Friday, September 1, 2025 • 1:10 PM
Comerica Park • Detroit, MI
LHP Sean Manaea (1-2, 5.01) vs. RHP Charlie Morton (9-10, 5.25)
SNY • MLBN

The Mets look to shake off a rough weekend against the Marlins with a trip to visit the Detroit Tigers. The Mets’ comeback efforts on Saturday fell short, and on Sunday, they couldn’t get anything going against the Marlins, erasing some of the momentum they built against the Phillies earlier in the week. Like everything we’ve seen with the Mets recently, winning changes everything, and a couple of wins against a good Detroit Tigers team can swing that pendulum again.

Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

Mets Lineup

  1. Francisco Lindor, SS
  2. Juan Soto, RF
  3. Pete Alonso, 1B
  4. Brandon Nimmo, LF
  5. Mark Vientos, DH
  6. Jeff McNeil, 2B
  7. Cedric Mullins, CF
  8. Luis Torrens, C
  9. Brett Baty, 3B

Sean Manaea has pitched 41 1/3 innings for the Mets this season with a 5.01 ERA, 3.46 FIP, 1.137 WHIP and an 80 ERA+. He’s coming off a short start, 4 2/3 innings, where he allowed only two runs from six hits while striking out eight. While the results haven’t been great recently for Manaea over his last three starts (6.28 ERA over 14 1/3 innings), his strikeouts have been up (23). Can he strike out at least seven batters for a fourth consecutive start? The Tigers have the following career numbers against Manaea:

Opposing Lineup

  1. Jahmai Jones, DH
  2. Gleyber Torres, 2B
  3. Wenceel Pérez, RF
  4. Spencer Torkelson, 1B
  5. Riley Greene, LF
  6. Andy Ibañez, 3B
  7. Dillon Dingler, C
  8. Zach McKinstry, SS
  9. Javier Báez, CF

Charlie Morton is a Tiger! And he’s facing the Mets today. After several years with Atlanta, Morton signed a deal with the Orioles in the off-season and was traded to the Tigers at the deadline. Overall, this season he has pitched 128 2/3 innings with a 5.25 ERA, 4.65 FIP, 1.484 WHIP and a 78 ERA+. He’s been better with the Tigers over 27 1/3 innings with a 4.61 ERA, 3.82 FIP, 1.207 WHIP and a 92 ERA+. Morton is coming off a rough start, where he allowed five runs over five innings against the Athletics. The Mets have the following career numbers against Morton:

  • Pete Alonso 7-35, 2 2B, 4 BB, 8 K
  • Brett Baty 3-10, 2B, 2 BB, 5 K
  • Francisco Lindor 8-50, 3 2B, 2 HR, 3 BB, 13 K
  • Starling Marte 5-27, 2 BB, 9 K
  • Ronny Mauricio 0-3, K
  • Jeff McNeil 7-30, 2B, 2 HR< 4 BB, 7 K
  • Cedric Mullins 1-5
  • Brandon Nimmo 8-33, HR, 6 BB, 13 K
  • Juan Soto 8-14, 3 HR, 8 BB, 3 K
  • Tyrone Taylor 2-7, 2B, BB, K
  • Luis Torrens 0-3
  • Mark Vientos 5-7, 2B, HR

Game Notes

Three Things To Watch For

  1. Sean Manaea. Manaea has been a lot better than his numbers suggest. He’s in the 89th percentile for strikeouts and the 75th percentile for chase percentage (60th for Whiffs). He’s also in the 96th percentile for walk percentage. He has an xERA of 3.76, which is much closer to his FIP (3.46 FIP) than his actual ERA (5.01). At some point, the results are going to start to match what he’s actually doing, right?
  2. It’s September, time to scoreboard watch. This is the final push! The Reds send Hunter Greene, who is having a fantastic season, against Chris Bassitt and the Jays. The Jays have faltered lately and are trying to hold onto their division lead. The Reds need to win every game to set up a critical series with the Mets at the end of the week. The Phillies have to deal with rookie Jacob Misiorowski this afternoon in Milwaukee. The Phillies and the Brewers each have six and six-and-a-half game leads in their divisions and are looking to lock down titles.
  3. Stat Watch. Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto both stole bases in Sunday’s game and now are both sitting at 26 stolen bases for the season. Lindor is now five home runs and four stolen bases away from his second 30-30 season. Juan Soto is now five home runs away and four stolen bases from a 40-30 season. Two Mets franchise records could fall this month. Soto is at 111 walks, trying to beat John Olerud’s 1999 record of 125 walks. Pete Alonso needs a monster month to go from 110 RBI’s to 132 to break his franchise record of 131 RBI’s set in 2022.

Let’s go Mets!