213 Miles From Shea

The Mets look to take their first series of the season this afternoon as they take on the Pirates! The Mets took game one of the season in pesky fashion, making the Pirates through 192 pitches. They knocked out Paul Skenes before the end of the first inning and forced the Pirates bullpen to use six pitchers to finish off the game. The day off yesterday probably means that higher leverage relievers like Dennis Santana and Gregory Soto would be available today. It was a tone setting day for the Mets and hopefully it continues today!

David Peterson, the longest tenured Met, starts his seventh season this afternoon. Peterson made 30 starts last season and pitched 168 2/3 innings (both career highs) with a 4.22 ERA, 3.48 FIP, 1.370 WHIP and a 95 ERA+. In the first half of the season he tossed 109 innings over 18 starts with a 3.06 ERA, earning an All-Star game spot. He was different pitcher in the second half with a 6.34 ERA over 12 starts (59 2/3 innings). Both of Peterson’s starts against the Pirates happened in the first half of the season. In Queens he held the Pirates to only two runs over six innings. In Pittsburgh he allowed five runs over 4 2/3 innings. The Pirates have the following career numbers against Peterson:

• Joey Bart 1-9, 4 BB, 5 K
• Oneil Cruz 1-3, HR, 2 K
• Henry Davis 0-4, K
• Nick Gonzalez 1-4, 2B, BB
• Spencer Horwitz 1-2, BB
• Ryan O’Hearn 0-1, K
• Marcell Ozuna 4-22, 2 HR, 4 BB, 7 K
• Bryan Reynolds 3-13, 2B, 3 K
• Jared Triolo 2-5, 2B, 2 BB, 3 K

Today is a battle of long tenured pitchers as Mitch Keller starts his 8th season with the Pirates. Over 32 starts and 176 1/3 innings last season, Keller had a 4.19 ERA, 1.259 WHIP, 4.02 FIP, and a 102 ERA+. Keller has been consistent force in the Pirates rotation over the last four seasons with four consecutive seasons with at least 31 game appearances, at least 159 innings, and an ERA+ between 98 and 106. Keller was effective against the Mets in 2025 holding the Mets to only three runs over 12 1/3 innings, scattering 10 hits. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Francisco Alvarez 2-10, 4 K
• Brett Baty 3-7, 2B, HR, BB
• Bo Bichette 0-4, BB, K
• Francisco LIndor 2-16, 5 BB, 8 K
• Jorge Polanco 1-2, BB, K
• Luis Robert Jr. 1-1, BB
• Marcus Semien 0-5, 3 K
• Juan Soto 5-12, 2B, HR, 3 BB, K
• Tyrone Taylor 0-7, 2 K
• Luis Torrens 0-3, K
• Mark Vientos 2-10, 3 K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. The longest tenured Met. There is a significant chance that David Peterson becomes a top-20 Met pitcher, depending on the metric, by the end of this season. It won’t be by bWAR. Peterson has 6.8 bWAR, good for 35th and would have to reach John Franco’s 11.2 by the end of the season to get into the top 20. He’s tied with Rick Aguilera at 37 wins, which is 34th in the franchise. He would need to get 47 this season to enter the top 20. He’s made 115 starts (#22), and he needs to get to 121 to pass Gary Gentry to enter the top 20. Nothing crazy here, but still noteworthy for a pitcher who has only made 30 starts in a season once, and had two key years bounced between the rotation and the bullpen.
2. Walk this way. The Mets worked nine walks in their first game of the season. This continues on the Mets propensity to draw walks from 2025 where the Mets finished with 563, good for fifth in baseball. About 20% of the walks in 2025 were from Juan Soto who didn’t walk at all on Thursday. The Mets went 5-for-15 with runners in scoring position, taking advantage of the free passes.
3. It’s cold. March and April baseball in Queens is not for the faint of heart. The high today is 45 and there’s a windchill that will dip below 30. It’s going to be a very different day than Opening Day which felt like a summer tease. Normally days like today favor the pitchers. The Mets bats got off to a hot start, hopefully that can warm them up today.

