Good Morning,
Pennant races are supposed to be fun. And they are, in theory, or when you’re team is not in the thick of it. A baseball fan in Kansas City might feel jealous when pulling up the standings on their phone and seeing the Mets and Braves on pace for over 100 wins and tied atop the NL East with one week left in the season. That sounds pretty epic and exciting. I think I can speak for most Mets fans in saying, it doesn’t feel that way.
It feels like going steady with your first love through your senior year of high school, only to find out she might go to the prom with someone else. Yeah, you can still find another date. But it’s not supposed to end this way. You shouldn’t have to even worry about it.
The Mets have had a magical 2022 season. They are going to win the second most games in franchise history. They should be clinching the division around now, not worrying they will become one of the few teams ever to finish second with over 100 wins.
But here we are. With the Mets falling to the Marlins last night and the Braves’ second straight no-doubt win over the Nationals, New York and Atlanta are now tied in first place with seven games to play. The Mets currently hold the tiebreaker, with a 9–7 head-to-head record, meaning they only have to win once next weekend to force the Braves to have to take a one-game lead to win the division.
“I never doubted that it was going to come down to the last couple days of this season,” Francisco Lindor said, via Newsday. “It’s kind of what you expected — at least what I expected. They’re the World Series champs. I think, in my opinion, they have a better team this year than they did last year. You just got to go out there and compete, day in and day out, and hopefully we finish at least a half-game above them.”
There’s a lot to discuss, including some highlights from Buck Showalter’s appearance on Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman’s podcast. So let’s get into it.
▼ IN SHORT: Carlos Carrasco didn’t have his best stuff, neither did Trevor Williams, whom Buck Showalter left in too long, and the Mets dropped Tuesday’s game, 6–4 [Box Score].
🔑 KEY DECISION: Forced to go to the bullpen in the fourth inning, Trevor Williams got the call, which makes sense. But once it became clear he didn’t have his best stuff, it’s unclear why Showalter stuck with him so long.
After scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth to turn a four-run deficit into a one-run game, Williams immediately put his team back into a hole. Showalter had plenty of opportunity to replace him after he gave up a lead-off double and hit a batter to start the fifth, but he didn’t budge. Williams struck out the next batter, but gave up back-to-back singles to give the Marlins a three-run lead.
Williams was allowed to finish the inning. David Peterson didn’t replace him until the sixth. Perhaps this is the Mets getting Peterson comfortable to his new role out of the bullpen. They might have preferred starting him in a clean inning, although he has entered two of his seven relief appearances in the middle of the frame.
Really, there’s no excuse. The Mets’ bullpen was completely rested. Six relievers hadn’t pitched in at least two days. They have another off day coming on Thursday. It’s all hands on deck at this point. Or at least it should be.
🏟️ SPARSE CROWD: It’s late September, the weather is getting cooler, the kids are back in school and the Marlins are in town. All good excuses for why attendance lagged last night, but for a first-place team in the middle of a pennant race, this is a bit disappointing:
Mets fans can make up for it in Miami. The Marlins are using the pennant race to drive up attendance for the final series of the year. Interesting strategy.
🔌 POWER SUPPLY: Pete Alonso’s three-run homer in the fourth was his 40th of the season, making him the first player in Mets history to have multiple 40-home-run seasons (last in 2019). He also passed Aaron Judge for the MLB-lead in RBIs with 131.
“I’m feeling really good at the dish,” said Alonso, who is batting .321 with 5 homers and 16 RBIs over his last seven games. “And I’m just happy that I’m feeling really good at this time of year, especially when we’re playing meaningful games at this time. I just want to keep the form I’m in right now."
🛑 BALK! Marlins left-hander Richard Bleier did something very unusual on Tuesday — he committed three balks in the same inning. As unique as it was to see that — only six other pitchers have done that since 1885, and none since 1988 — it was especially unique because, prior to last night, Bleier hadn’t committed a balk in seven years (303 appearances)! He then became the first pitcher since 1900 to balk three times in the same at-bat. All incredible statistics, but Jon Heyman couldn’t stop there:
Buck Showalter joined Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman on The Show to discuss a wide-range of topics. It’s a great listen, starting around the 20:00 minute mark. Below are some highlights.
▪️ On playing in New York and Edwin Díaz’s success: “Pressure is a privilege. I think that’s one of the reasons Edwin Díaz has been so good this year. When you go through the tough times [in New York], and you get through it and you respond, you get a certain toughness about you that other people can’t get.”
