Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Thursday, March 30, 2023 • 4:10 PM
loanDepot Park • Miami, Florida
RHP Max Scherzer (0-0, -.–) vs. RHP Sandy Alcántara (0-0, -.–)
SNY • MLBN

The Mets begin their highly anticipated 2023 campaign this afternoon as they take on the Marlins in Miami. Fresh off a 101-win season, the Mets are hungry to take the division and make a deep run in October. After a wild off-season, the Mets have had a tough spring, losing Edwin Díaz and José Quintana to injuries. This is Opening Day though. Today is the day of optimism and wild dreaming about all of the opportunities the Mets have this season.

Mets Lineup

First lineup of the year!#OpeningDay #LGM pic.twitter.com/lFyjW1eN5z

— Metsmerized Online (@Metsmerized) March 30, 2023

Max Scherzer will kick off the season for the Mets. He made 23 starts in his first season with the Mets tossing 145 1/3 innings with a 2.29 ERA, 2.62 FIP, 0.908 WHIP and a 169 ERA+. Incredibly, Scherzer never faced the Marlins last season however there are many Marlins who have faced Scherzer over his career:

• Jean Segura 13-36, HR, BB, 8 K
• Garrett Cooper 2-18, 2B, 2 BB, 5 K
• Avisaíl García 4-13, 3B, 2 HR, 3 K
• Jon Berti 3-9, BB, 3 K
• Joey Wendle 3-9, 3 K
• Jazz Chisholm Jr. 1-3, 3B, K
• Jorge Soler 0-3, 2K

Opposing Lineup

Your 2023 #OpeningDay lineup.

👀: @BallySportsFL
👂: @FoxSports940, @radiomambi710
⌚️: 4:10PM ET #MakeItMiami // https://t.co/5rOTQv6054 pic.twitter.com/h5xHVghdR2

— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) March 30, 2023

The Mets bats will get a tall order on their first day of the season – the 2022 National League Cy Young Award winner, Sandy Alcántara. Last season he made 32 starts and tossed a league-leading 228 2/3 innings including a league-leading six complete games. Over that stretch he had a 2.28 ERA, 2.99 FIP, 0.980 WHIP and a 178 ERA+. He faced the Mets four times last year and the Mets were able to get to him a bit more than other teams. He allowed 11 runs, 10 earned (3.33 ERA) over 27 innings from 26 hits and five walks while striking out 21. The Mets have the following career numbers against Sandy:

• Pete Alonso 5-30, 3 2B, HR, BB, 8 K
• Jeff McNeil 9-31, 2B, HR, 3 BB, 3 K
• Brandon Nimmo 4-29, 2 2B, 3 BB, 6 K
• Francisco Lindor 7-23, 2 2B, HR, 3 BB, 3 K
• Eduardo Escobar 2-18, K
• Luis Guillorme 5-15, 5 K
• Starling Marte 4-13, 2 3B, HR, 3 K
• Mark Canha 3-8, 2B, HR, BB< K
• Daniel Vogelbach 4-9, 3 2B, HR, BB, K
• Omar Narváez 1-5, K

Game Notes

With Justin Verlander and Luis Arraez both moving to the NL, this would be the first time that a league’s ERA and batting champions both did not play in that league the following season since 1943, when Ted Lyons and Ted Williams both left for World War II.

José Quintana (bone graft surgery) is with the team in Miami and before the game said he’s hopeful he will return during the 2023 season.

Before the game, the Mets placed veteran starter Justin Verlander on the injured list with a low-grade teres major strain.

