Friday, October 7, 2022 • 8:07 P.M.
Citi Field • Flushing, NY
RHP Yu Darvish (2022 – 16-8, 3.10) vs. RHP Max Scherzer (2022 – 11-5, 2.29)
ESPN • WCBS 880 AM • ESPN 1050
The Mets return to the playoffs tonight for the first time since 2016! This season has brought us Edwin Díaz’s trumpets, Jeff McNeil’s batting title, Francisco Lindor’s leadership, improbable comeback wins and so much more. Will the 2022 Mets become eternal? The journey starts tonight!
Major League Baseball debuts its new Wild Card system on Friday, with four games happening, starting at noon and going all the way to primetime. You already know they had to save the best game for the 8 p.m. time slot.
The 101-win New York Mets will start their postseason run against the San Diego Padres and Yu Darvish. A team and a starting pitcher that gave the Mets some trouble during the regular season. It’s fitting that this team, “These Mets,” will have to go directly through their challenges during a postseason run.
The Mets signed Max Scherzer for moments like this. Max Scherzer, a veteran of postseason magic and pressure will start the first game of the best-of-three series. Over 23 starts and 145 1/3 innings this season, Scherzer has a 2.29 ERA, 2.62 FIP, 0.908 WHIP and a 169 ERA+. He’s coming off of a rough start in Atlanta where he allowed four runs from nine hits over 5 2/3 innings. Before that start, he had a four-start stretch where he allowed three runs from 11 hits over 24 innings while striking out 32 batters.
Game 1 lineup: Profar LF, Soto RF, Machado 3B, Bell DH, Cronenworth 2B, Myers 1B, Kim SS, Grisham CF, Nola C
— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) October 7, 2022
Scherzer made one start against the Padres this season, holding the Padres to two runs from five hits over six innings while striking out eight batters. The Padres have the following career numbers against him:
The Mets bats face off against Yu Darvish tonight. Over 30 starts and 194 2/3 innings, Darvish has a 3.10 ERA, 3.31 FIP, 0.950 WHIP and a 121 ERA+. Like Scherzer, Darvish also looked human in his last start allowing three runs from eight hits over six innings against the White Sox. In his three starts before that, he allowed two runs from eight hits in 20 innings.
Who’s ready for playoff baseball? #LGM pic.twitter.com/7oSDqoaZEu
— Metsmerized Online (@Metsmerized) October 7, 2022
Darvish has been tremendous against the Mets this season. On June 7th he held the Mets to two hits and nothing else over seven innings. Then on July 22nd, in Queens, he held the Mets to four hits and one run over seven innings. Both games the Padres won. The Mets have the following numbers against Darvish:
Mets outfielder Starling Marte is on the Wild Card roster after missing a large chunk of time with a fractured middle finger. He is joined by Mets’ top prospect Francisco Álvarez, the youngest player in team history to make a postseason roster.
The Mets own a 30-17 record at home in Postseason Play. The team’s .638 winning percentage at home is the highest in the majors. The Mets are 8-10 in the first game of a Postseason Series.
Max Scherzer has made 17 career starts against the Padres. He is 6-3 with a 2.88 ERA (35 earned runs/109.1 innings) with 25 walks and 150 strikeouts. He made one start against San Diego this season, taking the loss on July 22 at Citi Field and allowing two earned runs on five hits with a walk, and eight strikeouts in six innings of work.
Make sure to check out our Series Preview.
Make sure to also check out our position breakdown between the Mets and Padres.
Let’s Go Mets!
The post Wild Card Game 1 Thread: Padres vs Mets, 8:07 PM first appeared on Metsmerized Online.
