Tuesday, June 23, 2026 • 7:10 PM
Citi Field • Flushing, NY
RHP Edward Cabrera (4-4, 5.21) vs. RHP Kodai Senga (0-5, 9.00)
SNY

The Mets are so close to things getting better (in theory).

Francisco Lindor played a rehab game on Sunday with Tyrone Taylor. Christian Scott had a successful bullpen session and should start this weekend. The problem is that the team they are all coming back to is quickly falling apart.

Over the last three weeks, the Mets have basically played .500 baseball (one game below .500 for the month of June). The starting pitching, on average, hasn’t given the bats a chance. Despite hot streaks from Bichette and Soto, the offense has been stuck in neutral. And now they welcome the Cubs, who have won six of their last 10, to Queens.

With a rainout on Monday, they’ll play four games in the next 48 hours.

Photo Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

Mets Lineup

  1. Carson Benge – RF
  2. Bo Bichette – SS
  3. Juan Soto – LF
  4. Jared Young – 1B
  5. A.J Ewing – CF
  6. Marcus Semien – 2B
  7. Brett Baty – 3B
  8. MJ Melendez – DH
  9. Francisco Alvarez – C

Starting Pitcher: Kodai Senga

Kodai Senga returned to the Mets rotation last week and promptly allowed four runs in the first inning. He settled down after and pitched three scoreless innings to end the night with four innings of work.

Over six starts this season, Senga has pitched 24 innings with a 9.00 ERA, 6.81 FIP, 1.875 WHIP and a 46 ERA+. On the positive side, he does have 28 strikeouts. Senga had a rough start against the Cubs in April, allowing seven runs, six earned, over 3 1/3 innings.

The Cubs have the following career numbers against him:

Opposing Lineup

  1. Pete Crow-Armstrong – CF
  2. Alex Bregman – 3B
  3. Michael Busch – 1B
  4. Seiya Suzuki – DH
  5. Ian Happ – LF
  6. Matt Shaw – RF
  7. Nico Hoerner – 2B
  8. Carson Kelly – C
  9. Dansby Swanson – SS

The Cubs have really reshuffled their rotation over the last couple of days. Shota Imanaga was supposed to start on Sunday, but then the Cubs got rained out. Then he was supposed to start yesterday, but the Cubs got rained out again. The Cubs have pushed him now to tomorrow’s doubleheader and decided to keep Edward Cabrera on his normal throwing schedule.

Edward Cabrera has made 13 starts this season, totaling 67 1/3 innings with a 5.21 ERA, 5.15 FIP, 1.396 WHIP and a 75 ERA+. In his last six games, he has pitched 26 innings, allowing 27 runs (24 earned) for a 8.31 ERA and 7.02 FIP. He had a decent start against the Mets back in April, holding the Mets to three runs over six innings.

The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

  • Francisco Alvarez 2-6, BB, 2 K
  • Brett Baty 2-4, K
  • Carson Benge 1-3
  • Bo Bichette 1-3, K
  • MJ Melendez 2-3, 2 BB
  • Marcus Semien 1-3, 2B, K
  • Juan Soto 1-9, HR, 3 BB, K
  • Luis Torrens 0-2, K
  • Mark Vientos 3-7, HR, BB, 2 K

Game Notes

Lots of injury notes came in pre-game:

  • Francisco Lindor will play for Syracuse on Tuesday, and he could return as early as Thursday. The Mets aren’t committing to that.
  • Christian Scott will start this weekend for the Mets.
  • Jorge Polanco and Luis Robert Jr. are still both doing baseball activities with no timeline to return.
  • Tyrone Taylor and Ronny Mauricio will play the next two days for Syracuse with clearer timelines after that.

David Stearns addressed the media, and you can read a recap here. He primarily said that the rotation will be evaluated on a turn-by-turn basis. Each week it could look different.

Three Things To Watch For

  1. Starting Pitcher Struggles. Let’s work backwards to Senga’s last start. Sunday night, Peterson gave the Mets four innings and five runs. Saturday Peralta pitched 2 2/3 innings allowing 10 runs. Thursday, Manaea gave the Mets 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs. Wednesday, McLean was fantastic, allowing only one run over seven. Last Tuesday, Senga allowed four runs, all in the first inning, over four innings. The Mets are constantly playing from behind right now, and it’s exhausting. The Mets bullpen got a much needed day off yesterday, but with a doubleheader looming tomorrow, they’re going to need Senga to go deep in this game.
  2. Contain PCA. Pete Crow-Armstrong has been demolishing baseball recently. Over his last nine games, he has gone 19-for-38 with four doubles, two triples, five home runs and four stolen bases (.476/.511/1.024). His OPS during this stretch has jumped from .774 to .883. He has a career-high 149 OPS+ this season. Hopefully, the two days off in a row will slow him down a bit.
  3. Carson Benge. On June 7, Carson Benge went 5-for-5. In the five games after that Benge had a mini-slump going 2-for-18. Since then, over seven games, Benge is hitting .290/.333/.548, including two straight games with a home run.

Let’s go Mets!