. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Good morning, Mets fans!

The Seattle Mariners and T-Mobile Park will host the 2023 All-Star game, according to ESPN‘s Jeff Passan. The Dodgers and their iconic Dodger Stadium will be the hosts of the 2022 game, scheduled to take place July 19.

So now the question remains: will Pete Alonso travel to Seattle to defend his Home Run Derby crown?

Let’s get into the morning briefing.

Current Standings

NL East

ATL: 76-67, .531
PHI: 72-72, .500, 4.5 GB
NYM: 72-74, .493, 5.5 GB
MIA: 61-84, .421, 16.0 GB
WSH: 60-85, .414, 17.0 GB

Wild Card

LAD: 92-53, .634, +16.5 GB
SD: 75-69, .521

CIN: 75-70, .528, 0.5 GB
STL: 74-70, .514, 1.0 GB
PHI: 72-72, .500, 3.0 GB
NYM: 72-74, .493, 4.0 GB

Latest Mets News

The Mets lost 7-6 to the St. Louis Cardinals in 11 innings Tuesday night. Read the recap here.

Newsday‘s Tim Healey reported that Sandy Alderson will “absolutely” (words of a source) will return as Mets president in 2022 after Jon Heyman reported a similar notion last week.

The Mets got a slew of injury updates on Tuesday:

  • First, Jacob deGrom threw off a mound for the first time. Though it was just 10 pitches, it was a positive step for the ace to return potentially in the last week or so of the season (likely in a small role). Noah Syndergaard will face live hitters this week, and he’s on track to return before the end of the season, too.
  • Brandon Nimmo may return as soon as Friday from his hamstring after initially being diagnosed as potentially out for the rest of the season after suffering the injury with just four weeks left in the season.
  • Tomás Nido and reliever Jake Reed came back from the injured list Tuesday. Patrick Mazeika and Yennsy Diaz were sent down to Triple A to give them roster spots. Nido started Tuesday night and went 0-for-3. Reed gave up three runs in extras in the Mets’ loss.

Pete Alonso was nominated as the Mets’ selection for the Roberto Clemente Award, a philanthropic award given to the player who makes an extraordinary impact in communities off the field. Alonso started his Homers for Heroes non-profit during the COVID-19 pandemic and has donated and been involved in local non-profits around New York since his rookie year.

Speaking of, ESPN‘s Marly Rivera reports September 15 will permanently be known as Roberto Clemente Day, and any player will be able to wear Clemente’s number–21–as long as their team has enough notice. Last year, as Rivera points out, all Puerto Rican players and all Pirates players were able to wear No. 21. Yadier Molina, Javier Baez, Francisco Lindor and Edwin Diaz will likely be among those wearing Clemente’s number during Wednesday’s Cardinals-Mets game.

Baseball America released their updated Top 100 prospect rankings, and it featured four Mets: Francisco Álvarez (No. 14), Brett Baty (No. 52), Ronny Mauricio (No. 73) and Mark Vientos (No.89).

The Mets celebrated Childhood Cancer Awareness Day at Citi Field on Tuesday night, as Mike Mayer tweeted, with Michael Conforto and Javier Báez taking special part.

The Wall Street Journal reports Steve Cohen will invest in a cryptocurrency trading firm, so there’s that!

Latest MLB News

Ryan Braun announced his retirement Tuesday. Braun hadn’t played at all in 2021 but weighed a comeback as recently as spring training.

The outfielder hit 352 career home runs, all for the Milwaukee Brewers. Braun seemed well on his way to a Hall of Fame career with an MVP, five All-Star selections and a Rookie of the Year, all by the end of his age-28 season. But a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs in 2013 damaged his public image, cost him half-a-season in his prime, and he never hit more than 30 home runs in a season after the test (though he did have above-average offensive seasons every year between 2014 and 2019).

During the Mets’ last series with the Nationals, Josiah Gray was seen chatting the Mets’ Marcus Stroman in a bit of a mentorship role. MLB.com‘s Jessica Camerato wrote about how that relationship started and how Stroman has helped Gray’s development along the way.

Eno Sarris, The Athletic’s resident craft beer drinker, wrote about why craft beer hasn’t quite made the crossover to MLB ballparks.

Larry Yount–Robin’s brother–appeared in one game as a pitcher, and he didn’t throw a pitch. That was his MLB career. As interesting as that sounds, this article about the lesser-known Yount is better.

Latest on MMO

Matt Musico wrote about Jeff McNeil‘s struggles this season against fastballs.

Rich Hill was out-dueled by Adam Wainwright in a matchup of old guys guys older than 40, writes John Jackson.

On This Date in Mets History

A couple fun ones today:

First, the first-ever Banner Day happened on September 15, 1963. It was held at the Polo Grounds and shifted to Shea Stadium the year after when it opened.

The best banner, as pointed out by The New York Times? The one that says “Know why the Mets are the best losers in the league? –Practice makes perfect.” That’s tough to beat nearly 60 years later.

Also on this day in 2014, Jacob deGrom struck out the first eight batters he faced, falling one shy of tying Tom Seaver‘s major-league record nine-straight retired (that eventually was broke in 2021 by Aaron Nola). The eight strikeouts also tied a major-league record to start a game. DeGrom astruck out eight in a row again in 2021.

John Pacella, who pitched about 100 innings for the Mets in the late 1970s, turns 65 today.

Let’s go Mets!