The Mets open up an incredibly important series with the Cubs tonight as the Mets try to tighten up the Wild Card race. After a successful sweep of the Indians, the Mets fell flat and couldn’t beat the Braves at all, going .500 in their last six games (the nicest way possible I could write – they got swept). Now it’s up to Marcus Stroman to put the Mets back on track.
Stroman left early in his last start due to a hamstring issue so that’s something we’ll be watching for tonight – how is he? He is 1-0 over 4 starts and 19.2 innings as a Met posting a 4.58 ERA, 4.89 FIP, 1.780 WHIP and 91 ERA+. Overall this year he is 7-11 over 21 starts and 144.1 innings with a 3.18 ERA, 3.70 FIP, 1.303 WHIP and 141 ERA+. The Cubs have the following numbers against Stroman:
- Nicholas Castellanos 2-14, HR, BB, 2 K
- Jonathan Lucroy 4-5, 2B
- Javier Baez 0-4, K
- Daniel Descalso 1-3, 2 K
- Tony Kemp 0-2, K
Yu Darvish starts the series off for the Cubs. On the year he is 4-6 over 26 games and 144.1 innings with a 4.43 ERA, 4.76 FIP, 1.164 WHIP and 103 ERA+. If you think that stat line looks a bit off – a nice WHIP but average/below-average ERA, Yu has given up a league high 30 homers this year. To put that in perspective, he’s only given up 129 in his career (and that includes the 30 this season). He’s also hit a league high 11 batters this season (33 before this year). So far in August he has alternated good start/bad start including 7.0 innings of scoreless ball on August 15th and then 5.1 innings of 7 run ball on the 21st (from 4 homers). Against the Mets earlier this year he allowed 4 runs on 4 hits including 2 homers in 6.0 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
- Michael Conforto 2-7, HR, BB, 3 K
- Wilson Ramos 1-6, 4 K
- Rajai Davis 2-5, 2B, K
- Pete Alonso 0-3, 3 K
- J.D. Davis 1-2, BB
- Todd Frazier 1-3
- Juan Lagares 1-3, K
- Jeff McNeil 1-3, HR
- Amed Rosario 1-3, 2 K
Let’s Go Mets!