Three Things To Watch For

1. Mets on Opening Day: The Mets are a statistical anomaly for Opening Day. The Mets are 40-21 on Opening Day, by far the best in the league and it’s made even better considering the first eight seasons the Mets lost on Opening Day. Facing Sandy Alcántara today is going to put that record in jeopardy and give the Mets probably their toughest challenge since the years when they had to face Max Scherzer on the first day of the season.
2. A Game of Batting Champs: Today’s game will feature the National League batting champion, Jeff McNeil, against the American League batting champion, Luis Arraez. Arraez was traded to the Marlins in the off-season for a package built around Pablo López. Even crazier, if Justin Verlander got the start today we would have last year’s Cy Young Award winners in the same game as both batting champions. Anyway, I don’t know if both leagues batting champions have ever faced off to start a season before. It is definitely unusual.
3. Late Inning Bullpen Watch: How do the Mets respond to not having Edwin Díaz to close out games? Is it going to be David Robertson? Adam Ottavino? Both depending on the situation? It is very difficult to replace the best closer in the game but both Robertson and Ottavino had excellent seasons in 2022. Ottavino was in the 99th percentile for average exit velocity, 97th for hard hit percentage and 89th for strikeout percentage. David Robertson was in the 97th percentile for expected batting average, 90th for strikeout percentage and 99th for fastball spin. Unlike Díaz who was top in every category, both Robertson and Ottavino have some holes. Players are more likely to hit Robertson hard. They both struggle to get players to chase their pitches. The late-inning scenario is something the Mets will be watching all season.

Let’s go Mets!

The post MMO Game Thread: Mets vs Marlins, 4:10 PM appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Justin Verlander. Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Sunday, March 26, 2023 • 4:10 PM
Clover Park • Port St. Lucie, Florida
LHP Braxton Garrett (0-1, 8.25) vs. RHP Justin Verlander (2-1, 2.25)
WPIX

We finally made it! The last day of spring training.

The Mets and Marlins play each other in a late afternoon spring game before taking a few days off and starting the season against each other in Miami. If you include today’s game, the Mets and Marlins play each other eight times in their next 11 games. The two teams are going to get very familiar with each other over the next couple of weeks.

Big news broke during the Mets game last night that Brett Baty and Mark Vientos would be starting the season in the minors. That means the Mets are rolling with Eduardo Escobar as their starting third basemen at least in the short term for 2023. What general manager Billy Eppler wouldn’t commit to yet is if Darin Ruf has made the major league roster. That being said, the Mets still have a few days to make decisions before the games start for real on Thursday.

Mets Lineup

Last lineup of the spring. #LGM pic.twitter.com/2LNRaOC4x7

— New York Mets (@Mets) March 26, 2023

Marlins Lineup: pending

Game Notes

Yesterday, the Mets have signed starting pitcher Dylan Bundy to a minor league contract. Bundy has appeared in 190 career games (162 starts) and owns a 4.74 ERA. He spent the 2022 season with the Minnesota Twins, posting a 4.89 ERA (76 earned runs/140 innings) with 28 walks and 94 strikeouts.

In 15 games this spring, infielder Luis Guillorme has a .324 (12-37) average and an .864 OPS. Guillorme has hit safely in four of his last five games, including three consecutive multi-hit efforts.

Three Things To Watch For

1. See You Again Soon! Justin Verlander makes his final start of spring training today and is scheduled to face the Marlins next Saturday for the third game of the season. I am curious if he hides anything from the Marlins, works on specific pitches only, or splits his time between this game and a minor league game or a bullpen session. Unless it looks like he’s really going full steam today, I’m not going to read too much into his performance
2. Normal Lineup? The Mets have Darin Ruf in the game today as the DH, which is where he would be on days the Mets face off against a lefty starting pitcher. Besides that this lineup looks like the lineup the Mets will roll with at the start of the season. The only question marks in are Ruf and Escobar. According to Showalter, despite Ruf’s poor spring training performance, he’s been destroying baseballs in the backfields. Escobar has been cold this spring, but was one of the best hitters on the team the last month or so of the regular season.
3. Final Bullpen Spots Up For Grabs: Before the start of this game the Mets optioned Jeff Brigham to Syracuse and reassigned T.J. McFarland and Jimmy Yacabonis to minor league camp. This leaves Curtiss, Nogosek, Hernández and Santana battling for the last three spots.

The post MMO Game Thread: Marlins vs. Mets, 4:10 P.M. appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

Saturday, March 25, 2023 • 6:10 PM
Clover Park • Port St. Lucie, Florida
RHP Andre Pallante (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Tylor Megill (1-1, 3.00)
WPIX

The Mets were firing on all cylinders on Friday. On Saturday, they look to keep that going and bring that momentum into the regular season which is less than a week away!

Max Scherzer tossed 100 pitches on Friday, allowing two runs on four hits and striking out 11 batters, including striking out the side to end his outing. The bullpen behind him all tossed scoreless outings, allowing only two hits while striking out three batters.

