Congrats to the Mets on the second most wins in franchise history after sweeping the three-game series against the Nats.
Congrats to Jeff McNeil on winning the NL Batting title too yesterday! It was a bitter-sweet regular season in which the Mets were in first place for 275 days----virtually the entirety of the regular season---but they couldn't close things off in September.
They finished the regular season tied for first place with the Braves, but lost the regular season series 10-9, so Atlanta gets the bye and the #2 seed. The MEts will have to go the long way to get to the Promised Land, but it's still there for them.
They were one of four team to win 100+ wins this past regular season (funny how fast that went, right?). The Dodgers, who'll be waiting for the winner of the Mets-Pads series, won 111, the Astros won 106, and the Mets & Braves each won 101. Hopefully the Mets get fully healthy and get Marte back at some point in the playoffs, so they can maximize their potential and try and do what the dodgers did the Giants last season, when the Dodgers finished a game behind them in the regular season with 106 wins, but beat them in the playoffs. Let's see what happens with that.
The playoff brackets & Mets' schedule are as follows:
Game 3, if necessary, will either remain as scheduled, be moved to 4 pm EST or 7 pm EST. Here are some factoids about the Padres below (they lost yesterday & finished the regular season 89-73):
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Buck said Max would start Game 1 yesterday after the game when reporters pressed him on it.
The rotation matchups are looking like so:
It seems likely that if the Mets win Game 1 against the Padres, that they'll start Bassitt in Game 2. If the Mets win Game 2 in that scenario, then they can begin the Divisional Series in L.A. with deGrom starting Games 1 and 5, in what will be a best-of-five series.
Now, if the Mets lose Game 1 against the Padres, then they'd probably scrap that plan and pitch Jake in Game 2 with the season on the line, since the WC Series is a best-of-three series. That would then probably force the Mets to start someone like Taijuan Walker in L.A. if they survive the Padres in three games. Check out some Met killer Yu Darvish's numbers against them in his career:
He undressed them in that game he pitched at Citi after the All-Star Break in late July, so going against him is no tall order. Buck is doing the right thing by scheduling Scherzer to start Game 1 tomorrow evening. The Mets signed him for games like this and he has the most post-season experience & success in their starting rotation. Besides, deGrom has been a little off in his past few starts. Scherzer just gives them a better chance to win at this point.
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Here are some articles to check out:
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Max Scherzer to start Game 1 of Wild Card series for Mets | By Chris McShane (@chrismcshane) | Oct 5, 2022 | 9:18pm EDT
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Morning Briefing: Mets Finish Regular Season on High Note | By Ben Reimer | Updated: October 6, 2022
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Forecasting the Mets’ Wild Card Series Roster: What 26 players will the Mets take with them to the initial postseason series? | By Brian Salvatore | Oct 6, 2022 | 9:00am EDT
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Mets Morning News: The curtains close on the regular season, Jeff McNeil wins batting title - By Linda Surovich | (@LindaSurovich) | Oct 6, 2022 | 8:30am EDT
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A feel good win to close out the season: A lineup of reserves crushed the Nats for the Mets 101st win in game 162. - By Lukas Vlahos | (@lvlahos343) | Oct 5, 2022 | 8:55pm EDT
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Max Scherzer to start Game 1 of Wild Card series for Mets: Scherzer gets the nod in the team’s first postseason game since 2016. - By Chris McShane (@chrismcshane) | Oct 5, 2022 | 9:18pm EDT
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Jeff McNeil wins National League batting title: McNeil’s .326 average was the top mark in the NL. - By Chris McShane (@chrismcshane) | Oct 5, 2022 | 9:00pm EDT
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Projecting the Mets’ Potential Playoff Rotation Through Two Rounds - By Dan Quiñones | Updated: October 4, 2022
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Mets Announce Baty, Hamel As 2022 Minor League Award Winners | By Michael Mayer | Updated: October 5, 2022
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The stench of the Atlanta series looks to have been put away, but it'll only be gone if the Mets beat the Pads. They'll feel a lot better if they win Games 1 and 2 and are able to start deGrom twice in a series against the Dodgers in a best-of-five in the NLDS, but first they have to get through Darvish tomorrow---something that no Mets team has done before. It won't be easy.
There's lots to look forward to. Mets made a move yesterday placing Megill on the IL so they could activate Givens. That won't matter though going forward into the post-season roster decision for the Wildcard series. They'll do it each time a new series begins (hopefully they get to do that 4 times this post-season). No word on Marte yet. We probably won't be seeing him for the WC round in my opinion. The best we could hope for is the NLDS, if the Mets make it that far, but I personally doubt that too for my own reasons. He got hit in Pittsburgh exactly a month again.
