five innings.

Miles had two starts against the Mets in 2024 with different results. At the end of April he held the Mets to two runs over 5 2/3 innings, scattering seven hits. Then two weeks later, he allowed six runs from nine hits over four innings. The Mets have the following career stats against him:

• Pete Alonso 3-18, 2B, BB, 4 K
• José Azócar 0-2
• Brett Baty 1-7, 2B, 3 K
• Francisco Lindor 7-17, 2 2B, K
• Starling Marte 10-44, 2 2B, 2 BB, 7 K
• Brandon Nimmo 2-19, 2B, HR, 3 BB, 3 K
• Juan Soto 7-21, 2B, HR, 5 K
• Tyrone Taylor 3-10, 2B, HR, 3 K
• Jesse Winker 6-16, 2B, 2 HR, BB, 6 K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Mark Vientos. Vientos has a five game hitting streak right now where he has gotten exactly one hit in each game, going 5-for-20 with two doubles, a home run and four runs scored. He’s raised his season OPS from .393 to .511 over this stretch. Hopefully this is a sign that he’s breaking out of the slump he was in at the start of the year.
2. Mets Bullpen. Canning did the Mets bullpen a solid Thursday by pitching six innings. Wednesday was effectively a bullpen game for the Mets and the Mets are in the midst of a long stretch without an off day. The only two pitchers who haven’t pitched in the last two games, Kranick and Young, both had extended outings on Tuesday night. Edwin Díaz has been used two days in a row. The high leverage guys tonight will probably be Stanek and Wednesday’s opener Brazobán. Hopefully David Peterson can go deep in the game tonight!
3. Baty and Acuña. Jeff McNeil is knocking at the door. There are reports of McNeil taking more reps in the outfield, including centerfield, right now. This would give more playing time to Acuña, Baty or both when McNeil returns, if the Mets young players show they deserve that playing time. Baty went 2-for-3 Thursday with a double. It was his second consecutive two-hit game. In his last four games he has gone 6-for-16 with a double and a triple, raising his season OBP from .111 to .209. Luisangel Acuña has gone 8-for-21 with two doubles, four stolen bases and six runs scored over his last six games with a plate appearance (Thursday he came in as a pinch runner and never got to the plate).

Let’s Go Mets!

It’s been a weird last two days for the Mets. The Mets over the last couple of days haven’t been able to take advantage of a Twins team making mistakes on the field. When the Mets were at their best in 2022, or cruising through their Grimace-era – they never let a mistake from the other team slide.

Then there were the unusual things that happened. A critical fielding mistake from Francisco Lindor (one of the most consistent fielders the Mets have ever had). A starting pitcher getting sick and needing to miss a start two days before the Mets were originally thinking about inserting a 6th starter. Losing a challenge early in a game, and because of the arcane challenge rules, couldn’t challenge a missed call at first that led to a run.

The best thing after a couple of days like this is to come home, reset and get some positive vibes going.

Griffin Canning returns to the mound after missing a start due to illness. Over three starts Canning has pitched 15 innings allowing seven runs from 15 hits and eight walks while striking out eight (4.20 ERA, 4.61 FIP, 1.533 WHIP, 91 ERA+). His last start was definitely the worst of the season, allowing four runs over 5 1/3 innings from seven hits and three walks in Sacramento. He was doing great though until the 6th inning where three of those earned runs happened. The Cardinals have the following career numbers against him:

• Nolan Arenado 1-8, BB, 3 K
• Alec Burleson 1-3
• Willson Contreras 2-2, 2B, BB
• Brendan Donovan 1-5, K
• Nolan Gorman 0-3
• Lars Nootbaar 3-6, 2B
• Michael Siani 0-1