Let’s Go Mets!

The 2026 Mets officially take the field for the first time this afternoon!

In 2005 the Mets signed Carlos Beltran and Pedro Martínez. They rolled into the season with the slogan “The New Mets”. They should bring that slogan back this year with the amount of roster turnover. The Mets rank 28th in how much of the 2025 roster is returning in 2026. Jorge Polanco, Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette join Francisco Lindor in the infield. Luis Robert Jr and Carson Benge join Juan Soto in the outfield. Freddy Peralta makes an Opening Day start in Queens. Devin Williams and Luke Weaver will now close out games. Meet the Mets! There are a lot new faces to learn!

The Mets trading for Freddy Peralta was a real turning point of the off-season. Peralta is coming off of a career season where he made 33 starts totaling 176 2/3 innings with a 2.70 ERA, 3.64 FIP, 1.075 WHIP and a 154 ERA+. He faced the Pirates three times last season totaling 15 1/3 innings allowing five runs, four earned (2.35 ERA) while striking out 18 batters. The Pirates have the following career numbers against Peralta:

• Joey Bart 1-2, HR, BB
• Oneil Cruz 1-13, HR, 3 BB, 4 K
• Henry Davis 0-7, BB, 4 K
• Nick Gonzalez 2-10, 2B, HR, 4 K
• Spencer Horwitz 2-7
• Brandon Loew 1-5, K
• Ryan O’Hearn 1-6, BB, 3 K
• Marcell Ozuna 4-20, 2 2B, 2 BB, 6 K
• Bryan Reynolds 15-39, 2 2B, 3B, HR, 5 BB, 13 K
• Jared Triolo 1-9, 2 K
• Nick Yorke 0-1, BB, K

The Mets bats have a tough assignment on the first day of the season. Paul Skenes, the unanimous 2025 Cy Young winner, is a favorite to repeat this season. Over 32 starts last season he totaled 187 2/3 innings with a league leading 1.97 ERA, 2.36 FIP, 0.948 WHIP and 217 ERA+. He also allowed a league leading 0.5 HR/9 and put up a 7.7 bWAR. This includes a start against the Mets where he allowed only one run over six innings in a game the Pirates eventually lost 4-3. The Mets have the following career stats against Skenes:

• Francisco Alvarez 0-4, BB, K
• Brett Baty 0-2, K
• Bo Bichette 1-3, K
• Francisco Lindor 2-6
• Jorge Polanco 1-4, BB, 2 K
• Juan Soto 0-3, BB, 2 K
• Mark Vientos 2-3, 2B, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. 2026 Milestones. Several Mets hitters should personal milestones this season. Here are the big ones: Juan Soto 1000 walks, Bo Bichette 1000 hits, Marcus Semien 1000 runs scored and Francisco Lindor 300 home runs. While no franchise Mets record are expected to fall this season, Francisco Lindor and David Peterson look to move up several prominent lists this year. Francisco Lindor has scored 503 runs as a Met and should pass Mike Piazza (532) and Ed Kranepool (536) to get to 11th on the list. He should also pass Carlos Beltran and Dave Kingman in home runs to get to 6th on the all-time list. David Peterson can end up as a top 20 Mets pitcher in a few categories.
2. Battle of the fWAR Projections. The Pirates anchored by Paul Skenes and several other rising arms project 9th in pitching fWAR this season at 17.2, a few spots above the Mets (15.7). The Mets are projected to have the second best hitting fWAR (31.7) while the Pirates are near the bottom of the league (20.9). Similar to how the Mets beat Skenes last season, their path to victory runs through getting Skenes out of the game as fast as possible and then feasting on the bullpen, while suppressing the Pirates bats.
3. An Opening Day Debut. The Mets top position prospect made the roster! Carson Benge has exploded on top prospect lists before this season (Baseball America #19, MLB.com #16, Baseball Prospectus #10). He tore up spring training going 15-for-41 with a double and a triple (.435 OBP) and comes off of a season where he hit .281/.385/.472. Welcome to the show!