The bats also came out with Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso each collecting two hits and racking up a combined five RBIs. Omar Narváez also joined in the fun, collecting two hits and hitting his first homer of the spring. The Mets bats and arms will take on the Cardinals on Saturday in what is their penultimate spring training game.

Mets Lineup

Last Spring Saturday. 🌴 #LGM pic.twitter.com/GmANm8YcUR

— New York Mets (@Mets) March 25, 2023

Opposing Lineup

More baseball! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/5cjPvX1Uoo

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) March 25, 2023

Game Notes

Today’s Scheduled Pitchers: RHP Tylor Megill, LHP David Peterson.

Happy 68th Birthday to former Met Lee Mazzilli!

The Mets have signed RHP Dylan Bundy to a minor-league contract. Bundy was with the Baltimore Orioles with Mets manager Buck Showalter. Bundy has appeared in 190 career games and owns a 54-65 record with a 4.74 career ERA. He went 8-8 with a 4.89 ERA with the Minnesota Twins in 2022.

Former Mets pitchers Al Leiter and John Franco will be in camp from March 27.

RHP Tommy Hunter will be on the Opening Day roster for the Mets, according to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Hunter has had a strong spring, not allowing a run in 8.0 innings while recording nine strikeouts.

With Saturday’s game the penultimate spring training contest for the Mets, the matchup against the Cardinals will be all about fine-tuning and ironing out the final kinks ready for Opening Day next week.

Three Things To Watch For

1. Rotation Battle: It looks like one of David Peterson or Tylor Megill will be the second starter on the team, breaking up Scherzer and Verlander and making sure that Verlander starts the home opener. Today will be the second turn in the rotation where both pitchers are expected to make an extended appearance. Last time, Peterson entered the game with eight scoreless innings in spring, while Megill had one earned run in basically the same stretch. Peterson turned in an additional four scoreless innings while Megill struggled a bit, allowing six runs, only three earned, over 2 2/3 innings. We will see this roster battle live on Saturday!
2. Finding Nimmo: Nimmo returns to the lineup after a scary injury. Only a few days after Edwin Díaz went down, Nimmo slid into second awkwardly. He was down for about a minute or two and concerns were that he had a similar injury. He was diagnosed with low grade sprains in his right knee and right ankle and was considered week to week, putting Opening Day in doubt. A couple of days ago he played in a minor league game and hit a triple. We’ll get the sense on Saturday if he’s good to go, or not, for Opening Day.
3. Opening Day Lineup? Saturday’s lineup is incredibly close to the Opening Day lineup. We finally see the return of Jeff McNeil, playing in his first spring training game since the World Baseball Classic. There are two reasons why this may not actually be the Opening Day lineup. Most likely, Omar Narváez will be the Opening Day catcher. He did catch Scherzer on Friday. Tomás Nido, however, is having an amazing spring training. Then there’s Brett Baty. Does he still have time to win the job from Eduardo Escobar? Can Escobar show on Saturday that he should start the season at third?

Let’s go Mets!

The post MMO Game Thread: Cardinals vs Mets, 6:10 PM appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Max Scherzer. Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Friday, March 24, 2023 • 1:05 PM
Tropicana Field • St. Petersburg, Florida
RHP Max Scherzer (1-1, 0.77) vs. RHP Luis Patino (1-1, 6.43)
Bally Sports Sun • MLB TV (Free Today) • MLB Network

The Mets only have three spring training games left in the schedule and today they make the cross-state to take on the Rays at Tropicana Field. The west coast of Florida is still dealing with devastating impacts from Hurricane Ian. The damage from the storm has prevented the Rays from using their normal spring training home, Charlotte Sports Park. So the Rays have pivoted to hosting their spring training games in their home ballpark, Tropicana Field.

The most notable news for the Mets happened in the back fields on Thursday. Jeff McNeil bounced around to multiple games, getting nine plate appearances. To put that in perspective, he had 13 plate appearances during the World Baseball Classic. Brandon Nimmo got five at-bats and hit a triple. The Mets tied in the actual spring training game 2-2. Will the Mets actually get a decision today?