Andre Pallante is off to a fast start in 2025. Over three starts he has allowed four runs over 16 1/3 innings from 10 hits, seven walks and 13 strikeouts (2.20 ERA, 4.30 FIP, 1.041 WHIP, 185 ERA+). He’s coming off of his best start of the season where he shutout the Phillies over seven innings. The Mets got to him though in 2024, tagging him for five runs from five hits over 4 2/3 innings. The Mets own the following career stats against him:

• Pete Alonso 1-3, 2 BB
• Francisco Lindor 2-8, 2 BB, 2 K
• Starling Marte 2-3, BB, K
• Brandon Nimmo 1-10, 2B, K
• Juan Soto 0-3, 2 BB
• Tyrone Taylor 3-8, 2B, K
• Jesse Winker 1-3

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Roster Moves. The Mets made a series of long-awaited roster moves earlier this afternoon. Jose Siri was finally added to the IL, which allows the Mets to recall Max Kranick despite optioning him earlier in the week. Justin Hagenman was optioned to Syracuse and José Azócar was selected. Azócar give the Mets additional outfield depth and was doing alright in Triple A (10-for-41, 2 2B, HR, 4 SB .244/.367/.366).
2. Pete Alonso. As long as Pete Alonso keeps hitting, we’ll keep highlighting him. Yesterday he went 2-for-4 at the plate. It was his third consecutive game with two hits. He already has nine multi-hit games this season (18 games played). The focus on 2025 is going to be on Pete chasing the Mets all-time home run record (252, held by Strawberry and Pete is currently at 231). He’s also turning into a double machine, with eight so far in the young season.
3. Positive signs from struggling hitters. Brett Baty went 2-for-4 at the plate yesterday. It was his third consecutive game with a hit (4-for-13). Luisangel Acuña has a six game hitting streak right now, going 8-for-21 with two doubles, four stolen bases and six runs scored. The Mets have won every game in the last six where Acuña scored a run.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets will attempt to win their fifth consecutive series with a rubber game against the Twins this afternoon in Minnesota. The Mets struggled Tuesday night to capitalize with runners in scoring position and couldn’t get their offense going as they lost 6-3.

It felt like the Mets started throw away part of last night’s game for today. The Mets announced before the game that Griffin Canning wasn’t feeling well and would be bumped from his normal start, thus needing to make multiple roster moves before today’s game. So they over extended Kranick who allowed his first runs of the season (two runs over 1 2/3 innings) and had Danny Young finish out the game pitching 1 1/3 innings.

Justin Hagenman will make his major league debut as the bulk inning guy this afternoon! He has pitched 10 1/3 innings over three games with Syracuse this season allowing 11 runs, eight earned from 15 hits and four walks. Home runs hurt him in his first two starts this season, allowing four over 7 2/3 innings. In his last start he allowed four runs, but only one earned over 2 2/3 innings while striking out five batters. Hagenman has gone as high as 73 pitches this season. Last season in Worcester he had a 4.91 ERA, 1.320 WHIP over 91 2/3 innings.

The Mets bats will try to end the series strong against David Festa. Festa has made one start this season allowing one unearned run over 4 2/3 innings, scattering three hits and a walk while striking out four. Last season he pitched in 14 games totaling 64 1/3 innings with a 4.90 ERA, 3.76 FIP, 1.321 WHIP and an 86 ERA+. This includes a start against the Mets where he allowed only two runs from three hits and a walk over five innings (a game the Mets won 2-0). The Mets have the following career numbers against Festa:

