The job description was simple for Jacob deGrom — extend his Mets career by extending the Mets season.
And he began as if chasing land speed records and perfection. He retired the first six Padres in order over the first two innings with fastballs that edged toward 102 mph and sliders near 94 mph. So for two innings, he was Jacob deGrom. Unhittable and generally unfathomable — a two-pitch cyborg.
The thing, though, is he is not currently Jacob deGrom. At least not in full. He could not hold the same stuff or dominance. But he had said late in the evening after a Game 1 Mets loss that he cherished these moments and all that comes with it. “That’s what we love doing, competing, and going out there in big situations,” he offered.
He put action to those words. DeGrom did not sustain mastery. But he never lost his fight. He never lost control of this game. When deGrom needed to find big outs, he did. After disappointment last weekend in Atlanta to lose hold of the NL East and Friday night to fall behind in this wild-card series, the Mets’ stars finally came out. DeGrom was part of the galaxy.
He held the Padres to two runs in six innings — dogged over dominant. DeGrom handed a lead to Edwin Diaz. In the seventh inning. And the closer authored five key outs Saturday and by the time he was removed the Mets had blown the game open en route to a 7-3 triumph.
This tied this series at one game apiece. The teams will play a decisive game Sunday night. If it all worked out perfectly for the Mets, both clubs would fly to Southern California in the wee hours Monday morning — the Padres in tears home to San Diego; the Mets still with a whiff of victorious champagne on them to Los Angeles to take on the MLB-best Dodgers in the Division Series.
Jacob deGrom displayed grit despite not having his absolute-best stuff in the Mets’ 7-3 season-saving win over the Padres, The Post’s Joel Sherman writes.N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg
But the Mets have work to do to complete the two-game winning streak necessary to launch into the next round. However, Job 1 was a one-game, season-saving winning streak Saturday night.
They produced this because Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso — empty at-bats last weekend in Atlanta and Friday night in Game 1 — both homered and both reached base three times. Brandon Nimmo had one terrific at-bat after another, slashing three opposite-field singles — one delivering a run in the fourth — plus a walk. Buck Showalter, who lost a decisive playoff game in 1995 by removing Mariano Rivera quickly as Yankee manager and another in 2016 as Orioles manager by never inserting Zack Britton, did not hesitate to get his best reliever (Diaz) into the game in the seventh inning.
And on the front end of the Mets’ first postseason win since World Series Game 3 in 2015, it was deGrom. He came out blistering, no sure thing when there was such concern about the blister on his right middle finger that abbreviated his previous start against the Braves. Beyond that, he had gone 0-4 with a 6.00 ERA in his last four regular-season starts, including allowing three solo homers in six innings to get the Mets off poorly in their pivotal series at Truist Park.
DeGrom had come off the injured list on Aug. 2. In the time since, the Mets were just 10-11 when deGrom and Max Scherzer started. The Mets had dreamed of getting to the biggest games and unleashing deGrom and Scherzer as the most formidable 1-2 starting punch in the game. But that malfunctioned in Atlanta and only worsened when Scherzer was strafed for four homers and seven runs in 4 ²/₃ innings as San Diego won the opener 7-1.
The Mets turned to deGrom, their 2022 season on life support. DeGrom announced himself with triple-digit authority. He threw 12 pitches in a 1-2-3 first inning, 10 were fastballs and seven of those were greater than 100 mph, including 101.6 mph to strike out Juan Soto and 100.9 for the first of three strikeouts against Manny Machado.
Jacob deGrom walks to the dugout after getting out of the sixth inning during the Mets’ victory.N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg
But Trent Grisham’s third-inning homer tied the score at 1-1 and a fifth-inning Jurickson Profar single tied it 2-2. Soto followed Profar with a single to put runners on the corners with one out. The tying run was 90 feet away. Degrom had essentially flip-flopped his pitching profile by this point. His fastball was no longer the early-game lethal weapon. This appears to be the endurance price for missing so much pitching time the last two years.
So, deGrom relied to a greater extent on his slider and preserved his fastball for particular spots. It helped him strike out Machado and Josh Bell to retain the 2-2 tie in the fifth and, after Alonso homered to give the Mets the lead in the bottom of the inning, deGrom went 1-2-3 in a nine-pitch sixth in which he threw just three fastballs — none reaching triple digits.
But his job was done at any speed. There is still no guarantee he will make another start this season. DeGrom said he is opting out after the 2022 campaign. He did, though, help guarantee the Mets another game — a decisive one Sunday — and a chance to get to the Dodgers. That would bring more starts for Scherzer and deGrom.
DeGrom might not be fully deGrom at present. But on Saturday night, he was fully up for a season-saving fight.
Brandon Nimmo batted leadoff and played center field Friday night, where he has been all season for the Mets.