▪️ On whether the Mets will go all out for winning the division: “I know this is going to sound cliché… But it’s about tonight’s game and Pablo López. That’s what it’s about. If you don’t think we haven’t thought about that; we have talked about those things. But every day the landscape changes on how you look at it. And you can beat yourself up silly. But we look at it. We have a lot of different calendars. And right now it’s about the Florida Marlins and one of the better pitchers in the league.”
▪️ On Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer: “They are so prepared and so driven. And everybody says, ‘Oh, they are competitive.’ But they really really like to win. And they like it when the team wins on the days they don’t pitch. They love winning.”
“Being with the Mets and having the Mets win means a lot to Jake. And I think it’s carried him through some challenging times this year, where a step back, two steps forward, to get back.”
▪️ On the Mets constantly getting hit by pitches: “There’s something going on with the baseball, there’s something going on with command of pitchers, I don’t know. I’ve tried real hard to figure out what it is. It’s going to be something for another day. I thought a lot of it would go away when the warmer weather got here and guys got a little better grip with the rosin and the sweat, but that really hasn’t been the case.”
▪️ On Starling Marte: “He’s making progress little-by-little. We are not at the three-week mark yet, which is usually where they give you an idea about the healing. We took some imaging. We sent him back early from Oakland, as much as Starling wanted to stay in Oakland—I say that tongue-in-cheek […] It’s not if, it’s when. But everyone heals differently. Believe me, it’s driving him crazy. He wants to be back tomorrow.”
▪️ On the bullpen: “I like our bullpen. You know, it’s second or third in the league. We’re all chasing perfection. Pitching out of the bullpen is hard. Comparatively speaking, I’ll take our bullpen. We have a lot of options there. Some that may pop. You guys know, every year in the playoffs somebody emerges that you don’t expect necessarily because there’s not a strong track record of it to emerge. Just because someone hasn’t done it, doesn’t mean they can’t do it.”
🗓 UP NEXT: The Mets will play one more against the Marlins on Wednesday, with Taijuan Walker (12–5, 3.53 ERA) set to face off against southpaw Jesús Luzardo (3–7, 3.57). Luzardo only lasted 3.1 innings and gave up five earned runs in his last start against New York a few weeks ago.
Meanwhile, as the southeast braces for Hurricane Ian, it’s unclear how it will impact the series in Atlanta this weekend. As of Tuesday evening, shifting to a neutral site is not being “seriously considered,” according to Anthony DiComo. The options on the table reportedly include turning Friday’s game into a matinee and/or scheduling a split doubleheader on Sunday.
Showalter told reporters he is “sworn to double secret probation” about MLB’s plans.
“When they tell us play, we play... it's what we do,” Showalter said, via SNY. “They say we’re playing three on Thursday, line ‘em up. Let's go. It's just what we do. We play games. Advantages, disadvantages, you got nine innings to make it an advantage or a disadvantage.”
🔗 Mets, Braves in for fight to the finish in NL East, by Jon Heyman, NY Post: “The crowd was a bit sleepy. The Mets were even sleepier. The team from Queens still controls its own destiny, but if the Mets are going to continue to play like they did Tuesday night, they may as well make plans for the wild-card round, in which they’d likely face the Padres, who have recently awakened from their own slumber.”
🔗 Pete Alonso's power display shouldn't be overlooked, by David Lennon, Newsday: “Pete Alonso hits a lot of home runs, too. For those fixated lately on the Yankees’ guy chasing Roger Maris, it’s been somewhat overlooked that Alonso is hammering his way through the Mets’ own record book, albeit a franchise ledger without a legendary slugger like Ruth. Or Mantle. Or Gehrig. Or DiMaggio.”
🔗 The difficult postseason decision Mets face, by Anthony DiComo, MLB: “Assuming the Mets can line up their postseason rotation the way they desire, they’ll open the playoffs with Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer in some order, followed by Chris Bassitt. All three of those pitchers have earned the assignment on merit. After that, the Mets face a difficult decision; it’s tough to draw a line between third and fourth starters Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker.”
And we close this one out with Mr. Met…
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It's really jarring how disappointing this all seems. I know there is some sort of lesson to be learned here, but I'll be damned if I know what it is.
We have to win 3 of the next 4, no two ways about it. And probably 6 of 7. Buck Needs to make the right lineup choices NOW, and utilize his best relievers with a sense of urgency. Nido, not McCann. There are no good choices for DH and RF against LHP the next two games but let’s hope Buck strikes gold. Eppler’s acquisitions continue to fail- Nyquil and Vogel bagodonuts contributed nothing last night. Watch out for Luzardo-he’s inconsistent and often injured but when he’s on he’s lights out. Last start he struck out 11 Cubs in 6.2.