Let’s Go Mets!

The goal of today is to stay healthy!

The Mets play their last spring training game this afternoon. On Thursday the Mets will open the season against Paul Skenes and the Pirates in Queens. Yesterday Mike Tauchman, who was on the precipice of breaking camp with the Mets as a non-roster invitee injured his left knee, possibly after a collision with the right field fence. He jogged out to the field before the fifth inning but pulled himself out of the game. Heartbreaking stuff and hopefully it’s a lot less serious than it looked in the moment.

Which brings us back to today. Finish strong, finish healthy and let’s get ready to start the regular season in a few days!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. David Peterson. Peterson is coming off of a rough start against the Nationals where he allowed four runs from five hits and two walks over four innings. In the start before that he allowed only run off a solo homer over four innings against the Cardinals. The Mets don’t face the Marlins until late May, so there’s no real reason to hide anything from the Marlins this afternoon. Hopefully he has a solid outing and leaves spring training with some positive momentum going into the regular season.
2. Ben Rortvedt. As of game time, the Mets have four catchers on their 40-man roster. Hayden Senger was already optioned to the minors yesterday. Ben Rortvedt was claimed off waivers from the Dodgers earlier in February and does not have any options left. The Mets will have to DFA before the start of the regular season and hope he slips through waivers. This spring Rortvedt has gone 3-for-21 at the plate with a double and two walks (.208/.190/.399). His best season was 2024 with the Rays where he hit .228/.317/.303 over 112 games with a 0.9 bWAR.
3. Carson Benge. As of writing the Mets have not officially announced that Benge made the Opening Day roster, but all signs are pointing to him breaking camp and heading north to Queens. Benge has slashed .368/.442/.447 this spring with five RBI’s over 43 plate appearances this spring. The Mets top prospect has been exciting all spring and is coming off of a minor league season where he slashed .281/.385/.472 with 15 homers and 22 stolen bases.

Let’s Go Mets!

There are two days and three games left of spring training! Over the last few days a few things have become more clear for the Mets. It looks like the Mets will break camp with a six-man rotation consisting of Peralta, McLean, Senga, Manaea, Peterson and Holmes with Tong and Scott both being assigned to Syracuse. Austin Warren was optioned yesterday meaning there are only three players left in camp with a legitimate shot at the last bullpen spot. MJ Melendez was assigned to the Syracuse Mets meaning that Tauchman, Benge or both will make the Opening Day roster. We are so close to the regular season!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Looming Right Field Decision. A few days ago the Mets assigned MJ Melendez to the Syracuse Mets. But who is the right fielder on the Mets? As of right now it looks like there is a possibility that both Carson Benge and Mike Tauchman get added to the 40-man roster to make the spot. One possibility of making sure Brett Baty gets more at bats, is to use him the infield, getting DH time for the Mets plethora of infielders. Both Tauchman and Benge have earned spots on the roster with their performance this month. Tauchman has gone 7-for-28 with three doubles and a home run. Benge has gone 13-for-32 with a double and a triple. The odd man out is Cristian Pache who also had a tremendous spring (13-for-28, 3 2B, 2 HR, SB, .545 OBP).
2. Last Bullpen Spot. A few days ago Anthony DiComo reported that there is essentially one spot int he bullpen right now. There are several pitchers who haven’t been assigned to minor league camp yet competing for that last spot including Craig Kimbrel, Bryan Hudson and Richard Lovelady. Hudson just allowed three runs in one inning of relief and has allowed six runs over 3 1/3 innings this spring from five hits and three walks. Lovelady, who started spring with the Nationals, has allowed one run over five innings from five hits and three walks. Both Lovelady and Hudson are on the 40-man roster. Kimbrel is not on the 40-man and has allowed three runs over six innings from four hits and five walks this spring. There is also the possibility the Mets go with no one on this list and sign a pitcher cut from another team.
3. Francisco Alvarez. Alvarez was slated to play the full nine innings Thursday night, but left the game in the fourth inning with back tightness. The game was not carried by SNY or Mets Radio, and with the Spring Breakout game happening at the same time we had to wait until after the game to find out that it was precautionary and Alvarez would have played through the injury if it was a normal game. The Mets have a great one-two punch with Alvarez and Torrens on the roster but as soon as one of them goes down, things get a lot murkier and the depth is tested real fast.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets play the Cardinals for the sixth and final time in spring training this afternoon, but it’s not the last time the Mets will play the Cardinals in March! The Mets will open the regular season against the Pirates on March 26th and then head to St. Louis for a three game series. With so few teams playing on the east coast of Florida, and three of those teams being in the NL East, it feels like more often than not the Mets play an early season series against a team they spent the whole spring playing.

