Series Preview: Mets Return Home to Face Nationals

The New York Mets continue to roll in the 2025 season!

After splitting a series with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Mets absolutely dismantled the Colorado Rockies in a three-game series over the weekend. They pitched very well, mashed the baseball, and ultimately did exactly what a contender should do to a bottom-of-the-barrel baseball team. Sitting at 42-24, New York now firmly has the best record in the National League and the second-best record in the sport.

Now, the Mets are set to face off against a scrappy NL East rival in the Washington Nationals. Despite sitting at 30-35, Washington has some fun players on the hitting and pitching side of things. They’re playing .500 ball since the start of May and are 12-9 since May 14. Unlike other bad teams they have recently played, Washington will likely push the Mets and provide them with some entertaining games.

How do the Mets and Nationals stack up with pitching for this week? What is the main storyline for New York? And how will the series unfold for the Mets?

That is why you are here, after all! Without further ado, let us dive into another New York Mets series preview!

Pitching Matchups

Tuesday: Griffin Canning (6–2, 2.90 ERA) vs. MacKenzie Gore (3-5, 2.87 ERA)

• The Mets’ rotation has been lights-out for the majority of the 2025 season, and Griffin Canning has arguably been the biggest surprise of the unit’s success. Through 12 starts, the 29-year-old has a 2.90 ERA and 57 strikeouts on the season. He has a pitching run value of 5, has struck out 22.8% of the batters he has faced, and has only walked 10% of batters. With his dominant changeup (19.8 strikeout percentage), Canning should be in line to have another solid start against Washington and continue his great season.
• On the other side of things is a complete ace in MacKenzie Gore. In 13 starts, Gore has run a 2.87 ERA and has struck out an impressive 108 batters. He has an impressive 34.3 whiff percentage, a 35.5 strikeout percentage, and has only walked 6.9% of the batters he has faced. He’s Washington’s ace,  and New York is in for a real test on Tuesday. 

Wednesday: David Peterson (4-2, 2.80 ERA) vs  Jake Irvin (5–2, 4.02 ERA)

• If Canning is the surprise of the Mets’ rotation, then Peterson is the rock-solid workhorse of the group. Over his last six starts, the lefty has only gone less than six innings once. He limits damage, generates more than enough swing and miss with his pitch mix, and consistently avoids trouble when faced with rocky situations. Peterson is also avoiding barrels and has seen his expected slugging percentage drop from .397 to .382. The lefty has shut down some of the best offenses in baseball this season; against the upstart Nationals, Peterson will need his best once again.
• For the Nationals, Jake Irvin will take the bump. The 28-year-old has struggled in his last two starts, ballooning his ERA to 4.02 on the season. However, the underlying statistics have not been kind to Irvin. In terms of swing and miss, Irvin is in the 5th percentile of strikeout percentage and the 2nd percentile in Whiff percentage (16.6%). He has also struggled mightily with his fastball, especially when it comes to his velocity and whiff percentage. Irvin can find success if he gets his offspeed pitches working; if not, the Mets could find plenty of success against him. Back in April, Irvin shut the Mets down over 7.1 innings.

Thursday: Kodai Senga (6-3, 1.59 ERA)  vs. Michael Soroka (3-3, 4.86 ERA)

• In game three of this series, Kodai Senga and Michael Soroka are set to duel on Thursday afternoon. Senga’s fastball may not be dominant at the moment, but his forkball and cutter have been extremely impressive in 2025. Senga has generated 43 strikeouts with his forkball, while his cutter has a .233 batting average against it. The pitcher has gotten himself into some trouble over the course of games, whether it is hits or walks from his opponents. However, Senga has consistently worked around trouble, resulting in a 1.59 ERA. If he can avoid the scattered hits and walks, Senga could cement himself as one of the best pitchers in the game in 2025.
• Soroka, a new addition to the Nationals in 2025, has found some success with his slurve and change-up this season. He has struggled at times this season, but is coming off six innings of shutout pitching against the Texas Rangers, where he also struck out seven batters. Battling back from serious injuries and attempting to find his footing, Soroka may have shown that he has the upper-level talent that he showed back when he was a member of the Atlanta Braves. Thursday’s game, as a result, may be a test for both Soroka and the Mets. 

The Main Headline

For this week’s series, I am focusing on something that we have discussed in previous series previews: how playing time is being divided on the roster. Specifically, I would like to discuss how it relates to some of the younger players. 

In theory, the players that are most affected by this are Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, and Luisangel Acuña. (Francisco Alvarez is, too, but he’s out for the series on the paternity list.)

Regardless of whether players return from injury in the future, I would consider Baty to be one of the safer young players on the roster. This is mainly due to his fielding. Baty, according to Baseball Savant, has an overall OAA of 2 and has been a plus defender at third and second. His hitting has also improved to an average level, thanks to a 94th percentile bat speed and 83rd percentile barrel rate.

Mauricio is very interesting as well, as he arguably has the best tools of this group. With ridiculous bat speed, power potential, foot speed, and fielding versatility, the towering infielder could simply stick on he roster due to New York wanting to capitalize on his high-upside outcomes.

Acuña has some strengths, but he has also struggled immensely this season. Acuña is blazing fast on the base paths and is a solid player in the field. However, he has been a complete liability at the plate; the middle infielder has an abysmal .579 OPS and has not recorded an extra-base hit since May 2.

Each of these players’ situations is different. Baty’s performance will likely dictate whether he starts games or is used as a defensive chess piece. Acuña and Mauricio are likely battling for a roster spot, especially when Mark Vientos returns from injury.

As a result, these next few series will be massive for these players. Breakout performances will likely buy them more time in their roles, while struggles may force New York to look in new directions for replacements. Baseball seasons are deemed successes or failures based on how depth players fare, and these upcoming series will help show what path the current depth for the Mets is on.

Prediction

In their series against the Nationals, I see the Mets taking two of three games. Ronny Mauricio will hit his second home run of the season, and Pete Alonso will go yard once again. I also see Starling Marte contributing two RBI over the course of the series. 

After this series, I have the Mets at 44-25 heading into an interleague matchup with the Tampa Bay Rays.