213 Miles From Shea

The Mets finally play at home today for the first time in 2023. The Mets have gone through a long spring training and first week of the season that has seen numerous injuries, a disappearing offense, struggling pitching and a rainout. But at the end of the day, the Mets are only one game below .500 and have only played seven games this year. It’s not time to move into Panic City just yet.

Tylor Megill will look to get the Mets back on the winning track as he faces off against the Marlins for the second time this season. Last time out he held the Marlins to two runs from six hits and two walks while striking out seven over five innings. In his career now he has now faced the Marlins three times, allowing seven runs, six earned over 11 innings while striking out 13 batters. The Marlins have the following numbers against him:

• Juan Segura 1-7, K
• Jazz Chisholm Jr. 3-5, 2B, BB, K
• Bryan De La Cruz 0-5, 2 K
• Jacob Stallings 1-3, 2 BB, K
• Luis Arraez 3-3
• Garrett Cooper 0-3, 2 K
• Jorge Soler 0-3, K
• Nick Fortes 1-2, HR
• Avisaíl García 0-2

The Mets bats will get another look at Edward Cabrera, who made his 2023 debut against the Mets last week. Edward lasted four innings, allowing only two runs from two hits and six walks. The Mets figured out the being patient part last time, working counts against him and getting on base. They didn’t quite figure out the scoring part. Hopefully the Mets can put all the pieces together this afternoon. Anyway, the Mets have the following career numbers against Cabrera:

• Pete Alonso 3-8, 3 HR, 3 BB, 3 K
• Francisco Lindor 1-9, BB, 2 K
• Brandon Nimmo 3-6, 4 BB, K
• Jeff McNeil 1-9, 2B
• Mark Canha 2-3, 2B, BB
• Eduardo Escobar 0-4
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-4, 2 K
• Tomás Nido 1-2, 2B, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Luis Arraez can hit: Arraez is already leading the league with 11 hits in 26 trips to the plate this season hitting a smooth .458/.500/.500 (174 OPS+). Almost all of this happened against the Mets where he went 9-for-16 including a perfect 3-for-3 against Megill. Arraez has cooled off the last two games, going hitless in three at-bats (but still getting a walk). If the Megill and the Mets can keep him off the base paths today, the Mets will probably have a good day.
2. Pete Hot Streak? Pete Alonso entered Wednesday’s game going 0-for-11 over his last three games. The positive news was he only had two strikeouts. Anyway, Pete had a huge game on Wednesday collecting two homers and carrying the Mets offense. Can he do it again today?
3. What about Álvarez? Omar Narváez was pulled from Wednesday’s game early. Whispers then started that Francisco Álvarez was on his way to New York, which signaled that whatever was ailing Narváez, it had to be serious. He will be activated before today’s game and is not starting (or hitting as a DH) as the Mets are sticking to their original Opening Day script. Today will be our first chance at seeing how the Mets plan on using him when he is not starting.

Let’s Go Mets!

The last two days of Mets baseball have been tough. The Mets have been outscored 19-0 in Milwaukee and now have been held scoreless for 20 innings. The Mets starting pitching has allowed ten runs. The bullpen has allowed nine runs. The vibes are not great right now.

On Thursday the Mets are coming home for the first time in 2023, today doesn’t feel like a must win game, but it’s incredibly important for the Mets to show they are righting the ship in multiple ways.

The Mets hope Peterson can get their starting pitching back on track this afternoon. In his first start of the season Peterson allowed one run (a solo homer) from eight hits and a walk while striking out five. Peterson pitched against the Brewers twice last season, a start and a relief outing, where he allowed five runs from six hits over 4 2/3 innings. The Brewers have the following numbers against Peterson:

• Willy Adames 2-5, 2B, 2 BB
• Luke Voit 2-5, BB
• Brian Anderson 2-4, BB, K
• William Contreras 1-3, K
• Christian Yelich 1-4, K
• Victor Caratini 1-2, K
• Luis Urías 1-2