• Pete Alonso 0-2, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 0-3, K
• Brandon Nimmo 0-1, BB
• Luis Torrens 0-2
• Mark Vientos 1-2, HR
• Jesse Winker 1-2, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Pete Alonso. Pete Alonso continues to carry this ballclub. He hit his fifth homerun of the season last night and is still leading the league in OPS (1.195) and OPS+ (242). On this road trip he has gone 7-for-17 at the plate with two doubles, two home runs and three walks (.412/.500/.882). A key sign though to how the Mets offense is doing – Pete has only scored four times over the last five games. As soon as someone behind him in the lineup starts to heat up this offense is going to soar.
2. Juan Soto. On Monday night Soto broke out of his 13 game homerun drought with a two-run shot. Tuesday night Soto hit a solo shot (and just got under a pitch missing potentially another home run). Let’s turn this into a hot streak!
3. Uncharacteristically Impatient. The Mets only worked one walk on Tuesday night. Full disclosure, I didn’t watch the whole game last night, so I don’t know if it was because the Mets were chasing or if the Twins pitchers were really that good. The Mets are 14th in the league in walks with 60, which averages to about 3.5 walks per game. Hopefully yesterday was just a blip rather than the start of guys pressing.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets go for their fifth consecutive series win tonight as they take on the Twins on Jackie Robinson Day. Monday night’s game felt like Sunday’s just in a different part and against a different opponent. The Mets and Twins were locked in a pitching battle early, with the Mets failing to bring home runners in scoring position. Once the Mets were able to knock Joe Ryan out of the game, they were able to get a couple of rallies going against the Twins bullpen, and waltzed out of Target Field with a 5-1 lead. Good teams beat struggling teams and the Mets were able to capitalize on a multiple Twins miscues late in the game. Now let’s get the series victory!

Tylor Megill is off to phenomenal start in 2025. Over 14 1/3 innings he’s allowed three runs, only one earned, from 11 hits and seven walks while striking out 17 (0.63 ERA, 2.09 FIP, 1.256 WHIP, 614 ERA+). Megill faced the Twins in 2024 in his only relief outing, allowing one run over two innings from three hits and a walk while striking out two. The Twins have the following career numbers against Megill:

• Harrison Bader 2-2, HR
• Byron Buxton 0-1, K
• Willi Castro 1-2
• Carlos Correa 0-2
• Ryan Jeffers 0-1
• Edouard Julien 0-0, 3 BB
• Trevor Larnach 0-0, BB
• Brooks Lee 1-1
• Christian Vazquez 1-2
• Matt Wallner 1-2, 2B, BB, K

Bailey Ober finally pitched a full season in 2024, making 31 starts throwing 178 2/3 innings. He had a 3.98 ERA, 3.83 FIP, 1.002 WHIP and a 105 ERA+. Between 2023 and 2024 he put up 6.0 bWAR. This season hasn’t been as kind. Over three starts (12 2/3 innings) he has allowed 10 runs from 16 hits and six walks (7.11 ERA, 5.61 FIP, 1.737 WHIP, 59 ERA+). The Mets have the following career numbers against Ober:

• Juan Soto 2-4, 2 2B, 2 BB, K
• Tyrone Taylor 0-2
• Luis Torrens 0-1, BB
• Jesse Winker 1-3, 2B, 2 BB, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Pitch deep into the game Megill! Megill tossed 90 pitches in his last start against the Marlins in his last start, but because of walks (3) and long at bats, he lasted only four innings, having to be pulled before recording an out in the fifth. If Megill is going to have a breakout season, he’s going to need to go deep into a game and take the pressure off the Mets amazing bullpen who had to pitch four innings on Monday night.
2. Mark Vientos. Vientos broke the tied game Monday night, ripping a double to the gap. He has had a rough start to the season. The Mets top of the lineup has been getting on in bunches, so Vientos is constantly coming up with runners on. For most of the season things have just not broke his way. If he starts heating up, then pitchers need to pitch to Nimmo more carefully also. Let’s hope last night was start of something.
3. Juan Soto. Juan Soto finally got a big hit last night, hitting a two-run homer over the high right field wall at Target Field. He’s been getting on base at an extremely healthy clip, but big hit has alluded him for the better part of two weeks. Now that the pressure is off, let’s get the hot streak started!

