Morning Briefing: Nationals Take Game 1 of NLCS

By Samantha Brown

Good morning, Mets fans!

The National League Championship Series began between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Nationals on Friday night in St. Louis. Anibal Sanchez allowed only one hit in 7 2/3 innings of work to help secure a 2-0 victory.

Two games will be played on Saturday with Game 2 of the NLCS at 4:08 p.m. ET on TBS and the start of the American League Championship Series begins on FOX between the Houston Astros and New York Yankees. The Astros will start Zack Greinke against Masahiro Tanaka and the Yankees in game one of this series in Houston. The game will air at 8:08 p.m. ET.

Latest Mets News

Tim Britton of The Athletic assessed the Mets’ financial situation for the 2019/2020 offseason. With such big free agents out there and the Mets desperate need for quality relief pitchers, Britton explains where they are at financially and in turn, explains what they can realistically do with that money.

Rotoworld Baseball sees former Mets outfielder, Carlos Beltran, as a “very serious candidate” for the open Mets manager position.

According to Mike Mazzeo of Starting Nine, the Mets were just hours away from signing, now Yankees catcher, Gary Sanchez in 2009. Apparently, the New York Yankees’ General Manager, Brian Cashman, signed him to a $669,800 deal prior to his meeting with the Mets.

In order to preserve the legacy Jose Reyes left on the #7 in a Mets uniform, Marcus Stroman will change his number for the remainder of his career as a Met. He announced this on Twitter Friday evening.

There is a long list of managerial candidates for the Mets this offseason, how long that list is, is still unknown but the name Luis Rojas, the Mets current quality control coach is among the names on said list. Along with him include the obvious in, Joe Girardi and Carlos Beltrán, Mike Bell and Derek Shelton are there as well. As Anthony Dicomo mentioned via Twitter, “It’s a big list”.

Andy Martino of SNY, tweeted that the Mets interviewed Carlos Beltrán on Thursday.

Latest MLB News

Bryan Hoch, Yankees’ beat writer for MLB, revealed the Yankees starters for games 1-3 of the ALCS.

Brian McTaggart, Astros’ beat writer for MLB, revealed the Astros starters for games 1-3 of the ALCS.

James Wagner, Yankees’ reporter for the New York Times, shared the postseason series’ start times for both series on Twitter. Save the picture on your phone to know where to watch and when to watch each game of these postseason series!

The 2019-2020 qualifying offer value is decreasing to $17.8M, $100K lower than the year prior’s value at $17.9M.

Latest NL East News

Craig Mish of FNTSY Sports Radio announced that the Miami Marlins have come to an agreement with Mel Stottlemyre Jr. on a new contract to remain as their Pitching Coach.

Following the birth of his daughter Friday morning, Daniel Hudson will be on the Nationals paternity leave and will not start the series on the postseason roster.

Friends of Curt Schilling spoke about his willingness to coach again and how he is very interested in the open manager position with the Philadelphia Phillies and, possibly, the open Pitching Coach job for the Boston Red Sox, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports.

Latest on MMO/MMN

Jack Ramsey analyzed Mets manager candidate Mike Bell and his qualifications for the job.

Logan Barer honed in on a Mets trade target in All-Star Red Sox outfielder, Mookie Betts.

Michael Mayer and Rob Piersall began the, first of many, in their new “Random Mets” series on MetsMerizedOnline where they discuss some classic Mets that you may have forgotten even existed.

Mayer also posted on Mets Minors discussing the success Mets prospect Andres Gimenez is having in the Fall League.