Mets Lineup

The Mets head to the Trop with Max on the mound. #LGM pic.twitter.com/vVOaxZC1T8

— Metsmerized Online (@Metsmerized) March 24, 2023

Rays Lineup

#Rays lineup vs. #Mets: pic.twitter.com/9h5bF5ICuL

— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) March 24, 2023

Game Notes

Max Scherzer will be the Mets’ Opening Day starter on March 30 as the team travels to Miami to face off against Sandy Alcantara.

Three Things To Watch For

1. How Deep Does Scherzer Go? Scherzer makes his final start today as he prepares for Opening Day. His last time up in the rotation he pitched seven scoreless innings, bringing his official spring total to 11 2/3 allowing one earned run while striking out 14 batters.
2. I Don’t Know is on third: Who’s the Mets third baseman in a few days? The Mets are quickly coming to the end of Spring Training and Baty has done everything to show that he should be starting at third when the camp is over. Eduardo Escobar hasn’t had the greatest results at the plate so far this spring and he gets the start today. In eight games and 25 PA’s he is hitting .136/.240/.182.
3. Please Heat Up: Tommy Pham has had ample opportunities this spring to show the Mets what he’s got. With camp winding down he has hit .154/.267/.179 over 15 games and 45 PA’s. In total he has six hits this spring. Four of those six hits happened in back to back to back to back games from March 5th to March 12th. Since then he has only two hits and is 0-6 over the last two calendar days.

Let’s go Mets!

The post MMO Game Thread: Mets vs Rays, 1:05 PM appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Pete Alonso. Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Thursday, March 23, 2023 • 1:05 PM
CoolToday Park • North Port, Florida
RHP Mike Vasil (0-0, -.–) vs. LHP Jared Shuster (1-0, 0.71)
Bally Sports Southeast

In one week the Mets will make the long journey from St. Lucie all the way down to Miami to open up the regular season. Only one more week! We will now see pitchers make their final spring starts. Some will be in the few remaining spring training games, others will do bullpen sessions, some will start in minor league games.

Yesterday Senga made his third start of the season, allowing two runs from two hits and three walks over four innings while striking out three. It was also the second straight start for him that we barely saw the ghost fork at all, but he got more work on his other pitches. Tommy Hunter had the surprise pitching performance, adding two more scoreless innings bringing his spring total to eight. He is not on the 40-man roster yet and needs to be on the roster by Saturday to prevent him from opting out. For what it’s worth, the Mets still haven’t moved Edwin Díaz to the 60-day IL yet, which would open up a spot on the roster.

Anyway, we still have a game today! Today is one of those rare days that the Mets will not play the Marlins, Astros, Nationals or Cardinals as they make the trip to see the Braves.

Mets Lineup

Pete’s back! pic.twitter.com/kCWY7uWLJ1

— Metsmerized Online (@Metsmerized) March 23, 2023

Braves Lineup

Shuster gets the start!#BravesST pic.twitter.com/6iSw8UserJ

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) March 23, 2023

Game Notes

Pete Alonso is back in the Mets lineup in his return from the WBC. Alonso said before the game that he is 100% on board with playing in the 2026 WBC.

The Mets held an event at Citi Field on Thursday showing off everything new for the 2023 season including the massive scoreboard and a trumpet in the Hall of Fame.

Three Things To Watch For

1. Prospect Time: The Mets welcome Mike Vasil to the mound today, making his first spring training start. Vasil was drafted by the Mets in the 8th round back in 2021 and made some noise last year in the minors. For the St. Lucie Mets he posted a 2.19 ERA over eight starts and 37 innings. He was then bumped up to Brooklyn where he struggled a bit with a 5.13 ERA over 33 1/3 innings. He had hitters fooled in St. Lucie with a 18.0 K/9 which dipped down to a still very respectable 9.5 K/9 in Brooklyn. The Mets then sent him to the Arizona Fall League where he pitched 15 1/3 innings with a 2.93 ERA and 10.6 K/9. He’s tall (6’5″) with a mid-90’s fastball. We are excited to see what he does this season and today against a formidable Braves lineup.
2. Return of Pete: Alonso returns the lineup today after being away from the team for the last couple of weeks with team USA in the WBC. Before Alonso left for the tournament he was hitting .286/.423/.714 over eight games and 26 plate appearances. He collected six hits and three of them were homers. The WBC wasn’t kind to Pete though as he had only two hits in 14 trips over five games and had to battle quite a bit for playing time. We are sure that he is hungry for playing time right now as he takes one of top prospects in the Braves system this afternoon.
3. Catching up with the catchers: The inevitable happened right before yesterday’s game – Francisco Álvarez was sent to minor league camp. This was expected, especially when the Mets signed Omar Narváez in the off-season. Tomás Nido has been quietly having a tremendous spring and looks to carry the Mets until Álvarez is ready later this season. Nido has played in 12 games this spring with 35 plate appearances hitting .382/.400/.706 with three homers. Nido gets the start today and we expect to see a lot of Nido and Narváez over the last few spring games.