The Mets have made a few roster moves before each game this week. Before yesterday’s game they optioned Ronny Mauricio to Syracuse which clarified a few scenarios. Mauricio was slated to be the starting shortstop if Francisco Lindor wasn’t ready. It was also difficult to see how the Mets would carry Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio and Mark Vientos on the same roster with Bo Bichette and Marcus Semien.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Tobias Myers. Myers was included in the Freddy Peralta trade and is more than just a throw-in pitcher. Myers has the ability to start, spot-start, long-relief, be the bulk guy, etc. In four games this spring he has pitched 9 2/3 innings allowing only two runs while scattering seven hits and four walks. He has 12 strikeouts over this time! Myers could be the x-factor for the Mets this season both in the ways he saves the bullpen’s workload when a starter falls short and his ability to pitch in high leverage situations.
2. ABS Challenge Update. The Mets have been so bad this spring at balls and strikes challenges. Teams this spring have had been successful 52% of the time. When the Mets are batting, they have been successful only 28% of the time. They’ve been a bit better when fielding, winning 38% of the time. If you rank every team by raw overturn numbers, the Mets are dead last.
3. Catching Depth. The Mets saw their catching depth tested on Thursday with Alvarez leaving the game early for back tightness (precautionary!). Luis Torrens is a great back up catcher, but he can’t catch all 162. On the 40-man roster the Mets have Hayden Senger who struggled offensively in 2025, but knows the Mets pitchers and is fine for a short stint if needed. The Mets brought in Ben Rortvedt this spring. Rortvedt made his major league debut in 2021 with the Twins. In 2024 with the Rays he got into 112 games and had a 0.9 bWAR slashing .228/.317/.303.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets emerge from their off day with final stretch of spring training games until Opening Day! On Tuesday the Mets moved both Christian Scott and MJ Melendez to Syracuse, which clears up their path forward a bit.

Scott is recovering from a 2024 Tommy John surgery and finally returned to the mound this spring. Over two starts and six innings he allowed three runs from six hits and four walks while striking out eight. MJ Melendez was trying to break camp as the Mets right fielder and he had a fairly solid spring going 4-for-11 at the plate with two home runs and a double. He’s just facing really strong competition from Carson Benge and Mike Tauchman.

As we head into the final few games of spring training, the Mets will need to finalize their rotation. Do they start with a six-man (Peralta, McLean, Peterson, Manaea, Senga and Holmes), or does one starter get dropped to the pen or Syracuse? Does Carson Benge make the team out of camp or does Mike Tauchman find his way onto the 40-man roster? Who gets the final bullpen spot? We only have a few more games to find out!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Kodai Senga. Senga is coming off of a fantastic spring start where he struck out five of the nine batters he faced in three shutout innings. He did it with a fastball that averaged 96.5 mph and some slow curveballs. If this is the version of Senga the Mets get in 2026, they will have a formidable top-three of the rotation.
2. Opening Day lineup? Today’s lineup could be the lineup if Carson Benge doesn’t make the Opening Day Roster. Lindor, Soto and Bichette at the top of the lineup puts Bichette in the position that he loves to be in – batting with runners on base. They were always going to be the top three, everyone else is debatable and we’ll probably see them slide around as the year goes on.
3. Juan Soto. This is Juan Soto’s first game since returning from the WBC. Soto was 2-for-12 at the plate with a double and a strikeout before leaving camp in early March. He turned it on in the WBC going 6-for-23 with five runs scored, two home runs and five walks (.393 OBP).

