Morning Briefing: Justin Verlander to Start Home Opener

Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Good morning, Mets fans!

On Friday, it was officially announced that Justin Verlander will start the home opener on April 6. To line him up for that, he is slated to start the third game of the year for the Mets, which will be April 1 in Miami. With Scherzer scheduled for Opening Day and Verlander set to pitch the third game of the year, Tim Healey of Newsday tweeted what is likely to be the Mets’ rotation, at least for the start of the year: Scherzer, Peterson/Megill, Verlander, Senga, Carrasco.

With this rotation, Kodai Senga will avoid making his first major league start in the heightened environment of the home opener, leaving that job to the more-than-experienced Verlander. The winner of the battle for the final spot in the rotation, either David Peterson or Tylor Megill, is likely to pitch the second game of the season to make this ideal rotation structure work.

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