Let’s go Mets!

The post MMO Game Thread: Mets vs Braves, 1:05 PM appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Wednesday, March 22, 2023 • 1:10 PM
Clover Park • Port St. Lucie, Florida
RHP Jairo Solis (0-0, 0.00) vs. Kodai Senga (1-1, 3.60)
SNY

For the first time since March 15th,the Mets will have a weekday spring training game during the traditional early afternoon time. It’s also the first time in a while that the Mets feel whole again. The Mets sent a large contingent of players to probably the most exciting World Baseball Classic tournament ever for the better part of this month. With the tournament’s tremendous conclusion last night with Japan holding on to a 3-2 win over USA to win the tournament, there’s only one thing to focus on now – Opening Day.

The Mets also got some promising news on the day off yesterday. Brandon Nimmo tried out his ankle and knee in various exercises and he is trending towards being available for Opening Day. The positive news was welcomed after what the Mets endured last week.

Mets Lineup

Senga Day! pic.twitter.com/ituJd3NMcu

— Metsmerized Online (@Metsmerized) March 22, 2023

Astros Lineup

Rylan Bannon gets start at second against the Mets pic.twitter.com/7U19gvlym7

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) March 22, 2023

Game Notes

The Mets officially sent down their top prospect, Francisco Álvarez, on Wednesday, ensuring he will start the season in Triple-A Syracuse. Álvarez hasn’t had a great spring at the dish the Mets appear to be set with Omar Narváez and Tomás Nido behind the plate to start the season. However, it would be surprising if we don’t see Álvarez back at the big-league lever sooner rather than later.

If Nimmo is healthy enough for Opening Day, the Mets will only have one real decision to make with their roster in terms of position players, assuming they will carry 13 pitchers. Luis Guillorme, Nido, and Tommy Pham are guaranteed bench spots. Darin Ruf is the most likely candidate for the team’s final bench/DH piece, but his role is not-yet guaranteed. Mark Vientos still hovers as an option, while, if the team wanted to truly make a splash, they could keep Brett Baty on the Opening Day roster. Another possible candidate is Tim Locastro, who has had an excellent spring, but likely doesn’t have a realistic path unless there is an injury to one of the Mets four outfielders.

Three Things To Watch For

1. From the Stands to the Mound: Kodai Senga was in the crowd during Japan’s walk-off win against Mexico earlier this week, and returns to the mound for the Mets today! In two starts so far this spring, he has pitched five innings and allowed two runs from four hits,(including one home run), while walking two and striking out seven. Most likely, Senga will have one more tune up start after today to get ready for the regular season.
2. Francisco Lindor: Francisco Lindor was on fire in the World Baseball Classic with a .450 batting average and a .500 on base percentage. Lindor was also having a tremendous spring before the classic, going 7-18 at the plate with two homers. He picked up right where he left on Monday, his first game back in the Mets lineup, going 1-3. The Mets have a superstar at shortstop, and the league better watch out if he brings this level of play into regular season games next week.
3. Stealing Bases: Starling Marte got the start yesterday and stole his second base of spring. Last season,  he stole 18 bags and was caught nine times. However, between the bases being larger and the pitch clock, we wonder how many additional bases Marte will steal this upcoming season. In addition to stolen bases, Marte is having a tremendous spring hitting .353/.368/.588 over 19 plate appearances.

Let’s go Mets!

The post MMO Game Thread: Astros vs Mets, 1:10 P.M. appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Mike Trout vs. Shohei Ohtani.

That’s the billing of Tuesday night’s 2023 World Baseball Classic Final. The United States and Japan—two of the best teams throughout the whole tournament—face off for the WBC title.

