Baseball is officially back and the New York Mets (0-0) are set to begin a 2023 season filled with a ton of expectations for them. The Mets spent a lot of money in the offseason to maintain the competitive level of a roster that won 101 games a year ago but fell short down the stretch before getting eliminated in the Wild Card Series by the San Diego Padres. The long road back to the postseason begins today, on Opening Day, as the Mets kick off the season with a seven-game road trip. The first four of those games will be against the Mets’ NL East rivals, the Miami Marlins (0-0), with first pitch for the opener scheduled for 4:10 p.m. at loanDepot Park.
The 2022 season was a challenging one for the Marlins, who finished the season at 69-93, good for fourth place in the National League East as Miami finished 32 games back of the first-place Atlanta Braves. The Marlins had plenty of pitching, including National League Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara, but their offense let them down. The game plan to address that offense this offseason involved adding plenty of second baseman, such as signing Jean Segura in free agency and acquiring American League batting champion Luis Arraez from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for starter Pablo Lopez. The Marlins will shift a few players around defensively, including a move to center field for Jazz Chisholm, so this will be an interesting experiment for them.
Right-hander Max Scherzer (11-5, 2.29 ERA in 2022) will take the ball for the Mets today. This will be an important season for Scherzer, who can opt-out after the season to test free agency again and is looking to bounce back from the worst playoff start of his career last October. The Marlins will counter with the aforementioned Alcantara (14-9, 2.28 ERA), who will look to win back-to-back Cy Young Awards as one of baseball’s last true work horses.
Local Coverage:
Television: SNY
Radio: WCBS
New York Mets Lineup:
Our #OpeningDay lineup! #LGM
🆚 Miami
💪 @Max_Scherzer
📺 @SNYtv, @MLBNetwork
📻 @wcbs880 pic.twitter.com/gHepDpC4i8— New York Mets (@Mets) March 30, 2023
Pre-Game Notes:
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The Mets went 13-6 against the Marlins in 2022, including a 7-2 record at loanDepot Park.
The Mets are 40-21 all-time on Opening Day, the best winning percentage for any franchise in baseball history on Opening Day.
Scherzer is 15-5 with a 2.94 ERA in 26 career starts against the Marlins.
Alcantara is 3-5 with a 2.97 ERA in 14 career starts against the Mets.
The Mets have placed starting pitcher Justin Verlander on the injured list with a low-grade teres major strain. A corresponding move has not been announced as of post time.
Jon Berti (3 for 9), Avisail Garcia (4 for 13, 3B, 2 HR, 6 RBI), Yuli Gurriel (3 for 6, 2B, HR, 3 RBI), Segura (13 for 36, HR, RBI) and Joey Wendle (3 for 9) have done well against Scherzer in the past.
Mark Canha (3 for 8, 2B, HR, RBI), Luis Guillorme (5 for 15, RBI), Francisco Lindor (7 for 23, 2 2B, HR, 6 RBI), Starling Marte (4 for 13, 2 3B, HR, 3 RBI) and Daniel Vogelbach (4 for 9, 3 2B, HR, RBI) have good numbers against Alcantara.
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