Photo via Águilas Cibaeñas

Good morning, Mets fans!

Former Mets outfielder Yoenis Céspedes is back playing and on Wednesday night he looked like the guy that helped the Mets 2015 playoff run. Céspedes went 4-for-4 with a home run, double, two runs scored, and three RBIs for the Águilas Cibaeñas of the Dominican Winter League. The veteran is typically playing left field and batting third in the lineup. He has a 1.171 OPS through five games.

Before winter ball, Céspedes last played professionally for the Mets back in 2020.

Both conference series were in action Wednesday, as the Astros defeated the Yankees, 4-2 to take a 1-0 series lead in the ALCS. Justin Verlander allowed one earned run and struck out eleven batters in six innings while Yuli Gurriel, Chas McCormick, and Jeremy Peña all hit solo home runs.

In the NLCS, the Padres defeated the Phillies 8-5 to tie the series at 1-1. The Padres were trailing 4-2 entering the fifth inning but scored five runs in the inning. Austin Nola, Juan Soto, Brandon Drury, and Josh Bell all had RBI hits in the fifth inning. Finally, Josh Hader struck out the side to save the game for Blake Snell.

Latest Mets News

Michael Mayer reports that Tim Teufel (infield coordinator) and Endy Chávez (FCL manager) will not be returning to the Mets organization for the 2023 season. John Sheridan has more on this story.

Francisco Álvarez is on the cover of Baseball America’s November issue! Click here to preorder.

Latest MLB News

Christina de Nicola of MLB.com interviewed A.J. Nola (Aaron and Austin Nola’s dad) about how he feels about the NLCS. Nola remarked that “One of our boys is going to be playing for a World Series championship […] one of them is going to lose.”

Prospects Live released their top 200 prospects list ahead of the 2023 MLB draft.

Jeff Fletcher of The Southern California News Group reports that The Los Angeles Angels have confirmed that hitting coach Jeremy Reed will not be back next season. Assistant hitting John Mallee will also not be back next year.

Deesha Thosar of Fox Sports reports that Luis Severino made this comment about the environment in Minute Maid Park: “I mean, everywhere we go we’re not liked. … The only place we go where we’re liked is Tampa because they don’t have a lot of fans.”

Zack Meisel of The Athletic confirms that José Ramírez is scheduled to undergo surgery on his right hand in the coming weeks. It was an option midseason but he would have missed substantial time and preferred to play through it.

Mark Berman of Fox 26 reports that Josh Reddick is planning to retire after his stint in Australia.

Latest on MMO

Matthew Brownstein has an MMO exclusive with Trevor Williams.

John Sheridan writes that Steve Cohen revitalized the Mets organization in 2022.

Michael Mayer writes that David Ortiz thinks that Aaron Judge is a perfect fit for the Mets.

On This Date in Mets History

1973: With the Mets having a 3-2 series lead in the World Series, manager Yogi Berra decided to start Tom Seaver on three days rest in game six instead of saving him for game seven. The decision backfired as Seaver allowed two runs in seven innings but the Mets lost to the Athletics in game six (3-1). Left with Jon Matlack as the starter for game seven, the Mets lost 5-2.

Birthdays: Jonathan Hurst (56), Rick Ownbey (65), Keith Hernandez (69)