The Mets bats will try to get themselves going against the ace of the Brewers pitching staff, Corbin Burnes. Burnes is coming off of a rough first start of the season where he allowed four runs from four hits and three walks over five innings. Last season he made 33 starts totaling 202 innings with a 2.94 ERA, 3.14 FIP, 0.965 WHIP and a 134 ERA+. Burnes had a good start against the Mets in June where he held them to two runs over six innings. In September he faced the Mets in Milwaukee and allowed five runs from seven hits and a walk over 5 2/3 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Francisco Lindor 3-15, 3B, 8 K
• Pete Alonso 4-12, 2B, HR, B, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 4-13, HR, K
• Brandon Nimmo 6-12, 2B, 2 3B, 2 K
• Daniel Vogelbach 2-9, 2B, HR, 3 K
• Starling Marte 2-5, 2 K
• Mark Canha 0-4, BB, 2 K
• Eduardo Escobar 1-4, K
• Luis Guillorme 0-4, 2K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. The offense has been offensive: The Mets offense hasn’t scored a run in 20 innings now. This is despite the Mets working walks, getting hit by pitches, and slapping singles. The pitching hasn’t helped things the last couple of days with the starting pitching allowing ten runs and the bullpen allowing nine runs. The pitching staff could allow only one run and it wouldn’t matter if the bats don’t push runs across the plate. Let’s hope the Mets can get some momentum going into the home opener tomorrow.
2. Brewers burning Burnes: Burnes lost a brutal arbitration case against the Brewers this off-season. The Brewers saved less than three quarters of a million dollars in the process. In the grand scheme of things, it seems like a small sum of money to go to court and embarrass an ace pitcher. Burnes talked about experience afterwards. Right now it seems difficult to see how the two sides can reconcile in the future. Further, Burnes had a rough start last time out. This story line is on a direct collision course with the story of the Mets offense.
3. Jeff McHits: Jeff McNeil was one of the few bright spots for the Mets last night, picking up three hits. Going into last night’s game he had only four hits (and no walks) in 21 AB’s. Jeff also struggled in spring training collecting only four hits in 23 AB’s. The Mets desperately need this performance to be start of a hot streak for Jeff.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to bounce back from a rough one yesterday. The Brewers took the first game of the series 10-0. They scored a run in the third, two in the fourth and then a whopping seven runs in the fifth inning. Carrasco and Hunter allowed five earned runs and a homer each. The Mets bats on the other hand got only three hits, and weren’t able to capitalize at all on their six walks.

The bright spot on the Mets was Luis Guillorme who went 2-4 at the plate and added a scoreless inning of relief to boot. Hopefully the Mets can channel his magic tonight.

Max Scherzer heads out to the mound for the second time this season. In his first start he allowed three runs from four hits and two walks while striking out six. Last year Scherzer faced the Brewers once and kept the Brewers hitless over six innings while striking out nine batters. He was coming off of the injured list and was pulled before the start of the seventh inning (Megill would allow a hit to break up the no-no). The Brewers have the following career numbers against Scherzer:

• Christian Yelich 10-34, 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 2 BB, 11 K
• Brian Anderson 4-21, 3 2B, BB, 7 K
• Victor Caratini 7-15, 2B, HR, 2 K
• Jesse Winker 1-9, 2 BB, 4 K
• Luke Voit 3-8, BB, 3 K
• Rowdy Tellez 1-7, BB, K
• Willy Adames 0-7, 6 K
• William Contreras 2-4, 2 K

The Mets bats will get to experience Wade Miley’s (second) Milwaukee debut. The veteran starting pitcher who started his career with the Diamondbacks has gone to Seattle, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Houston, Cincinnati, Chicago and now back to Milwaukee. Last season he was limited to nine games (eight starts) pitching 37 innings with a 3.16 ERA, 3.95 FIP, 1.216 WHIP and a 131 ERA+. The last time he faced the Mets was back in 2021 where he allowed five runs, four earned over 13 1/3 innings while striking out 10. The Mets have the following career numbers against Miley:

• Starling Marte 9-22, 2B, BB, 6 K
• Mark Canha 4-16, 2B, BB, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 5-13, 3 2B, 3 BB, K
• Daniel Vogelbach 1-10, HR, BB, 2 K
• Tommy Pham 2-9, 2B, 3 K
• Pete Alonso 3-6, HR
• Jeff McNeil 1-6, K
• Eduardo Escobar 0-5, 2 K
• Brandon Nimmo 0-4, 3 K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. I’m Sorry Pham: I admit, I was one of many Mets fans on Twitter on Sunday that criticized the lineup with Pham hitting lead-off against the lefty. Pham responded by going 3-4 at the plate including a homer and was a large reason why the Mets ended up winning their first series of the year. Sorry Pham! Let’s see what Tommy can cook up today against another lefty.
2. Watch Out Mark! Last year Mark Canha set the Mets record getting hit by 27 pitches. We even talked about this before yesterday’s game with the Mets getting hit three times on Sunday. Well Locastro got hit again yesterday. In four plate appearances this year Locastro has been hit three times in four trips to the plate. Mark’s record could be in jeopardy.
3. Sprint this way! Brandon Nimmo doesn’t walk this way when he gets four balls, he sprints. It’s one of the best things to watch in sports, never gets old! Brandon Nimmo has already walked six times in the first five games this year including two games where he has walked twice. Branon Nimmo has only scored one run so far. First, can Nimmo keep this pace up? Second, can the Mets take advantage?