Let’s Go Mets!

In 2024 MLB started the Spring Breakout game, an exhibition for teams to showcase players with rookie eligibility for the upcoming season. The Mets prospects beat the Nationals prospects 4-2 with Nolan Mclean the pitcher of record (1 IP, H, K) and Ryan Clifford with the lone extra-base hit (1-for-1, 2B, R). The Mets beat the Nationals again last year behind Jonah Tong (2 IP, H, 2 BB, 3 K), Ryan Clifford (1-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, 2 K), Kevin Parada (2-for-3, R, K) and Carson Benge (1-for-2, 2B, BB).

Seeing the game in it’s third iteration highlights why this game is different than the Futures Game each summer before the All-Star game. Players are going to play in multiple breakout games, year over year. Ryan Clifford is going to play for the third consecutive year. There’s also a significant chance that he makes his major league debut this season. Players like Clifford have kept up their prospect hype as they continue to grow. The 2024 game was started by Dom Hamel who was one of the top prospects in the Mets system at the time, he’s now trying to find his way the Yankees. Blade Tidwell was another emerging pitcher for the Mets in that game. He just got optioned to minor league camp by the Giants this week. Taken over multiple years, the Spring Breakout games show interesting snapshots into the organization.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. The next batch of top prospect pitchers. The Mets top pitching prospects in the first spring breakout game included Dom Hamel, Blade Tidwell (and Mike Vasil/Christian Scott, who didn’t play in the game). Only Christian Scott is with the Mets now. Last year’s top group included Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat. This year we are looking at Jack Wenninger and Jonathan Santucci. Wenninger is coming off of an excellent season with Binghamton where he had a 2.92 ERA over 26 starts and 135 2/3 innings. Santucci was drafted in 2024 and is coming off of his best season in the Mets system. Over 25 games across Brooklyn and Binghamton he had a 3.06 ERA over 117 2/3 innings.
2. Elian Peña. Peña was one of the top international free agents when the Mets signed him in January 2025 to the largest signing bonus ever in the organization ($5 million). He had a notably rough start in the Dominican Summer League, going hitless in his first 26 at bats over nine games but turned it on for the rest of season hitting .292/.421/.528 by the end. The 18-year old slated to play in the States this season and has a 2030 ETA according to MLB Pipeline.
3. Spring training standouts. A.J. Ewing has seized every moment this spring to make an impression. Over 10 games he has gone 8-for-21 with three doubles, a home run and four stolen bases (.381/.423/.667). After slashing .233/.361/.390 in 2024 he rocketed up prospect charts after his .315/.401/.429 in 2025. While Ewing has become a prospect darling, being noticed by multiple national outlets, Jacob Reimer was only being lauded by Baseball Prospectus. This spring he ahs gone 4-for-16 with two doubles and four walks (.429 OBP). He’s always gotten on base at a healthy clip but last year he also started hitting for power, knocking in 32 doubles and 17 home runs.

Let’s Go Mets!

Nolan McLean starts in the WBC Final this evening for Team USA, a game that will surely be attended by Mets players. While that is by far the major story for the Mets today, the Mets still have a game this afternoon.