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets are on a roll! They enter play today in first place with a 10-5 record, powered by a 7-2 record when facing teams with a winning percentage above .500. The Mets shut out the Athletics yesterday 8-0, led by Kodai Senga’s masterful seven innings of work. The score hides that the Mets struggled for most of the game, not scoring until the sixth inning, and the bulk of the scoring happening in the 9th inning. The batters will need to be on point tonight as the Mets take on Joe Ryan.

Clay Holmes has allowed nine runs, seven earned, over 14 2/3 innings this season while striking out 20 batters (4.30 ERA, 2.32 FIP, 1.705 WHIP and a 90 ERA+). He allowed four runs over 5 1/3 innings in his last start against the Marlins. That line hides how he gave up two runs early, cruised through his next four innings, then allowed two more in the sixth. He faced the Twins twice in 2024 holding them to one hit and no runs over two innings. The Twins have the following career numbers against Holmes:

• Harrison Bader 1-2, 2B
• Byron Buxton 0-2, BB, K
• Willi Castro 1-2
• Carlos Correa 1-3, 2B, K
• Ty France 1-6, 2 K
• Edouard Julien 0-1

Joe Ryan has a 2.65 ERA, 3.47 FIP, 0.706 WHIP and a 156 ERA+ over three starts and 17 innings this year. His starts are either terrific (one run over 12 innings) or terrible (four runs over five innings, allowing two home runs) in 2025. Ryan is coming off of a solid year where he made 23 starts totaling 135 innings with a 3.60 ERA, 3.44 FIP, 0.985 WHIP and a 116 ERA+. Only two Mets have seen Joe Ryan in an official game:

• Juan Soto 0-3, 2 K
• Jesse Winker 0-3, BB, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Positive signs for struggling hitters. Brett Baty made a few amazing defensive plays yesterday and went 1-for-5 at the plate with a run and an RBI. Acuña also went 1-for-5, scoring the first run on the game. He turned on his jets running from first all the way home on an a Lindor single. The top of the lineup is revving up for the Mets, but the bottom of the lineup stalls out. The Mets need at least one of their struggling hitters to go on a hot streak this week.
2. Keep the momentum going. The Mets went 3-for-12 Sunday with runners in scoring position, bringing the total to the weekend series to 5-for-31. Not great. After not scoring for the first five innings on Sunday, the Mets scored in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth inning to win 8-0. Hopefully this carries over today!
3. Hit By Pitch. The Mets have already been hit by eight pitches this year, tied for eighth in baseball with the Royals and Orioles. Joe Ryan is leading the league with four hit by pitches this season. That’s slightly more than one per start. This is not a narrative we necessarily want to follow, but one that seems probably tonight.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets pitching has kept the Mets in every game this season, but the bats have struggled to come through. Saturday was another lackluster game for the Mets hitting with runners in scoring position, leading to a 3-1 loss. The Mets still have a chance this afternoon to win their fourth consecutive series before leaving Sacramento.

It’s a second straight game where the Mets will face off against a pitcher who used to be a Met. Saturday’s starter J.T. Ginn was drafted by the Mets before the Mets traded him for Chris Bassitt. Today Luis Severino gets to start against his old team. Severino signed a massive three-year, 67 million-dollar deal with the Athletics to kick off their busy offseason. Can the Mets get some hits against the guy who used to hold the OMG sign?

Kodai Senga has allowed four runs, two earned, over 10 innings this season from eight hits and three walks while striking out 12. Most of the strikeouts came in his first start (8) but also all of the runs did as well. He’s tossed exactly 77 pitches in each start. He made a start in Oakland (and all of their foul territory) back in 2023 where he allowed four runs from seven hits and four walks over 4 2/3 innings. It was his first rough outing in the majors, but he also wasn’t close to the pitcher that we saw by the end of the 2023 season. The Athletics have the following career numbers against him:

• Shea Langeliers 1-2, HR, K
• Brent Rooker 1-3, K

Luis Severino is already making his fourth start of the season today. Over his first three he has allowed 11 runs, 10 earned over 19 innings from 17 hits while striking out 15 (4.74 ERA, 5.41 FIP, 1.263 WHIP and an 81 ERA+). His first start of the season against the Mariners was great – six shutout innings. All 10 runs he’s allowed have been in his last two starts, both of those starts at home. He’s allowed four homers in those starts. Part of his success with the Mets in 2023 was his HR rate, 1.1 HR/9, one of the better rates of his career and way down from his 2.3 in his last year with the Yankees. The Mets have the following numbers against Severino:

• Brett Baty 2-2, BB
• Francisco Lindor 5-19, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 3 K
• Starling Marte 1-3
• Brandon Nimmo 4-7, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 2 K
• Jose Siri 0-1
• Juan Soto 0-2, BB, K
• Jesse Winker 2-5, BB, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Pitch counts for Senga. Senga has been limited to under 80 pitches in first two starts as the Mets start to ease him back in to the rotation. The Mets also desperately need a pitcher to get into the seventh inning and start to give the bullpen some relief. Because of Senga’s injury history, he’s not the best candidate to force into pitching deeper into a game if the pitch count says not to. I’m watching to see if the Mets let Senga get to 90 pitches and how far into the game that will take him.
2. Strikeouts. The Mets scored seven runs on Friday night, but had 12 strikeouts and ultimately went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position. Saturday they had 10 strikeouts, but they were concentrated across four players. Alonso and Marte each struck out three times. Baty and Taylor each struck out twice. The Mets ended up leaving eight runners on base.
3. Juan Soto is getting on base. Juan Soto added two more walks yesterday, bringing his season total to 12. He’s tied for fourth in the league trailing Marcell Ozuna (16), Kyle Tucker (15) and J.P. Crawford (13). Pete Alonso, currently third in baseball with 18 RBI’s, is generally feasting on Soto being on base.

Let’s Go Mets!

Sutter Health Park is not being the accusations of being a hitter friendly park. The Mets and Athletics hit three home runs last night, bringing the total to 21 home runs in the first seven games played at Sutter Health Park. The Athletics should consider loading up on power hitters and really establish a “no lead is safe” feeling in Sacramento for opponents.

Anyway, the Mets broke the game open 6-1 in the top of sixth inning last night before Canning allowed three runs in the bottom half of the frame including a two-run home run. Edwin Díaz allowed two runs in ninth, but the Mets had a three run lead and escaped with a win. Now the Mets will attempt to win their fourth consecutive series this afternoon!

David Peterson has allowed three runs from eight hits and eight walks over 10 2/3 innings while striking out 12 (2.53 ERA, 5.70 FIP, 1.500 WHIP, 152 ERA+). He’s striking out 25.5% of batters, good for the 66th percentile, but his 17% walk rate is in the 9th percentile. He’s also has a slight bump this year in groundballs, 53.8% this year compared to 50.8%. Walks are a killer in a home run hitting ballpark, so hopefully he can keep that down today. Peterson had a phenomenal start against the Athletics in Queens last season allowing one unearned run from three hits and four walks over 6 1/3 innings. The Athletics have the following career numbers against him:

• Miguel Andujar 1-4, 2B, BB
• JJ Bleday 1-4, K
• Lawrence Butler 0-3, K
• Shea Langeliers 0-2, BB, K
• Max Schuemann 0-1, BB
• Luis Urías 1-5

Former Mets-farm hand J.T. Ginn gets the start today! Ginn was a 2nd round pick for the Mets in 2020 and was traded to the Athletics for Chris Bassitt. He made his major league debut last season, pitching in eight games totaling 34 innings with a 4.24 ERA, 3.96 FIP, 1.324 WHIP and a 94 ERA+. He has been great in the minor leagues so far this season allowing only two runs over 11 innings while striking out an astounding 19 hitters. Jose Siri is the only Met who has seen Ginn in a major league game (0-for-1).