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets made a 1200+ mile journey last night to go from a day game in Miami to a day game in Milwaukee this afternoon for the Brewers home opener. The Mets are coming off of a series win Miami and are looking to rack up more wins before they return to Queens at the end of the week.

Yesterday’s game started off rocky as Kodai Senga loaded the bases and allowed a run before recording his first out. He rebounded, allowing no more runs while striking out eight batters. Tommy Pham got the start and was a star with the bat going 3-4 and hitting a homer. Who is going to be the player who steps up today?

Carlos Carrasco makes his 2023 debut today. His 2022 campaign was much better than his first time around with the Mets. Over 152 innings and 29 starts last season, Carrasco had a 3.97 ERA, 3.53 FIP, 1.329 WHIP and a 97 ERA+. This includes a start against the Brewers last September in Milwaukee where he allowed three runs from from five hits and two walks over four innings. The Brewers have the following career numbers against Carlos:

• Christian Yelich 3-17, 2B, 2 BB, 10 K
• Brian Anderson 3-12, 2B, K
• Willy Adames 7-9, 2B, HR, BB, K (Yes, actually 7-9)
• Luke Voit 0-7, 2 BB, 3 K
• Jesse Winker 3-9, 2 2B, 3 K
• Rowdy Tellez 3-7, 2 2B, BB, 3 K
• William Contreras 3-6, 2 HR, K
• Luis Urías 1-6

Freddy Peralta gets the home opener for the Brewers this afternoon. Last season, over 18 games and 17 starts, he pitched 78 innings with a 3.58 ERA, 3.06 FIP, 1.038 WHIP and a 110 ERA+. Peralta hasn’t faced the Mets since the end of the 2021 season where he allowed four runs from five hits and a walk over 5 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Eduardo Escobar 0-8, 6 K
• Starling Marte 2-7, 3B
• Tommy Pham 1-5, BB, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 1-3, HR, BB, K
• Daniel Vogelbach 1-4, K
• Pete Alonso 1-1, 2B, BB, HBP
• Brandon Nimmo 0-3
• Tim Locastro 0-1, K
• Jeff McNeil 0-2, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Energy Up: Home Openers have a lot of energy and the Mets will be the visiting team for the second time in five games. On top of extra fanfare, this newly built Brewers lineup have great great career numbers against Carrasco. The Brewers have also had an off-day and are traveling from Chicago while the Mets have played everyday so far and had a much longer journey. Can the Mets feed on the energy and play spoiler today?
2. What did you expect with Canha and Locastro? The 2022 Mets broke the franchise record getting hit by an astounding 112 pitches last season. Through the first four games this season the Mets have been hit four times, mainly thanks to yesterday’s game when Locastro was hit twice and Lindor was hit once (Canha was hit earlier in the season). Currently, by small sample size, the Mets are on pace to break pre-modern era record set by the Baltimore Orioles in 1898 (160 hit by pitches). We are hoping this isn’t the case as more HBP means a higher injury risk. But with Canha and Locastro on the same roster, breaking last year’s record seems like destiny.
3. Keep the ball in the park Carrasco! When Carlos Carrasco returned from injury in 2021 he struggled to keep the ball in the ballpark. Over his career he has allowed homers at a pace of 1.1 per nine innings but in 2021 he allowed them at a rate of 2.0, leading to an ERA over six and an ERA+ of 67. Last season he allowed 1.0 homers per nine inning and he had a much better season. Carlos allowed four homers in 13 innings during spring training. Can Carrasco return to his 2022 form in his debut?

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets and Marlins wrap up their first series of the season this afternoon with the Mets going for a series win and the Marlins trying to force a series split.

