The New York Mets (24-25) conclude their seven-game home stand with three games against the Detroit Tigers (18-29). This will be the Mets second inter-league series of the year as they split a pair of games with the Minnesota Twins, losing 14-8 on April 9th and winning 9-6 the next day. The Mets will not be making a visit to Comerica Park in Detroit to play this year so this will be the only series between the two teams in the 2019 regular season.

The Mets and Tigers last met in 2016 in Detroit with the Tigers taking two out of three from New York. The last time these teams met in Queens was in 2013 in a three-game series that Detroit swept. Overall, the Mets and Tigers have faced one another 21 times since inter-league play began, with Detroit holding a 12-9 edge.

Currently, the Tigers are fourth in the American League Central, 14 games behind division leading Minnesota. They just completed a 10-game home stand and remarkably the Tigers went 0-for the home-stand, losing three games each to Miami, Oakland and Houston. (One game against Oakland was suspended and will be made up in September).

A good part of the Tigers’ recent problems has been their anemic offense. They rank dead last in team batting in the American League hitting only .219 while scoring 157 runs in 47 games. Their run differential is -98 which is the second worst in all of baseball with only the Baltimore Orioles, with a -108 differential, being worse.

It’s hard to discuss offense and the Tigers without bringing up their first-baseman, Miguel Cabrera. The two-time MVP and 11-time All-Star currently leads the Tigers with a .298 batting average. He also leads Detroit in hits with 50, RBIs with 19 and a .370 OBP. But of those 50 hits, Cabrera only has one home run. Third-baseman Ronny Rodriguez leads the team in homers with six.

As for team pitching, the Tigers currently rank 11th in the AL with a team ERA of 5.04. They’ve allowed 256 runs so far which averages out to nearly 5.5 runs per game. Matthew Boyd leads the Tigers with four wins on the season. He also leads the team with 80 strikeouts. Spencer Turnbull‘s 2.68 ERA leads Detroit in that category.

The Tigers rank eighth in the AL in team defense having committed 28 errors. They committed two costly miscues in the top of the ninth in their Thursday game against the Marlins, which help turn a 2-0 Tiger lead to a 5-2 Miami win.

The Detroit Tigers are managed by Ron Gardenhire. The 61-year-old skipper is in his second year managing the Tigers. He managed the Minnesota Twins for 13 years prior to his current stint. Interestingly, Gardenhire was drafted in the sixth round of the amateur draft by the New York Mets in 1979. He played for the Mets for five seasons.

The Mets are coming off perhaps their most impressive series of the year, sweeping the Washington Nationals four games. The last two wins were courtesy of dramatic eighth inning comebacks that help fuel the Mets victories. The problem of course is that the Mets can almost field a pretty decent team with the players they have on the IL including Michael Conforto, Jeff McNeil, Robinson Cano and Brandon Nimmo to name a few. The Mets will play these three against the Tigers before embarking on a west coast trip with four games against the Los Angeles Dodgers and three against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Friday, May 24: RHP Noah Syndergaard vs LHP Gregory Soto  7:10 PM

2019 Stats: Syndergaard 3-4 record, 4.50 ERA (3.53 FIP), 1.188 WHIP, 8.9 K/9, 2.0 BB/9: Soto 0-2 record, 10.80 ERA (6.08 FIP), 2.200 WHIP, 6.3 K/9, 5.4 BB/9

24 year-old rookie Gregory Soto will pitch game one for the Tigers. He will be making his fourth major league start. In his last outing against the Oakland A’s he gave up three runs on four hits in a game that was suspended. Prior to that he had losses to the Twins and the Astros.

His out pitch is his fastball which he throws in the mid-90s but he is attempting to develop secondary pitches. He is trying to make his power sinker his go to pitch after his fastball, but the league is hitting .393 off that pitch. No Met on the current roster has faced this young southpaw.

Noah Syndergaard, 26, will be making his 11th start of the season. Last out on May 19, he lost to the Miami Marlins. In that game he pitched well giving up two runs on five hits. Though Noah owns a losing record this year at 3-4, the Mets are 6-4 in the games he starts.

Syndergaard has three quality starts in his last four outings with a 2.40 ERA over that stretch.

Cabrera is 1 for 3 against Noah lifetime, while Josh Harrison is 2 for 9.

Saturday, May 25: LHP Jason Vargas vs TBD  4:10 PM

2019 Stats: Vargas 1-2 record, 5.92 ERA (5.71 FIP), 1.562 WHIP, 7.4 K/9, 4.4 BB/9

As of this writing, the Tigers have not yet named a starter for the second game of the series.

The Mets will send 36 year-old Jason Vargas to the hill. He is returning to action after a three-week stint on the IL rehabbing a strained left hamstring.

Before his injury, Vargas had been pitching well for New York. In his last four starts he has a 3.00 ERA and nearly a strike out per inning. His last start was on May 5 at Milwaukee, a game he lost 3-2. He allowed all three runs on three hits in four IP.

Prior to coming to the Mets, Vargas spent nine years in the American League so he has faced a number of Tigers a number of times. To name a few, Gordon Beckham is six for fifteen against Vargas with a home run, Cabrera is six for twenty with a homer and Nicholas Castellanos is five for twenty with two home runs.

Sunday, May 26: RHP Zack Wheeler vs RHP Spencer Turnbull  1:10 PM

2019 Stats: Wheeler 3-3 record, 4.74 ERA (3.19 FIP), 1.372 WHIP, 10.1 K/9, 3.3 BB/9; Turnbull 2-3 record, 2.68 ERA (3.84 FIP), 1.304 WHIP,  9.1 K/9, 3.7 BB/9.

Spencer Turnbull will pitch the final game of the series. He’ll be making his 11th start of the year. The 26 year-old from Alabama is in his second season with Detroit. He owns a losing record at 2-3 but the Tigers are 5-5 in the games he has pitched.

His secondary pitches have been off lately, so he’s relied more on his fast ball. Unfortunately, his heater was struck hard in his last start against the Marlins on May 21. In that game, Turnbull pitched 5 innings allowing 3 runs on seven hits. He still leads his team with his 2.68 ERA.

He has not faced any Met on the current roster in his short career.

Zack Wheeler will make his first start ever against the Tigers, one of seven teams in baseball he has yet to face. Wheeler will be making his 11th start of the season.

His last outing was a no-decision against the Nationals on May 21, a game the Mets won 6-5. In that game, he allowed three runs on four hits. If his first two poor starts of the season are discounted, Wheeler is 3-2 with a 3.74 ERA, 61 strikeouts and 15 walks in 53 innings.

Prediction: It would be all to easy to predict a Mets sweep here, as the Tigers are falling all over themselves lately, doing just enough to lose. However, in the preview I did against the Brewers, the Brew Crew came in slumping and we all know what happened there. Then in the series preview against the Marlins, I predicted the Mets would win two of three…the Mets were swept and Miami is the hottest team in the NL East. Fool me once ok, fool me twice, oh-oh, but fool me thrice, the editors might delete me from existence. So the pick here is that the Mets’ injuries will finally catch up with them and they lose a game to Detroit, but take the other two before heading west. I think we would all take a 6-1 home stand.