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Walks and runners in scoring position. The Athletics are third in the major leagues in walks allowed with 58. The Mets are 17th in the majors with 46 walks earned. Five different Mets players were able to work a walk last night, but outside of a big hit from Pete Alonso, the team wasn’t able to do much with that. By the end of the game the Mets struck out 12 times (three strikeout nights from Nimmo, Torrens and Siri) and went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position while leaving 10 runners on base. Tonight is another great opportunity to be patient, work some walks and then bring them home.
2. The New York Mets hit doubles now. The Mets have 26 doubles on the season, tied for fourth in the majors. Friday night Acuña, Torrens, Alonso and Marte. The second run the Mets scored last night came from back-to-back Acuña and Torrens doubles, one of only two hits the Mets had with runners in scoring position.
3. Pete Alonso. Where would the Mets be this season without Pete Alonso? Going into today’s games, Pete is hitting .378/.482/.778 with a 261 OPS+. He already has a 1.1 bWAR (2.6 last season, 4.4 in 2022). Pete is currently leading the league in RBI’s, batting average, slugging, OPS, OPS+, rOBA and Rbat+. Last night he tacked on three more RBI’s, bringing his season total to 18. It is the fourth time this season he has had at least 3 RBI’s in a game and he’s now only 10 behind Ed Kranepool for 5th all time for the Mets. Stay hot Pete!

Let’s Go Mets!

The first place New York Mets head out west for the first time in 2025! This road isn’t so bad for east coast fans. The Mets play three games in Oakland, but only tonight has a 10 pm start. After this series the Mets head to Minnesota. The 2025 schedule as a whole is fairly nice to the Mets, featuring zero three-city west coast road trips.

Sutter Health Park has allowed 18 home runs over its first five games in 2025. It’s too early to tell if this because of the ballpark itself or the A’s pitching staff (who allowed 11 homers). This could potentially be a wild weekend.

Griffin Canning has pitched 9 2/3 innings over his first two starts of the year allowing three runs, eight hits and five walks while striking out ten (2.79 ERA, 3.80 FIP, 1.345 WHIP and a 140 ERA+). The Mets bullpen has been fantastic so far this year, but they could also use a break. Canning has thrown 89 pitches or less in both starts. Getting through at least six innings could go a long way for a Mets bullpen that was used a lot in the last week.

Canning faced the Athletics twice last season, allowing seven runs from 11 hits over 10 1/3 innings. The Athletics have the following career numbers against Canning:

• Miguel Andujar 1-5, 2B
• JJ Bleday 0-5, K
• Seth Brown 1-5, 2B, BB, 3 K
• Lawrence Butler 2-5, 3B, BB
• Shea Langeliers 1-7, HR, 2 K
• Brent Rooker 3-9, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 3 K
• Max Schuemann 2-2, HR
• Tyler Soderstrom 0-5, K
• Gio Urshela 1-3
• Jacob Wilson 1-1

The Athletics are hoping that 2025 is the year of the JP Sears breakout. He took a step forward in 2025, making 32 starts for a second consecutive season, lowering his ERA from 4.54 to 4.38 and his FIP from 5.15 to 4.71. His ERA+ over the last two years was a 93 and 91. This season he’s off to a strong start allowing five runs over 13 innings from 11 hits and two walks while striking out nine batters (3.46 ERA, 4.05 FIP, 1.000 WHIP, 113 ERA+). The Mets have the following career numbers against Sears:

