Friday, April 8, 2022 • 7:05 P.M.
Nationals Park • Washington, D.C.
RHP Max Scherzer (0-0, -.–) vs. RHP Josiah Gray (0-0, -.–)
TV+ • WCBS 880 AM • ESPN 1050

The Mets winning on Opening Day is one of the greatest traditions in the sport, and the Mets kept it alive last night with a 5-1 win over the Washington Nationals.

Tonight the Mets will have a chance to guarantee at least a series split as they take on the Nationals for second of four games this weekend. The game tonight is also the first of the season on AppleTV+. MLB, in a move that in my opinion demonstrates at best how out of touch the league is with fans and at worst how greedy the league is, has signed contracts with AppleTV+ and Peacock this year giving them exclusive games. Each service gets one to two games per week exclusively on their platform, even in regional markets. Access to the game tonight will be free though!

Mets Lineup

Nationals Lineup

Max Scherzer will take on Josiah Gray. Scherzer will make both his long awaited Mets debut and his DC homecoming in the same start. He got a well-deserved standing ovation and tribute video when announced last night. One of the players who came from the Dodgers trade last year for Scherzer was Josiah Gray! So we will also be treated to a head to head matchup of players in the same trade.

Max Scherzer made 30 starts last season and tossed 179 1/3 innings with a 2.46 ERA, 2.97 FIP, 0.846 WHIP (league leading) and a 166 ERA+. He also led the league in H/9 (6.0) and BB/9 (1.8). After being traded he made 11 starts for the Dodgers where he was better in nearly every statistical category. There are very few current Nationals who have seen Scherzer in an official major league game before:

Josiah Gray had a 5.48 ERA, 6.00 FIP, 1.358 WHIP and 75 ERA+ over 14 games (13 starts) and 70 2/3 innings of work last season. Gray started once against the Mets back on September 5th where he allowed 6 runs over 3 innings from 7 hits and a walk. He also made three starts this spring, totaling 9 2/3 innings, allowing 11 runs (10 earned) from 13 hits and 5 home runs. Due to a combination of Josiah Gray only pitching in 14 games in his career, most as a National, and the Mets rebuilding their roster this off-season, only five Mets have seen Gray in an official game:

And out of those five Mets players, only three of them will face Gray tonight.

Game Notes

Elias notes that Scherzer’s 11 years, 297 days between starts against the Nationals is the fourth-longest gap in Washington/Montreal history. You can check out the lineup he faced that day here.

Tylor Megill‘s outing last night was the fourth straight scoreless Opening Day start by a Mets pitcher. Per Elias, the Mets are the first team in MLB history to have a scoreless start from their starting pitcher on Opening Day in each of four (or more) consecutive seasons.

Let’s Go Mets!