This is an injury that usually lasts 6 to 8 weeks, so the Mets were either siting on the news or unsure. Who knows. In either case, the Mets need Marte back healthy ASAFP. He makes a difference in this lineup and would be a huge re-addition. There's also the worst-case scenario that he might not be back this season at all, but let's hope that's not the case. A healthy Marte would give the Mets a shot in the arm that they could use against the clubs they'll potentially face in the NLDS and beyond if he's back then.
We can consolidate all Mets news and notes on this thread today instead of making multiple ones. Yesterday's game thread is gonna get buried at some point, so might as well make a fresh thread for today. We can use this up until tomorrow, when the Mets' post-season roster is in to MLB by noon EST then.
Toodles for now,
#LFGM!
If I had to pick it would be the Mets playoff series all the way.
I head into this Giants game feeling comfortable that they are ahead of schedule for this season and playing Green Bay with some house money. I'll enjoy the novelty of the 9:30 start and hope for the best but at the end of the day I expect a loss.
I will be on the edge of my seat with the Mets probably all weekend.
Thanks to Optimus and everyone who puts effort into these threads. Definitely noted and appreciated!
I'll be there tomorrow as well. My son's first playoff and the lights are on. Stoked!
NICE!! Hope you two enjoy it :-)
I would personally bet against those 3 things happening at the same time ever again because I don't think they have happened for any other team in the last 2 decades.
I know there's temptation to think this is the beginning of something and it is because of Cohen, but even if they do everything right like LAD there are no guarantees that their future stud pitchers will stay healthy (which LAD and possibly ATL too have had happen to them this year). Or they could have a situation like SD with tatis. We thought 2015 was the beginning of something special and all that followed were unexpected injuries.
that's what makes some of this year's missteps that much harder to swallow but who knows, maybe they will overcome them. it's possible someone like vogey or alvarez goes on a tear and it all works out. or jdg/scherz/diaz show up and are just that good.
Cohen has the chance to do something similar and that's really as far as the comparison goes.
You've also had career years (or close to it) from Lindor, Alonso, Nimmo, McNeil, and Marte..
That's also pretty unusual.
With Nimmo, deGrom, Diaz, Bassitt, and Walker all free agents, it's hard to imagine paying ALL of them and ALSO adding something else to get better.... so will really need big step ups from Baty, Alvarez, Vientos, Peterson next year to hold the line
Cohen has the chance to do something similar and that's really as far as the comparison goes.
Gotchya. My mistake. I do miss the element of drama that George brought to the game though. Billy 5, Billy 6, lol. I remember listening to caller's on Bill Mazur's show on Channel 5 back in day having conniptions about Steinbrenner, lol.
You've also had career years (or close to it) from Lindor, Alonso, Nimmo, McNeil, and Marte..
That's also pretty unusual.
With Nimmo, deGrom, Diaz, Bassitt, and Walker all free agents, it's hard to imagine paying ALL of them and ALSO adding something else to get better.... so will really need big step ups from Baty, Alvarez, Vientos, Peterson next year to hold the line
specific to the bold i think it's not too outlandish that a good majority of those things happen. Cohen is going to pay whoever delivers this postseason. And he may pay some guys a lot who don't deliver if they've already done enough to "earn it" (nimmo, jdg, diaz especially).
some number of the 3 kids are going to take this lineup to another level next year, possibly to the Atlanta level. im pretty convinced of that.
so while im optimistic that remaining a 90-100 win team is very realistic, my pessimism is simply the reality that the postseason is a very different beast. LAD have been a 100 win team for a decade and they got 1 WS in a shortened year. The Yanks have been a 100 win team for almost 3 decades and have only won once or twice post-dynasty.
possibly unpopular opinion - more than JDG/Scherzer, the greatest crime of this season would be wasting Diaz' performance because Mariano was the difference all those years and if Diaz pitches the way he did in the regular season he will be the difference this postseason if the hitters show up. And that's even if the starters are just mediocre.
Was kind of a sad ending to reg season and I don't exactly like our chances going very far, especially w/o Marte, but the future is bright. I wouldn't say that if the wilponzis still owned the team.
It's SO nice to know your owner is a big fan, has the desire to win and the bucks to spend. Cohen is kind of like a nicer more level headed and civilized '70s Steinbrenner. What's not to love?
With Cohen and some added talent, '22 could be like the Mets '85. A stepping stone to the big one.
I want to believe the future is bright. But it's difficult at the moment. All of their top pitching prospects are years away from the big club if they are good enough to make it. Maybe you can consider Butto as a guy in 2023 as the 7th or 8th depth starter?
4/5ths of the starting pitching are free agents: deGrom, Bassitt, Carrasco, and Walker. Everyone who has a significant role is a free agent: Díaz, May, Ottavino, Lugo, Givens, and Trevor Williams.