• Pete Alonso 1-5, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 3-6, 2B, HR
• Starling Marte 0-3, K
• Brandon Nimmo 2-5, BB, K
• Juan Soto 2-6, K
• Luis Torrens 1-5, 2B, K
• Jesse Winker 0-2, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Home runs. The New York Mets hit 207 home runs in 2024 – 6th in the league! This season the Mets have hit only nine home runs, with a bunch of them coming in just one game. The Mets are tied for 20th in the league right now with the Braves, White Sox, Rockies, Marlins and Twins. For context, the Dodgers lead the league with 28 and the Yankees are second with 26. The jury is still out on whether Sutter Health Park is a home run hitting paradise. Hopefully the Mets can take advantage tonight!
2. Juan Soto. Soto did not get a hit or a walk on Wednesday, snapping his 11 game streak of getting on base. While the Mets offense, outside of Alonso, has been mostly absent, Soto has been so consistent this season. Even after going 0-for-4 on Wednesday, Soto still has a .404 OBP and a 146 OPS+. From April 4th to April 8th, Soto went 7-for-18 with three doubles and scored five runs (.476 OBP).
3. Tyler Soderstrom. Griffin Canning has kept Tyler Soderstrom hitless over his career (0-for-5). Tyler is having a moment right now. He has six home runs so far this season, tied with Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber for the league lead. He’s hitting .354/.426/.771 (249 OPS+). Soderstrom had a 0.5 bWAR over 61 games in 2024, and already has a 1.1 bWAR over 13 games. It’s going to be a long night for the Mets if they can’t contain Soderstrom.

Let’s Go Mets!

Has anyone else struggled to remember what day it is? The Mets played a rare, mid-series day game in the middle of the week on Tuesday due to the falling temperatures. As a creature of habit, that fully convinced me that Tuesday was a getaway day, and the last game of the series (thus, Wednesday).

But today is that getaway day! We get another day game today! The Mets look to stretch their winning streak to seven games and sweep their second consecutive series.

Tylor Megill has allowed one run over 10 1/3 innings this season from five hits and four walks while striking out 10 (0.87 ERA, 2.29 FIP, 0.871 WHIP, 457 ERA+). We noticed after Megill’s first start that he was using his slider a lot more than last year and that continued into his second start. Over two starts now, Megill is using 27.7% of the time, up from 11.0% in 2024. Statcast still has not picked up any cutter usage yet, which he used 14.2% of the time in 2024. Megill only made one start against the Marlins in 2024 where he allowed three runs from five hits over 4 2/3 innings while striking out eight. The Marlins have the following career numbers against him:

• Nick Fortes 1-4, HR, BB, K
• Otto López 0-2
• Matt Mervis 2-2, HR

The Marlins are hoping this is the season that Max Meyer turns a corner. Over two starts he’s allowed five runs, four earned, over 11 2/3 innings from 13 hits and 15 strikeouts (3.09 ERA, 2.64 FIP, 1.371 WHIP and a 147 ERA+). He’s coming off of a quality start against the Braves where he allowed three runs over six innings while striking out eight. In 2024 he made 11 starts pitching 57 innings with a 5.68 ERA, 5.90 FIP, 1.421 WHIP and an 80 ERA+. This includes one start in Queens where he allowed four runs from six hits and three walks over four innings. The Mets own the following career stats against Meyer:

• Pete Alonso 1-2, HR, K
• Francisco Lindor 1-2, HR, BB
• Brandon Nimmo 1-3, 3B, K
• Mark Vientos 2-3, 2B
• Jesse Winker 1-2

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Pete Alonso. Pete Alonso is sizzling hot right now. Over 11 games this season he is slashing .333/.447/.692 with a 222 OPS+ and 0.7 bWAR already. He has three consecutive two-hit games going 6-for-11 with three doubles. On Tuesday he had his second four RBI game of the season. The Marlins walked Juan Soto to load the bases in a key moment in the game to bring up Pete Alonso who ripped a three-run double. What a start for the Polar Bear!
2. Hitting with RISP, again. On Monday the Mets went 1-for-10 with RISP putting a lot of stress on the bullpen. Yesterday’s game was a significant improvement (the Mets scored ten runs!) but overall the team went 3-for-14 with RISP and left ten runners on base, the same amount as Monday’s game. Pete Alonso got a key hit with the bases loaded that broke the game open. Brandon Nimmo earlier in the game got a huge hit with two runners on. But there were plenty of players who put up weak at bats in key moments.
3. Bye Marlins! It feels like the Mets have played the Marlins every other day since the start of spring training. The Mets played six spring training games against the Marlins and six of the first 12 regular season games. After today the Mets do not face the Marlins again until the very end of August. Who knows what the Marlins will look like then!

