Good morning, Mets fans!
With their 96th win on Wednesday night, the Atlanta Braves clinched their sixth consecutive National League East title. Atlanta needed every game they could get last season to beat out the Mets down the stretch, but with their 4-1 over the Phillies last night they put the division to bed with 16 games left. The 2023 Braves have become the second quickest to do so as they clinched this year’s division in just 146 games, only being beat out by the 1969 Braves, according to Justin Toscano of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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The Mets won the third game of a four-game set against the Arizona Diamondbacks by a score of 7-1 on Wednesday. Joey Lucchesi dazzled in his first major league start in nearly a month, as he went seven strong innings while only giving up one unearned run on five hits. The Mets’ offense piled on early as they were able to get to Cy Young contender Zac Gallen; Pete Alonso‘s three early RBIs gave the Mets an early lead and Mark Vientos put the cherry on top with a sixth-inning home run.
The Mets will look the win the series Thursday as Kodai Senga (10-7, 3.07 ERA) takes on the Diamondbacks’ Merrill Kelly (11-6, 3.16 ERA).
Latest Mets News
Prior to last night’s game, the Mets announced that they were recalling Lucchesi from Triple-A Syracuse and optioning Sam Coonrod back to Syracuse.
Brett Baty left last night’s game against the Diamondbacks before the top of the seventh inning with left groin soreness. According to Tim Healey of Newsday, Baty will go for medical imaging tomorrow.
The Mets announced that Citi Field will host the first ever Dominican Winter League (LIDOM) series, which will between rivals Los Tigres del Licey and Las Águilas Cibaeñas. The matchup is between two of the most winningest team in the league, with the Tigres winning their 23rd championship last season and the Águilas winning their 22nd championship in 2021. The series will take place in Queens on the weekend of November 10-12.
Latest MLB News
Texas Rangers general manager Chris Young announced that Max Scherzer will be missing the rest of the regular season with a teres major strain. Young also mentioned that it is “unlikely” that Scherzer returns for the playoffs, as they put the former Cy Young award winner on the 15-day IL. This news follows the former Met having to leave previous starts with forearm tightness and other “arm fatigue” issues, which adds to the mounting injury issues he has dealt with the last couple of seasons. The 39-year-old still has one more year left on his deal with the Rangers as he agreed to exercise his player option for the 2024 season when he was dealt from New York to Texas at the trade deadline.
Wednesday morning, the Washington Nationals announced that they have agreed to a multi-year extension with their president of baseball operations and general manager Mike Rizzo. Rizzo has been with the Nationals organization since 2006 and is in his 15th year as president of baseball of baseball operations, after taking over in 2009. This comes less than a month after the Nationals extended manger Dave Martinez‘s contract for two more seasons with a club option for 2026, keeping the leadership that brought them to a World Series championship in 2019 in tact despite some recent down seasons.
Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker told reporters that Sandy Alcántara’s MRI revealed that he has a UCL sprain, per Jordan McPherson of Herald Sports. This announcement comes just a week after it was announced that Alcántara was place on the 15-day IL with a right forearm flexor strain. Schumaker wouldn’t commit to a return for the former Cy Young award winner but did say, “watching him throw is a good thing. It’s a progression. We’re going to watch it every day and go from there.”
The Cardinals announced that veteran starting pitcher Adam Wainwright will be performing a live concert at Busch Stadium during his final home weekend, per Derrick Goold of the St Louis Post-Dispatch. The stalwart of the Cardinals staff for the better part of 15 years will be retiring at the end of the season; despite a disappointing season for both him and the Cardinals, he will be part of the Cardinals Hall of Fame in short order. The postgame performance will take place on September 30, after the Cardinals’ matchup against the Reds. Wainwright will perform some of his new songs along with a firework performance.
Latest on MMO
Gino DeCaro helped remember Metsmerized Online founder Joe DeCaro on his birthday.
Metsmerized Online‘s twitter is giving away a DJ Stewart signed rookie card.
Chris Bello looked at José Butto‘s latest push to make the 2024 rotation.
On This Date in Mets History
2020: Steve Cohen comes to an agreement with the Wilpon and Katz families to purchase the Mets. The reported value of the deal was $2.42 Billion, and the completion of the deal would make Steve Cohen the richest owner in MLB.
1996: Mets’ catcher Todd Hundley broke the record for most home runs hit in a single season by a catcher as he logged his 41st homer of the year, passing Roy Campanella. Along with that, the home run gave Hundley the Mets franchise record for most home runs in a season, which would then be tied by Carlos Beltrán in 2006 and broken by Pete Alonso in 2019 with 53 home runs.
Birthdays: Chad Bradford (49), Mike Draper (57)
