Morning Briefing: Undefeated Mets Set For Second Game Against Braves

Good Morning, Mets fans!

Another Mets Opening Day win is in the books! Jacob deGrom pitching five scoreless innings, while giving up only one hit and striking out eight batters in his 2020 debut. After seven scoreless, Yoenis Cespedes drives one over the wall in left to give the Mets a one-run lead. The bullpen took over for deGrom after five: Seth Lugo and Justin Wilson combined for three scoreless innings and Edwin Diaz came in for the save situation and shut the door on the heart of the Braves lineup.

Tonight, the Mets’ southpaw Steven Matz will take the mound in game two of the series. Opposite Matz will be LHP Max Fried for the Braves to try and lead the Braves to their first victory of 2020. The game will be broadcast on SNY and can be heard on WCBS 880.

Latest Mets News

The trailer for “Poking the Polar Bear: Pete Alonso“, the new E:60 episode was released as well as the air date for the episode. The interview will be aired on August 9th. To watch the trailer click here.

Anthony DiComo of MLB took some photographs of the New York Mets during their warm-ups on the field on Friday, and noted that there were many players who were seen wearing “Black Lives Matter” t-shirts and well as Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo, who wore shirts that read “Love Your Neighbor.”

With safety precautions in place at Citi Field to limit those at the stadium at a time, Jay Horwitz was not at the Mets first game of the season for the first time in 40 years. Horwitz wrote about what it’s like for him to not be there for the first time since 1980 in his article on MetsInsider.

Latest MLB News

Baseball Reference updated their playoff odds for the 2020 season given the recent news that there will be expanded playoffs this season. Their spread can be found on Baseball Reference.

Ben Cafardo of ESPN reported that the Opening Night game between the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals drew 4 Million viewers which is the largest audience for an opening night game ever. The game was also the most-watched regular season baseball game since 2011.

The Blue Jays will call Buffalo their home this summer in this already unusual truncated season. Dan Connolly of the Athletic reported that the Blue Jays will be playing in Buffalo, NY this year rather than in Toronto. After being told by Canadien higher-ups that using their own stadium was off limits, the organization was in search of a new stadium to crash in for the season. The team released a statement with more information.

MLB Pipeline wrote a list of the youngest players currently on the opening day rosters. Included on that list is Mets prospect Andres Gimenez!

Jeeho Yoo, KBO reporter, reports that fans will be allowed at KBO gams starting on July 26. The stadiums will be filled to only 10 percent capacity in the early stages. Teams that are ready to open their gates to fans will do so, while those who aren’t will the following week.

Latest NL East News

Dave O’Brien of the Athletic reported that the Braves would be without catchers Tyler Flowers and former Met Travis d’Arnaud. The two backstops had been showing symptoms of COVID-19, and while their tests came back negative, out of an abundance of caution, they remained in Atlanta for Opening Day. It is unclear if they will be joining the team in New York for the remaining two games of this opening series.

The Braves struck a deal with outfielder Scott Schebler who was recently designated for assignment by the Cincinnati Reds.

The Philadelphia Phillies selected the contract of infielder Phil Gosselin.