And then you have Nimmo looming large as a free agent, and Naquin as well, although that wouldn't be felt as acutely.
I think you need Bassitt to come back (he has a mutual option for $19M next year, he's getting paid $8.6M this year). He will exercise the option because his AAV on his next deal will likely exceed the $19M option year, and he can get a three or four year deal, as opposed to having just one year guaranteed if he stays.
DeGrom is simply irreplaceable, and tbh, in my gut I don't think he wants to stay in the NY market.
So assuming you bring back Bassitt and deGrom leaves, the rotation becomes Scherzer, Bassitt, Peterson?, Megill? and who?
The one free agent pitcher who is likely to opt out and may be gettable is Carlos Rodon. Then maybe Kershaw? Then a precipitous drop-off....Noah Syndergaard reunion?
Best case scenario is deGrom comes back, Bassitt comes back, and you get Rodon in here, re-sign Díaz, and then piece together that bullpen. Just the three starters are likely going to cost more than half a billion dollars in long-term commitments to play for the Mets, maybe much more. Díaz will cost likely AT LEAST $70M over 4 years, and he could even get 5 years at that AAV or higher.
We haven't even gotten to Nimmo yet, at least another $14M AAV.
I understand Cohen is the richest owner in baseball, but I imagine even he has budgetary constraints. How do you spend $95 million+ AAV on three starting pitchers? The whole payroll this year is ~$285M. Are you going to explode your payroll? And if the answer is, "you can't," then that means you have to get younger, trade some established talent for prospects, or go bargain-hunting...José Quintana?
And maybe the best course of action is simply to let deGrom walk and spend the money you were going to on him for 2 or 3 starting pitchers.
The one good thing is you have Baty, Álvarez, and Vientos cutting their teeth. And if two of the three become stars, or even if one of them does and the other two are very good players like 4.5 to 5 WAR, you have some cost-controlled talent that can lengthen the lineup at least where you don't need to go out and pay another Lindor contract.
Hopefully, Mauricio will earn a promotion next year as well and be traded for some pitching.
No matter what, unless Cohen is going to balloon this payroll to over $400M per year, major changes are coming next season, so what we have here this year...it's not going to look the same.
The Mets Didn’t Collapse. So Why Does It Feel Like They Did? - ( New Window )
"What had been a charmed season has turned into something just a little bit messier. But hey, these are the Mets we’re talking about. If anything came easy, it wouldn’t make sense."
Agreed. Mets can win it all. They were tied for the 3rd best record in baseball. That didn't happen by accident. None of that means anything anymore, but it's indicative of their ability relative to tother teams. My concern is their health. I just wish Marte was back. The Mets REALLY need his bat back in the lineup. Escobar has been awesome for the last month, and has added an extra dimension to this team. Hopefully one of the kids steps up too (Alvarez and Vientos). If last year's Braves or the 2006 Cards can win it all, than so can this year's Mets.
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We're in and have a chance to win. I'm going to enjoy that for a while.
Agreed. Mets can win it all. They were tied for the 3rd best record in baseball. That didn't happen by accident. None of that means anything anymore, but it's indicative of their ability relative to tother teams. My concern is their health. I just wish Marte was back. The Mets REALLY need his bat back in the lineup. Escobar has been awesome for the last month, and has added an extra dimension to this team. Hopefully one of the kids steps up too (Alvarez and Vientos). If last year's Braves or the 2006 Cards can win it all, than so can this year's Mets.
Yes, of course we have a chance to win it, but that doesn't accurately reflect the conundrum that is the Mets.
They played phenomenal ball for the first half of the season, and good baseball for the second half. Which team, and which record, do we get for the playoffs?
The earlier trend is much more confidence inducing, the latter trend is not.
I'm confused, and maybe other's are also, regarding why the difference in play between the two halves. I think if I, or we, or they, clearly understood the reasons for the disparity between the 2 halves, and could remedy that difference, it would increase my confidence in them(not that my confidence in them makes any real or substantive difference, I'm not that egotistical).
So, that's my confusion, and maybe other's as well. Will the real Mets please stand up.
https://www.mlb.com/mets/news/how-the-2022-mlb-playoff-teams-were-built - ( New Window )
what odds did you get?
Buck Showalter speaks live ahead of the Wild Card Series | Mets News Conference | SNY - ( New Window )
that's pretty solid. i hadn't looked around but 10:1 feels about right. i'd have hoped adding the WC round would spike it a bit higher but that's definitely a live one.
Max Scherzer says oblique is a non-issue, ready to start Game 1 of the Wild Card series | SNY - ( New Window )
Buck Showalter shares an update on Starling Marte's recovery | SNY - ( New Window )
Pete Alonso gets brutally honest on Braves winning the NL East over Mets - ( New Window )