Yesterday the Mets went up 1-0 early but the Marlins were able to claw back and make it 2-1. After that the game switched to all Mets with the Amazin’s scoring five more runs to win 6-2. Canha had the big day for the Mets. After starting the season slow in his first two games he went 3-4 with a double and a homer leading the Mets to victory.

Today we get to see the highly anticipated major league debut of Kodai Senga (2:40 AM local time in Japan). Last year for Softbank he had a 1.89 ERA and 1.041 WHIP over 148 innings. How much of his ghost forkball will we see in today’s game? It was reported that he was avoiding it during Spring Training in order to stay healthy for the regular season. In his first spring start he tossed it a few times and it was linked to a finger injury. Even with limiting his most famous pitch in spring training, he still managed to strike out 10 batters over nine innings this spring.

Trevor Rogers will make his 2023 debut for the Marlins this afternoon. He was an All-Star in 2021 with a 2.64 ERA and 160 ERA+ over 133 innings. Last year was a different story. Over 23 starts (107 innings) he had a 5.47 ERA, 4.35 FIP, 1.505 WHIP and a 74 ERA+. He faced the Mets last year on back to back starts at the end of June where he allowed seven runs, six earned over 9 1/3 innings from 12 hits and three walks. The Mets have the following numbers against Rogers:

• Pete Alonso 1-14, HR, 6 K
• Brandon Nimmo 4-15, 2 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 3-10, 2B, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 3-9, 3 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
• Eduardo Escobar 1-6, 3 K
• Luis Guillorme 1-5, BB, 2 K
• Starling Marte 3-6, 2 K
• Mark Canha 0-4, BB, 2 K
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-3, BB, K
• Tim Locastro 1-2, 2B, K
• Tommy Pham 1-3, K
• Tomás Nido 1-2, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Reversing Sunday Woes: In 2020 the Mets lost 8 of 10 games they played on Sunday. In 2021 the Mets lost 12 of 26 games they played on Sunday. Last year they improved to only losing 10 of 28 games on Sunday. Sunday losses always felt significant for two reasons. First, if the Mets won the first two games of the series, that meant they couldn’t close the door during the Sunday sweep. Second, the Mets are more likely to have an off-day on Monday, so the loss sits for an extra day. What will this first Sunday in 2023 bring?
2. Pete Alonso’s Hot Start: Not mentioned earlier was Alonso’s game yesterday. He went 2-3 and improved to 3-11 with three walks on the season. He has a double and a homer as well bringing his early season OPS to 1.065. Alonso has struggled against Rogers historically (1-14, 6 K). We are looking to see if his hot start can push back his historical numbers against Rogers.
3. Pressure Building on Escobar: Eduardo has always been a streaky hitter and in the first three games this year he looks to be on a cold streak, collecting one hit in 12 trips to the plate. Meanwhile Brett Baty went 4-4 yesterday with two homers and a terrific play in the field. By sending Baty to Syracuse the Mets are signaling that they are probably giving Escobar about month as the starting third basemen.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to bounce back from last night’s loss as they take on the Marlins for game three of the four game series. Yesterday the Marlins took an early 1-0 lead and the Mets weren’t able to muster a run until the ninth inning when Pete Alonso hit the Mets first homer of the season. A 2-1 loss is definitely frustrating. The Mets starting pitching behind David Peterson and relief pitching led by two scoreless innings from Tommy Hunter kept the Mets in the game the whole night.

Now the Mets will pivot as they look to guarantee at least a series split with the Marlins with a win tonight. This was originally supposed to be Justin Verlander day, but with Verlander landing on the IL at the start of the season the Mets turn to Tylor Megill.

In 15 games and 47 1/3 innings last season, Tylor Megill had a 5.13 ERA, 3.77 FIP, 1.246 WHIP and a 76 ERA+. When I think about last season, I remember Megill more as the 3.77 FIP pitcher, rather than the 5.13 ERA. Megill barely saw the Marlins last season, only catching them in relief in September where he pitched a scoreless inning where he walked two batters and struck out two. The Marlins have the following numbers against him:

• Jean Segura 1-5
• Jacob Stallings 1-3
• Jazz Chisholm Jr. 2-3
• Bryan De La Cruz 0-2, K
• Avisaíl García 0-2
• Jon Berti 0-1

