Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY

Sunday, September 25, 2022 • 4:07 P.M. EST
RingCentral Coliseum • Oakland, CA
RHP Max Scherzer (10-4, 2.15 ERA) vs. LHP JP Sears (6-2, 3.58 ERA)
WPIX • WCBS 880 AM • ESPN 1050

Well, yesterday was rough one for the New York Mets. Jacob deGrom struggled for the first time in a very long time and the Braves beat the Phillies. The Mets enter play today with the Braves 1.5 games out and with one game in hand.

Mets Lineup

The Mets’ bats were able to make some noise early in the game yesterday and hopefully they can do that again today. Pete Alonso hit his 38th homer on the year, and now is knocking at the door of setting the Mets’ single-season RBI record.

JP Sears will try to keep the Mets offense in check today. Sears, like yesterday’s starter Waldichuk, was traded from the Yankees to the Athletics at the deadline this year. Sears has pitched in 15 games, making 10 starts throwing 60 1/3 innings this season. He has a 3.58 ERA, 4.45 FIP, 1.260 WHIP and a 107 ERA+. As an Athletic, he has made eight starts tossing 38 1/3 innings with a 4.46 ERA, 5.20 FIP, 1.487 WHIP and a 85 ERA+.

Sears is coming off of a good start against the Mariners where he held them to one unearned run from one hit over five innings of work. In his two previous starts he allowed 11 earned runs from 15 hits over six innings. The only person on the Mets’ roster who has seen Sears in a major league game is Tyler Naquin, who is 0-for-2 against him.

Athletics Lineup

Luckily for New York, they do have Max Scherzer on the mound today. Over 21 starts and 133 2/3 innings this year, Scherzer has a 2.15 ERA, 2.42 FIP, 0.883 WHIP and a 180 ERA+. Over his last three starts, he has allowed two runs via seven hits and two walks in 18 innings of work while striking out an absurd 25 batters (1.00 ERA, 1.56 FIP).

Following the trend for basically every pitcher this weekend, Scherzer has not faced many members of this Athletics squad. Stephen Vogt is 1-for-6 with a strikeout against him and Cristian Pache is 0-for-2 with a strikeout. Scherzer is a mystery to everyone else.

Games Notes

The Mets are 17-4 (.810) in rubber games this year. The 17 wins in such games are tied for the most in franchise history with the 1999 squad (17-7). New York certainly needs a rubber-game win this afternoon.

Francisco Lindor has recorded a career-high 100 RBI this season. His 100 RBI are a franchise record for a shortstop.

Max Scherzer is the all-time leader in Interleague strikeouts with 437 in 50 starts.