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Good morning, Mets fans!

The Mets begin a six-game road trip tonight with the first of three games against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Kodai Senga (4-2, 3.77 ERA) will take the mound against southpaw Drew Smyly (4-1, 2.86 ERA). Senga is coming off the strongest outing of his big league career, holding the Rays to just one run while allowing three hits and three walks with a career-high 12 strikeouts in six innings. First pitch is scheduled for 7:40 pm.

Last season, the Cubs took four of the seven meetings between the two teams, including sweeping the Mets in a three-game set at Citi Field. The Mets took three of four games at Wrigley Field last summer, which is a rarity for the team. Since 2013, the Mets have won just two series on the North Side of Chicago, going 6-18 at the Friendly Confines during that time, including getting swept four times. The Mets haven’t won the season series against the Cubs since 2016.

Latest Mets News

Alex Cohen, the wife of Mets owner Steve Cohen, was named to the City & State NY 2023 Queens Power 100 List. Cohen is the president of the Amazin’ Mets Foundation and the Steven and Alexandria Cohen Foundation. Under her leadership, the Amazin’ Mets Foundation has raised over five million dollars in grants.

Baseball America revealed its Top 100 Prospects list for the month of May, and Brett Baty has graduated from his prospect status. Francisco Álvarez (No. 7) led a group of six Mets in the rankings, featuring Kodai Senga (No. 19), Kevin Parada (No. 43), Alex Ramírez (No. 77), Jett Williams (No. 88), and Ronny Mauricio (No. 95).

Latest MLB News

Hall of Fame baseball writer Rick Hummel passed away at the age of 77 on Saturday after a brief illness. The man known as “The Commish” around the baseball world covered the sport for 51 years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He received the Baseball Writers’ Association of America Career Excellence Award in 2006 and continued covering the game through the 2022 season.

Major League Baseball drew 1,518,016 fans this past weekend, the most attendance they’ve drawn for an April or May weekend since 2017. This weekend was the highest-attended slate of games since June 21-23, 2019, and Sunday’s action drew the league’s highest attendance for a non-Opening Day game since May 19, 2018.

Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen told Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic that he believes base runners deserve a clear lane when trying to steal a base. McCutchen is concerned about players getting hurt while trying to steal and suggests a rule similar to the one regarding blocking home plate.

Latest on MMO

Christian De Block writes about Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer‘s dominance on Sunday.

Johnluke Chaparro recaps Starling Marte‘s big performance on Sunday, including a game-winning two-run homer.

Nate Mendelson explains why Francisco Álvarez has won the starting catching job.

Rivka Boord looks at who’s hot and who’s not in the latest edition of 3 Up, 3 Down.

Jack Markowski writes about the strong performances of Francisco Álvarez and Kodai Senga, who were named MMO’s Players of the Week.

Christian De Block breaks down what’s happening around the NL East.

On This Date in Mets History

1999: Trailing 4-0 in the ninth inning, the Mets score five times against Curt Schilling to stun the Phillies, 5-4. Robin Ventura smacks a two-run homer, and John Olerud caps the comeback with a two-out, two-run single.

2006: Down 8-5 against the Phillies, the Mets rally for three runs in the eighth inning, capped off by a Jose Reyes two-run homer off Ryan Franklin. This game would continue until 12:33 am when Carlos Beltrán socks a walk-off homer off Ryan Madson in the bottom of the 16th inning to give the Mets a 9-8 victory. Darren Oliver earns the win by tossing four shutout innings of relief, while Madson gets the loss despite throwing seven innings of one-run ball out of the bullpen.

2010: Jason Bay hits two homers off CC Sabathia, and Francisco Rodríguez holds off a late rally by the Yankees to nail down a 6-4 victory, giving the Mets a series win in the first round of the Subway Series. Johan Santana earns the win by tossing 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball.

2019: After the bullpen squanders a 3-1 lead, Carlos Gómez cracks a go-ahead three-run homer, and Edwin Dīaz locks down the save as the Mets sweep the Nationals in a four-game series at Citi Field. The homer is Gómez’s first since rejoining the team over the weekend.

Birthdays: Buck Showalter (67), Ricky Gutierrez (53), Vic Black (35)