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to stretch their winning streak to six games in a row and win their third consecutive series this afternoon! If you follow the Mets schedule closely, you’ll recognize this is not the regularly scheduled game time. The Mets have moved the game up a couple of hours to ensure they have a clear window to play the game. The Mets do not frequently do this, and famously were hurt by the league/ the Braves not moving game times around at the end of last season. It’s worth watching to see if the Mets do this again later this season.

Clay Holmes makes his third start of the season this afternoon! Holmes has allowed three earned runs, five total, over 9 1/3 innings this season from 11 hits and six walks while striking out 10. This translates into a 2.89 ERA, 3.17 FIP, 1.821 WHIP and a 140 ERA+. Holmes has pitched exactly 4 2/3 innings in both starts this season, tossing 89 and 85 pitches during his starts. HIs last start (4 2/3 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) was against the Marlins who have the following career numbers against him:

• Griffin Conine 2-3, K
• Xavier Edwards 1-3
• Nick Fortes 1-1
• Liam Hicks
• Otto López 1-3
• Matt Mervis 1-2, K
• Graham Pauley 0-2, K
• Javier Sanoja 0-2, 2 K
• Kyle Stowers 1-2, 3 BB
• Eric Wagaman 0-2

The Mets bats will try to get a hit with runners in scoring position against Connor Gillispie this afternoon. Over two starts this season Gillispie has allowed five runs, four earned, over 10 innings from eight hits and four walks while striking out 10 batters (3.60 ERA, 3.57 FIP, 1.200 WHIP and a 125 ERA+). This will be Connor’s first road start of the season His last start against the Mets was a good one where he held the Mets to one run from four hits and no walks over five innings while striking out six batters. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Pete Alonso 2-2, 2 2B
• Brett Baty 0-2
• Francisco Lindor 0-3, 2 K
• Brandon Nimmo 0-2
• Hayden Senger 1-2, 2B
• Juan Soto 1-3, 2 K
• Tyrone Taylor 0-2, K
• Mark Vientos 0-2, K
• Jesse Winker 0-2, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Can Clay Holmes get his WHIP down. Holmes has done an impressive job keeping scoring down while he’s on the mound. His small-sample size 1.821 WHIP is a key indicator about the amount of traffic on the basepaths behind him. He cut his walks in half from his first to second start (four to two), but allowing at least five hits while not finishing the 5th inning is a lot. Today is also his first time pitching at home. Over the last three years the Marlins and Astros have been in the top 50% of ballparks for hitting while Citi Field has been in the bottom 15.
2. Hitting with RISP. The Mets lack of hits with RISP is starting to become a theme again. Monday night the Mets went an astounding 1-for-10 with RISP and left a total of 10 batters on base throughout the night. The offense is starting to hum at getting runners on base – the Mets had nine hits and five walks over the game. The pitching staff has been absolutely phenomenal, allowing only 22 runs over the first ten games of the season. Can the Mets take some of the pressure off?
3. Francisco Lindor. Lindor was slashing .067/.118/.067 over his first four games of the season where he went 1-for-15. He’s now hitting .242/.308/.303. Over his last four games he’s slashing .462/.529/.615 going 6-for-13 with two doubles and three walks. Monday night he had his first three-hit game of the season, and he’s still searching for his first home run of the season. Earlier this season, Connor Gillispie held Lindor hitless over three at bats while striking him out twice. Once Connor left the game, Lindor got his second hit of the season. Let’s see how a hot Lindor hits against Connor tonight!

Let’s Go Mets!