The Mets head south to Jupiter this afternoon to take on the Marlins. This should also put the Mets about halfway between St. Lucie and Miami for tonight’s game! This will be the fifth time the Mets face the Marlins in spring training. After today they’ll face the Marlins on the last day of spring. The two teams will get a long break of not seeing each other with their first regular season series happening in late May.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Sean Manaea. Manaea’s velocity was down again in his last start. After the game both the Mets and Manaea assured reporters that they are not concerned about the drop. In both spring starts he has averaged between 88 and 89 mph on his fastball, which is a 3-4 mph drop from his career average. This has not happened in spring training for Manaea before. Hopefully as he gets more innings under his belt this spring his velocity will at least take a step towards his 2025 numbers (91-92 mph), which were a bit lower than his career speeds too.
2. Opening Day around the horn. The Mets projected opening day defensive alignment of Polanco at first, Semien at second, Bichette at third and Lindor at short will all be on the diamond together! The Mets defensive experiment will finally get it’s first real test!
3. Luis Robert Jr. Luis has been great in his first several spring games with the Mets going 3-for-7 at the plate with a run scored. The Mets are still trying to manage his reps to help him avoid injury.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets have been working with a major league schedule in terms of game times the last few days. Since Friday the Mets have gone night game, night game, day game (Sunday) and now night game. It feels like a regular season routine! Believe it or not we have one week of spring training games left, so this routine is fitting!

Yesterday was a huge day in Mets camp with Francisco Lindor making his return to the field after being sidelined with hamate bone surgery to start the spring. Most of the Mets regular got the start with him, which means most of the regulars are getting today off.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Francisco Alvarez. While most of the regular starters got today off, Francisco Alvarez is catching on back-to-back days, a critical part of the ramp up for the major league season. On Sunday he went 1-for-2 at the plate with a double and a run scored. He has now gone 7-for-18 this spring with two doubles and a homerun, good for a .429 OBP and 1.095 OPS.
2. David Peterson. Peterson has looked so far this spring. He tossed three scoreless innings of one-hit ball against team Israel and the four innings in Grapefruit League action allowing one run. He has racked up seven strikeouts so far over seven total innings. He hasn’t had a K/9 above 8.0 in the regular season since 2023!
3. Rightfield Battle. Carson Benge has done everything he has needed to do to prove that he could break camp with the team. he has gone 11-for-30 with a triple, slashing .367/.406/.433. He’s not directly competing with Cristian Pache, but Pache has done nothing but rake this spring going 11-for-25 with two doubles and a homer (.440/.500/.640). Not on the field tonight, MJ Melendez, Brett Baty and Mike Tauchman have all nice springs too. There’s a lot of competition in this final week!

Let’s Go Mets!

Spring started off on a low point with the Mets. Francisco Lindor had a fractured hamate bone and was debating surgery. He was the first of three high profile players to be diagnosed with the same injury (Corbin Carroll and Jackson Holliday announcing their injuries the day after Lindor). Lindor quickly got the surgery the same week and the Mets remained consistently optimistic that he would be ready for Opening Day.

Personally, I wasn’t sure I believed it until late last week when Lindor played in a minor league and then took live BP. Today he takes a significant step forward, playing in his first spring training game of the season!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Francisco Lindor. During live BP this week Lindor ripped a ground-rule double. All eyes will be on Lindor. How does he look in the field? Does he have his power? How is his timing? Most importantly, how does Lindor feel after the game? The Mets unofficial captain has been tremendous since arriving to Queens. In his last four seasons he has posted 24.3 bWAR and has hit 30+ home runs in three consecutive seasons.
2. Zach Thornton. Thornton got his first spring training start earlier last week where he allowed no runs over two innings, scattering two hits and a walk while striking out three batters. He’s coming off of injury shortened season that was turning heads. Over 72 2/3 innings between Binghamton and Brooklyn he had a 1.98 ERA and 0.812 WHIP. Last week he picked up right where he left off in 2025, and hopefully that continues today.
3. Jorge Polanco. We’ll have to wait at least a day to see Lindor throwing balls across the infield to Polanco as the Mets first basement gets a day of DH duties. Polanco has been tremendous at the plate for the Mets this spring going 5-for-14 with two home runs, three walks and three runs scored (.500 OBP, 1.286 OPS).

Let’s Go Mets!