Japan made the final after winning a thrilling game against Mexico. Down 3-0, new Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida launched a three-run home run to tie the game in the seventh inning. Mexico—off the strength of Randy Arozarena—went up 5-3 by the next frame, and Japan pulled a run closer in the bottom of the eighth. The stage was set for Shohei Ohtani, leading off the bottom of the ninth. He doubled, Yoshida walked, then Munetaka Murakami—one of Japan’s best young hitter—roped a double to left field scoring the tying and winning run.

The United States, on the other hand, had Monday off after besting Cuba 14-2 on Sunday. USA has won five of their six games, and Japan hasn’t lost a game yet. The U.S. could win its second WBC, and Japan is looking to win its third

Yu Darvish will start for Japan, and there’s a chance Ohtani could come in for relief. (CORRECTION: Shota Imananga is starting. Darvish may still pitch.) Ohtani told Ken Rosenthal Monday night he would be “prepared.” Merrill Kelly will start for USA, and the team should have its full relieving corps ready to go after having an off day on Monday.

The game starts at 7 p.m. on Fox Sports 1.

USA Lineup

1. Mookie Betts – RF
2. Mike Trout – CF
3. Paul Goldschmidt – 1B
4. Nolan Arenado – 3B
5. Kyle Schwarber – DH
6. Trea Turner – SS
7. J.T. Realmuto – C
8. Cedric Mullins – LF
9. Tim Anderson – 2B

Japan Lineup

1. Lars Nootbaar – CF
2. Kensuke Kondoh – RF
3. Shohei Ohtani – DH
4. Masataka Yoshida – LF
5. Munetaka Murakami – 3B
6. Kazuma Okamoto – 1B
7. Tetsuo Yamada – 2B
8. Sosuke Genda – SS
9. Yuhei Nakamura – C

The post WBC Game Thread: USA, Japan Face Off in Finals appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

It’s time for the semifinals.

Team Mexico takes on Team Hapan at loanDepot park in Miami, Florida.

Team Mexico defeated Team Puerto Rico in the fourth quarterfinal game 5-4. The Pool C winners hope to continue the trend against the undefeated Japanese team.

Japan defeated Team Italy 9-3 in their quarterfinal game. Japan has yet to lose a game during the tournament going 4-0 in Pool B.

Can Mexico defeat Japan? Can anyone defeat Japan? The winner awaits Team USA and their deadly lineup that’s found its power stroke in the championship on Tuesday.

Hoping to get their teams there are pitchers Patrick Sandoval and Roki Sasaki.

Sandoval is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA and two strikeouts this tournament. Sasaki is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA and eight strikeouts. Sasaki, just 21, has been described as having possibly the best stuff in the world. He’s a wunderkind who teams cannot wait to bid for if he jumps from Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball.

No players on either side have ever faced these two pitchers before, including Shohei Ohtani who is teammates with Sandoval on the Los Angeles Angels.

A trip to the championship is on the line. Let’s see who gets there.

The post WBC Game Thread: Mexico, Japan Face Off In Semis appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Monday, March 20, 2023 • 6:05 PM
The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches • West Palm Beach, Florida
RHP Justin Verlander (2-0, 1.59) vs. LHP Patrick Corbin (0-2, 5.63)
Radio: WJFK 106.7 (Nationals)

Yesterday’s spring training game featured David Peterson and Tylor Megill trying out, in the same game, to be the Mets fifth starter. Going into the game both Peterson and Megill had been dominant this spring. Peterson allowed no runs over eight innings. Megill allowed one run in just about the same amount of time. Peterson dominated in the game, allowing one hit and no run, despite walking four batters over four innings. Megill struggled, allowing six runs, three earned, from six hits and five walks. Peterson probably has the upper hand right now, but there is still at least one more turn through the rotation before a decision needs to be made.

Today the Mets will pivot from looking at the battle for fifth starting position to players just getting their work in. Justin Verlander makes a start today and the Mets are welcoming back their players from team Puerto Rico and Venezuela from the World Baseball Classic.