The Mets bats will look to get back on the right track tonight against Edward Cabrera. Cabrera is coming off of a successful second season in the majors where he made 14 starts and pitched 71 2/3 innings with a 3.01 ERA, 4.59 FIP, 1.074 WHIP and a 135 ERA+. He made one start against the Mets last season where he allowed three runs from five hits and two walks while striking out four. That start was the first of four starts in a row where he allowed 11 runs over 19 2/3 innings, raising his season ERA from 2.39 to 3.15. Which Edward Cabrera will the Mets see tonight? The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Pete Alonso 3-8, 3 HR
• Francisco Lindor 1-6, BB, K
• Jeff McNeil 1-7, 2B
• Brandon Nimmo 3-5, 2 BB, K
• Mark Canha 1-2
• Eduardo Escobar 0-2
• Tomás Nido 1-2, 2B, K
• Daniel Vogelbach 0-2, K
• Omar Narváez 0-1, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. A thorn in the Mets side: Garrett Cooper has four hits in eight trips to the plate this year against the Mets including a triple and a homer. He’s also made several terrific plays at first base. The Mets need to figure out how to keep Cooper off the base paths for the rest of the weekend.
2. Stealing Second: In the first two games of the season Starling Marte has stolen second base twice and has been caught stealing second once. He’s the only Met this year to steal a base. Marte’s career high in stolen bases is 47 which he has done twice. Last season he he stole only 18 bags. He can’t keep this pace up the whole season but right now it feels like he’s going to get close, if not pass, that career mark.
3. Happy Sidd Finch Day! The Mets and Sports Illustrated collaborated on one of the best April Fools stories in history in 1985. “The Curious Case of Sidd Finch” introduced the world to a fictious, barefoot starting pitching who threw some serious heat at 168 mph. How many times is this mentioned in the broadcast today?

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets and Marlins play game two of a four game set tonight as the Mets look to build momentum off of yesterday’s Opening Day win. The bullpen was the big question going into yesterday’s game. To paraphrase the Mets radio booth, the Mets got used to playing eight inning games last year since Edwin Díaz was so lights out in the ninth. Drew Smith, Brooks Raley, and David Robertson tossed a combined three innings allowing only one hit and nothing else while striking out six batters. Let’s keep all of that going tonight!

David Peterson earned José Quintana’s spot while he recovers on the injured list. Last season Peterson made 19 starts and pitched in 28 games, tossing 105 2/3 innings with a 3.83 ERA, 3.64 FIP, 1.334 WHIP and a 101 ERA+. This includes four games and three starts against the Marlins where he pitched 18 innings allowing five runs (2.50 ERA) from 16 hits while striking out 23 batters. Peterson is also coming off of a great spring training where he allowed no runs from one hit and eight walks over 12 innings while striking out 13 batters. The Marlins have the following career numbers against him:

• Jon Berti 2-12, 2B, 4 K
• Jean Segura 4-9, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 2 K
• Garrett Cooper 2-7, HR, 2 K
• Bryan De La Cruz 0-7, BB, 4 K
• Nick Fortes 1-5, K
• Jazz Chisholm Jr. 0-1, BB
• Jorge Soler 1-3, K
• Jacob Stallings 1-2, BB, K
• Avisaíl García 0-2, 2 K

