The regular season is over and the playoffs are set to begin for the New York Mets (101-61). Fresh off their second-most successful regular season in franchise history, the Mets have to take the long route through the playoffs after losing the National League East to the Atlanta Braves on a tiebreaker. That route begins with this weekend’s Wild Card series against the San Diego Padres (89-73) as the first team to win two games will advance to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series. First pitch for Game 1 is scheduled for 8:07 p.m. at Citi Field.
Right-hander Max Scherzer (11-5, 2.29 ERA) is set to take the ball for the Mets in Game 1. Scherzer finished the regular season on a down note, giving up four runs in 5.2 innings against the Braves last Saturday to suffer his fifth loss of the year. The Padres will counter with righty Yu Darvish (9-5, 3.50 ERA). Darvish pitched well in his final regular-season start, giving up three runs in six innings against the Chicago White Sox last Friday, but he was stuck with his fifth loss of the year due to a lack of run support from his teammates.
Local Coverage:
Television: ESPN
Radio: WCBS
New York Mets Lineup:
Let’s get wild. #TheseMets
🆚: San Diego
💪: @Max_Scherzer
📍: @CitiField
🕕: 8:07 p.m.
📺: ESPN
📻: @wcbs880
🔗: https://t.co/VoqAFFhvCF pic.twitter.com/aXtWHf51kT— New York Mets (@Mets) October 7, 2022
Pre-Game Notes:
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The Padres went 4-2 against the Mets during the regular season and won two out of three against them at Citi Field in late July.
This is the Mets’ first playoff appearance since 2016 when they lost to the San Francisco Giants in the Wild Card game at Citi Field.
This is San Diego’s first playoff appearance since 2020 when they won a Wild Card series against the St. Louis Cardinals before getting swept by the Dodgers in the NLDS.
The Mets and Padres have never met in the postseason before and this is just the second time they have qualified for the playoffs in the same year.
Scherzer faced the Padres in New York on July 22, giving up two runs in six innings of work to suffer his second loss of the season.
Darvish was 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA in two starts against the Mets this season.
The Mets have activated OF Starling Marte (finger) from the 10-day injured list to include him on the postseason roster for this round.
Marte is in the Mets’ starting lineup for the first time since September 6. He will bat sixth and play right field.
Josh Bell (5 for 12, 3 2B, HR, 4 RBI), Juan Soto (1 for 3, HR, RBI) and Wil Myers (7 for 25, 2 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 4 RBI) have good numbers against Scherzer.
Francisco Lindor (5 for 16, 2B, 4 RBI), Marte (7 for 17, 2B, HR, 3 RBI), James McCann (4 for 10, 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI) and Daniel Vogelbach (2 for 3, 2 RBI) have done well against Darvish.
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