The Mets bullpen held onto a one-run lead Friday night in Cincinnati! We are so back!
A win this afternoon will block the Reds from winning the season series, and the tiebreaker, against the Mets. The Mets are looking to run into the playoffs this year on the strength of their bats and the excitement of their rookie starting pitchers. The Mets are about to have three consecutive starts by their most exciting pitchers. Jonah Tong will make his second start this afternoon, Brandon Sproat makes his debut Sunday and Nolan McLean most likely will start the first game against the Phillies. Today is all about the Canadian Cannon!
Jonah Tong is coming off of a fantastic major league debut where he cruised through the first four innings and had a rough fifth inning (a true Mets baptism). He allowed only one earned run, four total runs (everything happening in the fifth inning) from six hits and no walks while striking out six batters. It was also a very strange start where the Mets hitters scored 12 runs over the first two innings, keeping Tong off of the mound for over 20 minutes at a time. Tong’s fastball sat in the mid-90’s and the average exit velocity was 86.3 mph, which is very good for a pitcher. Tong’s curveball, which he only tossed 13 times (13.4% usage) had a 50% whiff% according to Statcast!
The Mets bats look to give Jonah Tong 19 runs again, this time against Brady Singer. Singer has pitched 143 1/3 innings over 27 starts with a 4.08 ERA, 3.75 FIP, 1.256 WHIP and a 113 ERA+. Singer is coming off of the definition of a quality start, allowing three runs from five hits over six innings while striking out eight. Before that he allowed only two runs over 18 innings over three starts. The Mets have the following career stats against him:
- Pete Alonso 2-3, K
- Brett Baty 0-3, 2 K
- Francisco Lindor 0-8, 4 K
- Jeff McNeil 0-3
- Cedric Mullins 1-2, 2B
- Juan Soto 3-7, 2B, 2 BB
- Luis Torrens 0-3, 2 K
- Mark Vientos 1-3
Three Things To Watch For:
- Late Summer Mark Vientos. Mark Vientos has played in 25 games since August 1st slashing .277/.333/.638 with seven doubles and nine home runs, including the one he hit Friday night. Over 50% of his home runs have come in the last month! He’s raised his season slash line from .234/.285/.372 to .245/.298/.441. He has completely flipped the script on his season going from a negative bWAR to essentially 0 and from a below average OPS+ to 108. Hopefully he keeps raking tonight!
- A collection of Juan Soto stats to tell a friend. Juan Soto had a very 2025 Juan Soto night on Friday going 2-for-4 with a double, a walk and a stolen base. He now has 5.8 bWAR, the third most in his career, a .924 OPS (third consecutive season above .900), and a 161 OPS+ (also the third highest in his career). Soto has lead the league in walks, pretty much the whole season and now leads the league in OBP at .401. At 116 walks, he is now only nine away from John Olerud’s franchise record 125 walks in a season. He is only three home runs and two stolen bases away from a 40-30 season.
- Scoreboard Watching. The Phillies maintained their six game division lead on Friday with another win. This afternoon will be a Marlins battle as the Phillies send out Jesús Luzardo against Sandy Alcantara. Things are getting interesting in the wild card race though. The Padres lost their fifth straight game, this time against the Rockies last night. The Mets and Padres are now tied for the last wild card spot. The Giants won so they stayed four back in the race while the Reds fell to six back. Two weeks ago it looked like the Reds were the only team that had a chance at that last spot. As they have struggled, they have let the Giants and Diamondbacks (5.5 back) slip in front of them). We may have a surprise race now for the last wild card spot!
Let’s Go Mets!