Mets Lineup

Escobar, Lindor & Narváez are back from the WBC and in the lineup tonight! pic.twitter.com/tHvSRv3QA5

— Metsmerized Online (@Metsmerized) March 20, 2023

Opposing Lineup

Today’s lineup vs. the Mets.#NATITUDE pic.twitter.com/1tiuXSh2HX

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) March 20, 2023

Game Notes

Mets scheduled pitchers today:

RHP Justin Verlander, RHP John Curtiss, RHP Dennis Santana, RHP Drew Smith, RHP Jimmy Yacabonis

— Mike Mayer (@mikemayer22) March 20, 2023

Three Things To Watch For

1. Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better: We expect Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer to have a friendly rivalry throughout the season. Max Scherzer over the weekend casually tossed a seven inning outing allowing four hits and no runs. What will Verlander do today? So far in spring he has allowed two runs from six hits over 11 1/3 innings while striking out an absurd 16 batters.
2. Welcome Back! The Mets welcome back a lot of familiar faces today. Francisco Lindor was on fire during the WBC, collecting 9 hits in 20 AB’s, hitting .450/.500/.550. Eduardo Escobar went 1-10, but his one hit was a homer. Omar Narváez didn’t get too much playing time, going 1-4 over two games. We expect all three to start seeing a significant ramp up in playing time.
3. Tommy’s Turn In Center: We’ve been expecting Tommy Pham to get a turn to play in center since Nimmo’s injury and today’s the day! Pham has played in 13 games this spring with 39 plate appearances and is hitting .152/.282/.182. Baseball Reference uses an opponent quality stat, quantifying the level of play Pham is hitting against based on that pitcher’s previous season. Pham’s opponents are at a 7.3, which is some where between a double and triple A. That being said, we’ll be focusing more on his time in the field. Last season he had -6 outs above average, his second straight year with that mark. He has only recorded a positive outs above average back in 2017.

Let’s go Mets!

The post MMO Game Thread: Mets vs Nationals, 6:05 PM appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Mike Trout. Photo via MLB/Team USA

Only four teams remain in the 2023 WBC. Tonight, one team is going to punch their ticket to the championship game. That’ll either be Cuba or the USA. Meanwhile, tomorrow night, Mexico and Japan will play to see who makes up the other half of the WBC final. That aforementioned final is scheduled for Tuesday, March 21 in Miami, Florida.

Cuba vs. USA, 7:00 PM ET

To get to the semifinals, Cuba defeated Australia 4-3. Before that, they won a weak Pool A by going 2-2 with victories over Panama and Chinese Taipei and losses to Italy and the Netherlands.

Offensively, Cuba is led by the White Sox duo of Yoan Moncada (1.259 OPS) and Luis Robert Jr. Additionally, Mexican league hitter, Yadir Drake, is also having a strong WBC as evident by his 1.029 OPS.

Cuba’s probable starter is Roenis Elías. He is a 34-year-old left-handed pitcher who is currently a part of the Cubs’ organization. He owns a career ERA of 3.96 across 395 2/3 career MLB innings. Elías struggled in spring training (7.71 ERA in 4 2/3 innings) before joining the WBC roster.

As for USA, the main reason why they are able to play in this game is because of an electric go-ahead eighth-inning grand slam courtesy of Trea Turner Saturday night against Venezuela. Each Pete Alonso and Adam Ottavino contributed to that victory, namely Alonso, who tallied a bloop hit to set the table for USA.

Prior to that, USA finished second in Pool C with a 3-1 record which included wins over Great Britain, Canada, and Colombia as well as a surprising 11-5 loss at the hands of Mexico.

Adam Wainwright is the probable starter for USA. The 41-year-old veteran wasn’t the sharpest against a lackluster Great Britain team in a pool stage game. He allowed five hits over four innings, but did only allow one run and struck out four.

Cuba Lineup

Cuba's lineup for tonight's semifinal matchup! pic.twitter.com/hiFBOJRSht

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 19, 2023

USA Lineup

Semifinal ready 🫡#ForGlory🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/VotDN3bbIr

— USA Baseball (@USABaseball) March 19, 2023

Tonight’s game is scheduled for a 7:00 PM ET first pitch. It will be televised on Fox Sports 1. The game will be held in Miami, FL at LoanDepot Park, home of the Miami Marlins.

The post WBC Game Thread: Cuba vs. USA, 7:00 P.M. appeared first on Metsmerized Online.