The Mets bats will get their first look at Jesús Luzardo tonight. Luzardo made 18 starts and pitched 100 1/3 innings for the Marlins last season with a 3.32 ERA, 3.12 FIP, 1.037 WHIP and a 123 ERA+. It was by far the best season for Luzardo who has a career 4.59 ERA. He faced the Mets twice last season and allowed seven runs from 10 hits and five walks over 9 1/3 innings while striking out nine batters. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Pete Alonso 2-11, HR, 5 K
• Eduardo Escobar 2-9, HR, BB
• Francisco Lindor 2-8, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 4-8, K
• Mark Canha 0-5, 2 K
• Brandon Nimmo 2-5, 2B, HR, BB
• Tomás Nido 1-3, BB, K
• Starling Marte 0-3, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Power? The Mets hit 171 homers in 2022 which was six behind the league average. The Braves led the league with 243 and the Phillies had 205. The Mets didn’t need any homers to beat to beat the Marlins yesterday. With the injury concerns mounting for the Mets pitching staff, it would be nice for the Mets bats to give their starters and bullpen some additional breathing room. Hitting homers would be the quickest way to do it!
2. Crowd Size: Last season Miami had an average paid attendance of 11,203 per game. This put them in 29^th, behind Tampa Bay (13,927) and ahead of Oakland (9,973). We also know that players feed off of the energy in the crowd. Max Scherzer talked about how difficult it was pitching in the back fields during spring training without a crowd. During the World Baseball Classic we saw what loanDepot Park could look like with a full crowd. The games were fun! Imagine if the Marlins could replicate a little bit of that environment in their home ballpark all the time. Anyway, the Mets generally draw a crowd in Miami and it is a Friday night, so tonight should be one of the better attended games. One thing I’m curious about this season is if people in the Miami area will go see visiting World Baseball Classic stars, like Francisco Lindor, when they come to town.
3. Third time through the order woes. Opponents last year hit .238/.333/.378 against Peterson the first time through the order. Second time through .206/.304/.319. Third time through? .310/.375/.483. David Peterson’s success this year is going to depend on his ability to get hitters out the third time they face off in the game.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets begin their highly anticipated 2023 campaign this afternoon as they take on the Marlins in Miami. Fresh off a 101-win season, the Mets are hungry to take the division and make a deep run in October. After a wild off-season, the Mets have had a tough spring, losing Edwin Díaz and José Quintana to injuries. This is Opening Day though. Today is the day optimism and wild dreaming about all of the opportunities the Mets have this season.

Max Scherzer will kick off the season for the Mets. He made 23 starts in his first season with the Mets tossing 145 1/3 innings with a 2.29 ERA, 2.62 FIP, 0.908 WHIP and a 169 ERA+. Incredibly, Scherzer never faced the Marlins last season however there are many Marlins who have faced Scherzer over his career:

• Jean Segura 13-36, HR, BB, 8 K
• Garrett Cooper 2-18, 2B, 2 BB, 5 K
• Avisaíl García 4-13, 3B, 2 HR, 3 K
• Jon Berti 3-9, BB, 3 K
• Joey Wendle 3-9, 3 K
• Jazz Chisholm Jr. 1-3, 3B, K
• Jorge Soler 0-3, 2K

The Mets bats will get a tall order on their first day of the season – the 2022 National League Cy Young Award winner, Sandy Alcántara. Last season he made 32 starts and tossed a league leading 228 2/3 innings including a league leading six complete games. Over that stretch he had a 2.28 ERA, 2.99 FIP, 0.980 WHIP and a 178 ERA+. He faced the Mets four times last year and the Mets were able to get to him a bit more than other teams. He allowed 11 runs, 10 earned (3.33 ERA) over 27 innings from 26 hits and five walks while striking out 21. The Mets have the following career numbers against Sandy:

• Pete Alonso 5-30, 3 2B, HR, BB, 8 K
• Jeff McNeil 9-31, 2B, HR, 3 BB, 3 K
• Brandon Nimmo 4-29, 2 2B, 3 BB, 6 K
• Francisco Lindor 7-23, 2 2B, HR, 3 BB, 3 K
• Eduardo Escobar 2-18, K
• Luis Guillorme 5-15, 5 K
• Starling Marte 4-13, 2 3B, HR, 3 K
• Mark Canha 3-8, 2B, HR, BB< K
• Daniel Vogelbach 4-9, 3 2B, HR, BB, K
• Omar Narváez 1-5, K

Three Things To Watch For

1. Mets on Opening Day: The Mets are a statistical anomaly for Opening Day. The Mets are 40-21 on Opening Day, by far the best in the league and it’s made even better considering the first eight seasons the Mets lost on Opening Day. Facing Sandy Alcántara today is going to put that record in jeopardy and give the Mets probably their toughest challenge since the years when they had to face Max Scherzer on the first day of the season.
2. A Game of Batting Champs: Today’s game will feature the National League batting champion, Jeff McNeil, against the American League batting champion, Luis Arraez. Arraez was traded to the Marlins in the off-season for a package built around Pablo López. Even crazier, if Justin Verlander got the start today we would have last years Cy Young Award winners in the same game as both batting champions. Anyway, I don’t know if both leagues batting champions have ever faced off to start a season before. It is definitely unusual.
3. Late Inning Bullpen Watch: How do the Mets respond to not having Edwin Díaz to close out games? Is it going to be David Robertson? Adam Ottavino? Both depending on the situation? It is very difficult to replace the best closer in the game but both Robertson and Ottavino had excellent seasons in 2022. Ottavino weas in the 99^th percentile for average exit velocity, 97^th for hard hit percentage and 89^th for strikeout percentage. David Robertson was in the 97^th percentile for expected batting average, 90^th for strikeout percentage and 99^th for fastball spin. Unlike Díaz who was top in every category, both Robertson and Ottavino have some holes. Players are more likely to hit Robertson hard. They both struggle to get players to chase their pitches. The late inning scenario is something the Mets will be watching all season.

