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Good morning, Mets fans!

The New York Mets will play in their first postseason game since 2016, as they host the San Diego Padres at Citi Field for the inaugural Wild Card round. Max Scherzer will be on the mound for the MetsMax Scherzer, while San Diego will throw out Yu Darvish to toe the slab.

The Mets are going into the playoffs hot, as they completed a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals along with finishing with their second highest season win total with 101 wins. In the latest edition of MMO Roundtable,, we asked a few of our contributors for their predictions on how this Wild Card round will turn out.

Now onto the morning briefing!

Latest Mets News

Hugh Quattlebaum, former Mets hitting coach and director of hitting development, announced on Twitter that he is leaving the organization and expressed gratitude for his time with the club.

1986 Met and world champion Bob Ojeda will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before game one at Citi Field of the Padres vs Mets Wild Card game.

MLB Players Media discusses the importance that Mets closer Edwin Diaz has on the Mets as well as the people in his homeland of Puerto Rico.

Former Mets outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo is returning to his managerial duties next season for the Nippon-Ham Fighters of the NPB. Shinjo has given up the “Big Boss” nickname and had a ceremony to commemorate the name and its retirement.

Latest MLB News

Carlos Collazo of Baseball America shares where the draft lottery odds stand for the 18 non-playoff teams, as well as information on the new system, how the playoff field is determined as well as the new competitive draft incentive.

Jon Morosi of MLB Network tweets that Dodgers first base coach, Clayton McCullough, is reported to be a candidate for the recently vacated managerial job for the Kansas City Royals. McCullough’s father, Howard, is a scout within the organization.

World Series MVP odds per Bovada were released, as tweeted by Jeremy Frank of Random Stats. Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom are listed at +2500, while Pete Alonso is listed at +4000.

FanGraphs released their final World Series odds for each playoff team. The New York Mets are listed in fourth at 11.1%, right behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros.

Chris Cotillo of MassLive tweets that general manager Chaim Bloom and the Boston Red Sox will prioritize signing shortstop Xander Bogaerts to a contract and will begin talks immediately.

Brandon Gustafson of Seattle Sports 710 AM reports from Mariners GM Justin Hollander that outfielder Sam Haggerty is with the Mariners in Toronto. He also reported that Jesse Winker is not with the club and is seeking another opinion.

Latest on MMO

On the latest episode of MMO Weekly, Sal and Mike talked about the sweep in Atlanta,  preview this weekend’s Wildcard series and discuss the chances of the Mets making a deep postseason run without Starling Marte as well as Jeff McNeil winning his first batting title.

Jase Bernhardt goes under the hood of Jeff McNeil‘s rebound bat13th-inningwinning season.

Robby Waldrop explains why Jacob deGrom should be the starter for Game 2 of the Wild Card Series.

Michael Mayer notes a few things, including a possible Starling Marte return for this weekend’s Wild Card.

On This Date in Mets History

2000: Benny Agbayani hit a 13th inning walk-off home run to give the Mets a 2-1 series lead over the Giants in the NLDS.

2006: The Mets completed a three game NLDS sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers to advance to the championship series. Seven Mets pitchers combined to give up 16 hits and let five Dodgers cross the plate, but the offense, led by Jose Reyes, Shawn Green, Paul Lo Duca and Carlos Beltran, roughed up Greg Maddux for four, Jonathan Broxton for three, and Brett Tomko for two runs respectively for a 9-5 win.

Birthdays: Jose Cardenal (79)

Let’s go Mets!