It has been quite the few weeks for the New York Mets playing the high powered offenses of the Diamondbacks, Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers. Now they enter a possible trap week where they play the White Sox followed by the Rockies.
The White Sox are struggling in 2025, but not at the pace they were struggling in 2024. They actually have won three of their last five games including taking the series from Texas Rangers this past weekend. Their division is bonkers right now. If the season ended entering play today, all four teams ahead of them would make the playoffs.
Clay Holmes has pitched 54 2/3 innings over 10 starts this season with a 3.13 ERA, 3.60 FIP, 1.244 WHIP and a 123 ERA+. He is coming off of a solid start against the Red Sox where he allowed only two runs, both from solo home runs, over six innings. It was his fourth consecutive start going six innings for the Mets but over his last three starts he has started to give up the long ball. He’s allowed five home runs in three starts. Key tonight will be to keep the White Sox, who are 27th in the league in home runs, in the ballpark. The White Sox have the following career numbers against him:
- Andrew Benintendi 0-2, BB, K
- Joshua Palacios 0-1, K
- Luis Robert Jr. 1-2, BB, K
- Josh Rojas 0-2, K
- Austin Slater 1-4, BB, K
- Mike Tauchman 0-2
- Michael A Taylor 1-3, K
- Miguel Vargas 0-0, BB
The Mets will face an old, temporary friend today in Adrian Houser. The Mets acquired Adrian Houser and Tyrone Taylor in a trade before the 2024 season for Coleman Crow. Houser struggled with the Mets, posting a 5.84 ERA, 67 ERA+ over 69 1/3 innings in a mix of starts and relief appearances. The Mets would release him at the end of July. He bounced around betweent he Cubs and Orioles for the rest of the season but didn’t make it back to the majors.
Houser started off this season with the Rangers and was released in mid-May making his way over the White Sox. In his first and only start this season last week, he held the Mariners to only two hits and three walks while shutting them out over six innings. The Mets have the following career stats against Houser:
- Pete Alonso 3-8, BB
- Francisco Alvarez 0-2
- Brett Baty 1-2, HR, K
- Francisco Lindor 1-8, K
- Starling Marte 3-11, 3 K
- Jeff McNeil 2-7, 2 2B, K
- Brandon Nimmo 4-7, 2B, HR, BB, K
- Juan Soto 1-7
- Jared Young 0-4, 2 K
Three Things To Watch For:
- Pete Alonso. Alonso finally ended his 16 game home run drought Sunday night, mashing his 10th home run of the season to give the Mets lead early in the game. This was his 236th career homerun on his pursuit to to break Strawberry’s franchise record 252 homers. Alonso has some of the better numbers against Houser over his career. Let’s get another Polar Bear hot streak going!
- Stealing bases. The Mets stole two more bases last night, bringing them to 42 on the season, good for 15th in the league. This is more or less where the Mets were last year, where they ended the season 16th in the league. There’s an unusual name stealing bases though – Juan Soto. Soto stole his 7th base of the season Sunday night. He stole seven bases in all of 2024. The most he has ever stolen in one season is 12, which he did twice (2019, 2023). Is Juan Soto trying to have a 30-30 season in 2025?
- Double Plays. Hitting into double plays has crushed the Mets so far this season, but now they are the one’s turning them! The Mets turned six double plays over the last two games, three in each start. Clay Holmes is in the 88th percentile for ground balls, getting them 53.9% of the time in 2025. This feels like a recipe for more double plays!
Let’s Go Mets!