Let’s Go Mets!

We finally made it! The last day of Spring Training!

The Mets and Marlins play each other in a late afternoon spring game before taking a few days off and starting the season against each other in Miami. If you include today’s game, the Mets and Marlins play each other eight times in their next eleven games. The two teams are going to get very familiar with each other over the next couple of weeks.

Big news broke during the Mets game last night that Brett Baty and Mark Vientos would be starting the season in the minors. That means the Mets are rolling with Eduardo Escobar as their starting third basemen at least in the short term for the 2023 Mets. What Billy Eppler wouldn’t commit to yet is if Darin Ruf has made the major league roster. It feels like Ruf made the roster if both Baty and Vientos are starting in the minors. That being said, the Mets still have a few days to make decisions before the games start for real on Thursday.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. See You Again Soon! Justin Verlander makes his final start of spring training today and is scheduled to face the Marlins next Saturday for the third game of the season. I am curious if he hides anything from the Marlins, works on specific pitches only, or splits his time between this game and a minor league game or a bullpen session. Unless it looks like he’s really going full steam today, I’m not going to read too much into his performance
2. Normal Lineup? The Mets have Darin Ruf in the game today as the DH, which is where he would be on days the Mets face off against a lefty starting pitcher. Besides that this lineup looks like the lineup the Mets will roll with at the start of the season. The only question marks in are Ruf and Escobar. According to Showalter, despite Ruf’s poor spring training performance, he’s been destroying baseballs in the backfields. Escobar has been cold this spring, but was one of the best hitters on the team the last month or so of the regular season.
3. Final Bullpen Spots Up For Grabs: Before the start of this game the Mets optioned Jeff Brigham to Syracuse and reassigned T.J. McFarland and Jimmy Yacabonis to minor league camp. This leaves Curtiss, Nogosek, Hernández and Santana battling for the last three spots.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets were firing on all cylinders yesterday. Today they look to keep that going and bring that momentum in the regular season which is less than a week away!

Max Scherzer tossed 100 pitches yesterday, allowing two runs from four hits and striking out 11 batters, including striking out the side to end his outing. The bullpen behind him (Santana, Muckenhirn, McLoughlin) all tossed scoreless outings allowing only two hits while striking out three batters.

The bats also came out with Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso each collecting two hits and racking up a combined five RBIs. Omar Narváez also joined in the fun collecting two hits and hitting his first homer of the spring. The Mets bats and arms will take on the Cardinals tonight and hopefully will keep the good times flowing:

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Rotation Battle: It looks like one of David Peterson or Tylor Megill will be the second starter on the team, breaking up Scherzer and Verlander and making sure that Verlander starts the home opener. Today will be the second turn in the rotation where both pitchers are expected to make an extended appearance. Last time Peterson entered the game with eight scoreless innings in spring while Megill had one earned run in basically the same stretch. Peterson turned in an additional four scoreless innings while Megill struggled a bit, allowing six runs, only three earned, over 2 2/3 innings. We will see this roster battle live, today!
2. Finding Nimmo: Nimmo returns to the lineup today after a scary injury. Only a few days after Edwin Díaz went down, Nimmo slid into second awkwardly. He was down for about a minute or two and concerns were that he had a similar injury. He was diagnosed with low grade sprains in his knee and ankle and was considered week to week putting Opening Day in doubt. A couple of days ago he played in a minor league game and hit a triple. Today we’ll get the sense if he’s good to go, or not, for Opening Day.
3. Opening Day Lineup? Tonight’s lineup is incredibly close to the Opening Day lineup. We finally see the return of Jeff McNeil, playing in his first spring training game since the World Baseball Classic. There are two reasons why this may not actually be the Opening Day lineup. Most likely Omar Narváez will be the Opening Day catcher, he did catch Scherzer yesterday. Nido, however, is having an amazing spring training. Then there’s Brett Baty. Does he still have time to win the job from Eduardo Escobar? Can Escobar show tonight that he should start the season at third?

Let’s Go Mets!