We made it! The last spring training game of the season! After today the games will count, the stats will count and the Mets will play more than the six teams they’ve been playing on repeat for the last month.
The Mets split the results for their split-squad Sunday yesterday, beating the Nationals at home 10-1 and losing to the Marlins on the road 5-1. That means at worst the Mets will finish spring training with a 15-14 record and at best a 16-13 record. It’s been a mixed bag for Mets in their final tune-ups before Opening Day. Quintana and Megill both struggled in their last starts while Severino was lights out.
Today’s lineup is probably going to be the Opening Day lineup, and the lineup for the first ten days of the season until J.D. Martinez is ready to go. Newly minted, although not cemented, DH, DJ Stewart, is getting the start.
If you pay attention to teams outside of the Mets you may be wondering, “Hey, weren’t the Yankees in Mexico City yesterday? How’d they get back to Tampa that fast?”. The Yankees are playing with split-squad rosters over two countries right now. Half the team will be playing in game two tonight in Mexico City, the other half get to play the Mets.
Three Things To Watch For:
- Sean Manaea’s last spring start: Sean Manaea is currently lined up to start the third game of the regular season next Sunday. Over three major league spring training games, Sean has pitched 11 2/3 innings allowing four runs, leading to a 3.09 ERA with 14 strikeouts. Sean’s spring started off rough, allowing three runs from seven hits over 2 2/3 innings. Since then he has pitched nine innings allowing only one run from six hits. We are hoping to see more of the same today.
- Jeff McNeil: Today is Jeff McNeil’s last chance to record a base hit before the start of the season. McNeil started spring training late this year due to a bicep injury and has only been in four official spring training games (his least since 2015 where he only got one official spring at bat). Over his four games this year he has gone 0-for-11 at the plate with three walks. More alarming is five strikeouts in this small-sample size. Here’s hoping he ends spring with a hit and can buck the strikeout trend today.
- Starling Marte: Marte had a great day at the plate yesterday going 2-for-4, including a double with two runs scored. It was his first double of the spring and only his 6th and 7th hit overall. If there ever was a time to get hot, it’s right now before the games count for real.
Let’s Go Mets!
