Major League baseball heads into the final week or so of games and the Mets are still hanging on to the last Wild Card spot. The Mets went down 4-1 early Friday night but had an explosive inning where they re-took the lead and then piled on runs for the rest of night to win 12-6. The Padres, Mets, Diamondbacks, Reds and Giants are all in the race for the final two Wild Card spots and the Mets will be the first team out of the bunch to play this afternoon.
Nolan McLean has made six starts with the Mets totaling 37 2/3 innings with a 1.19 ERA, 2.49 FIP, 0.982 WHIP and a 342 ERA+. He’s coming off of an excellent start against the Rangers where he shut them out for six innings, scattering five hits and two walks while striking out seven. In his last three starts he has walked seven batters (2-3 per start). It’s been the only blight on a sparkling start to his career where he has allowed only one home run and has a K/9 above 9. Tonight will be his first of many career starts against the Washington Nationals.
Cade Cavalli has pitched 39 2/3 innings over eight starts with a 4.76 ERA, 4.84 FIP, 1.462 WHIP and an 88 ERA+. Since returning from Tommy John surgery in August, Cavalli has had starts ranging from brilliant to dreadful. In his third start back he held the Phillies scoreless over seven innings. In his fifth start he allowed eight runs, seven earned, over 2 2/3 against the Yankees. He has a 4.20 ERA over three starts and 15 innings so far in September. No hitter currently on the Mets has faced Cavalli in a major league game.
Three Things To Watch For:
- Francisco Lindor is heating up. Stretch run Lindor is back! Friday night Lindor went 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and four runs scored. He now has a hit in eight straight games going 11-for-30 slashing .367/.472/.533 with two doubles, a home run and two stolen bases while scoring 12 runs. Lindor now has a 126 OPS+, his second highest OPS+ as a Met. Bring us to October Lindor!
- Let’s Admire Soto’s Stats. Juan Soto went 2-for-3 Friday night with a home run, two walks and a stolen base. Soto now has a career high for home runs (42), is only six stolen bases from a 40-40 season, and is five walks away from breaking the Mets franchise record for walks in a single season. He has 6.2 bWAR, the third highest in his career and currently leads the league in walks (121) and OBP (.397).
- Wild Card Race: On Friday the Reds won while the Diamondbacks and Giants both lost. The Reds are still two games behind the Mets for the third Wild Card spot while the Diamondbacks fell to three back and the Giants four back. The Padres also lost so now the Mets are three games behind them. Tonight the Reds and Littell take on Assad and Cubs and the Padres take on the White Sox. The Phillies will try to get Aaron Nola (6.44 ERA) right against the Diamondbacks. At the end of the night the Giants will try to beat Glasnow and the Dodgers. All the Mets need to do though is just keep winning.
Let’s Go Mets!
