Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Tuesday, May 23, 2023 • 7:40 PM
Wrigley Field • Chicago, Illinois
RHP Tylor Megill (5-2, 3.88) vs. LHP Drew Smyly (4-1, 2.86)
SNY

The Mets are riding high right now with five consecutive wins. The Mets have been “never say die” during the stretch, coming back from behind in almost all of their wins and winning each game by only one run. Now the Mets will look to extend their winning streak to six games as they take on the Cubs in Chicago.

Mets Lineup

Kodai Senga was originally slated for Tuesday’s game, but Tylor Megill will start to give Senga an extra day of rest.

Megill is 5-2 on the year with a 3.88 ERA, 5.14 FIP, 1.424 WHIP and a 108 ERA+ over 46 1/3 innings. His last start against the Rays was great—he allowed just two runs over six innings in a day game against the league-leading Tampa Bay Rays. The 27-year-old has yet to make a start against the Chicago Cubs, who employed his older brother in 2021, but he has one player on the 2023 team:

Cubs Lineup

The Mets bats will look to keep their momentum going against Drew Smyly.

Smyly is off to a tremendous start posting a 2.86 ERA, 3.47 FIP, 0.934 WHIP (league-leading) and a 153 ERA+ over 50 1/3 innings this year. In two starts against the Mets last year he allowed four runs, only two earned over 9 1/3 innings scattering nine hits while striking out nine. The Mets have the following career numbers against Smyly:

Game Notes

Senga was pushed back a day to give him more rest, as he has yet to make a start on the typical four days’ rest so far. Coming from Japan, where he started once a week, the team will need to build his stamina over the long haul.

Three Things To Watch For

  1. Mets are feasting on quality starts now. The Mets were last in the majors in quality starts going into this win streak. They’ve now had four quality starts in their last five games, including Justin Verlander’s eight inning performance on Sunday night. We saw this past week how tired and overworked the Mets bullpen has been. Eventually, the pen was going to hit some trouble due to the sheer volume of work they’ve needed to do. The Mets look to keep the quality starts trend going tonight and keep the bullpen rested. Also, the Mets are 10-0 when they get a quality start.
  2. Mets’ power numbers are climbing. The Mets are tied for 14th in MLB with 54 homers and 18th in slugging with .391 on the season. In the last week though, the Mets are tied for first place in homers (13, with the Rays) and are in 5th in slugging at .468. This is not surprising as the home run has been the Mets’ calling card during this current win streak.
  3. Francisco Lindor has another multi-hit game. Francisco Lindor had another multi-hit game in the nightcap on Sunday. In his last eight games, he has gone 11-for-35 with three doubles and a homer (.314/.333/.486). This was his fourth multi-hit game during this eight-game stretch.

Let’s go Mets!