Nimmo soaked in the energy of the wild-card round at Citi Field, where he has played since making his major league debut in 2016.
A Mets cap was atop his head, where one has resided since Nimmo was made the No. 13 overall pick in the 2011 draft.
As the playoffs kicked off, so did a countdown for the impending free agents such as Nimmo. He said he had not yet begun to process the fact that as soon as Saturday, he could be wearing a Mets hat for the final time.
“I haven’t really thought about the finality of the end yet,” Nimmo said before the Mets lost to the Padres, 7-1, in Game 1. “I guess that gives even more reason to try and not make these [games] the last ones.
“I’d like to win the last one — that would be good to be the last team standing.”
Brandon Mimmo will be a free agent after the season. Robert Sabo for the NY POST
For the Mets to come back and eventually win the World Series, they likely would need major contributions from the likes of Nimmo, who has elevated his free-agency value by proving himself in various facets of his game.
Entering the season, the biggest question about the 29-year-old was whether he could stay healthy, since he had played 100 or more games just once in his career, in 2018. Nimmo played in 151 games this season.
A big question about Nimmo was whether he could be more than just an average center fielder. The only National League center fielders who graded better this season, by Outs Above Average, were San Diego’s Trent Grisham, Arizona’s Daulton Varsho and Atlanta’s Michael Harris II.
Nimmo already had proven he could hit lefty pitchers, a prior weakness in his game. Through years of his development as a Met, he has ironed out flaws and will be hitting the open market fresh off a season with an .800 OPS.
“I’ve had great memories here this year,” said Nimmo, who tripled as part of a 1-for-4 playoff debut. “And however it works out, I’ll think fondly of this place.”
Nimmo has told The Post’s Mike Puma that the Mets reached out during the All-Star break to tell him they are interested in a long-term pact, but negotiations won’t start until the offseason.
Brandon NimmoCorey Sipkin for the NY POST
Until then, he could raise his value a bit more by proving himself in the postseason.
As a rookie in 2016, Nimmo was left off the Mets’ playoff roster. Friday was his first taste of true October baseball, and he knew immediately something was different: A typical 20- or 25-minute ride to Citi Field took an hour and 15 minutes.
It was the postseason debuts for longtime teammates Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil as well. Nimmo was the first to arrive, but the homegrown trio has been together in the majors since 2018.
“Pete and Jeff, amazing players, All-Stars, batting champion, Home Run [Derby champion], there’s all these accolades to go along with them,” Nimmo said. “I’ve enjoyed being with them for this process. It’s been a long time coming. We’ve had a lot of hard work to get to the point.”
After a historic season, the 2022 MLB Playoffs have finally arrived! Since the sports streaming world is constantly evolving, Decider’s here to make sure you don’t miss a minute of the action. The 2022 MLB postseason will air across a variety of networks, with ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC hosting the Wild Card games, TBS, FOX, and FS1 airing the ALDS, ALCS, NLDS, and NLCS, and FOX broadcasting the World Series.
Eight teams will collide in the Wild Card round, before four squads advance to play the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Houston Astros. Which two clubs will advance to the Fall Classic? Time will tell. Here’s how to watch the 2022 MLB Playoffs live online.
MLB PLAYOFFS 2022 CHANNEL INFO:
The 2022 MLB Wild Card Series will air on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2, while the ALDS and ALCS will be broadcast on TBS. FOX and FS1 will air the NLDS, NLCS, and World Series.
MLB PLAYOFFS 2022 SCHEDULE:
Friday, October 7:
Rays @ Guardians: 12:05 p.m. ET on ESPN
Phillies @ Cardinals: 2:07 p.m. ET (ABC)
Mariners @ Blue Jays: 4:07 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Padres @ Mets: 8:07 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Saturday, October 8:
Rays @ Guardians: 12:07 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
Mariners @ Blue Jays: 4:07 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Padres @ Mets: 7:37 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Phillies @ Cardinals: 8:37 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
Sunday, October 9:
Mariners @ Blue Jays: 2:07 p.m. ET on ABC (if necessary)
Rays @ Guardians: 4:07 p.m. ET on ESPN (if necessary)
Padres @ Mets: 7:37 p.m. ET on ESPN (if necessary)
Phillies @ Cardinals: 8:37 p.m. ET on ESPN2 (if necessary)
Unfortunately, you can only stream the playoffs on MLB.TV in the United States with an active subscription to the service and a cable login. If you’re a subscriber, you can listen to the playoffs through MLB Audio. Live games are not available outside of the United States.
Unless he acquired ESP from his days working at ESPN, Boone simply cannot be right on every personnel choice he faces for the playoffs. And the Yankees manager faces a remarkable number of questions about who plays where and when considering he is in charge of a 99-win division champ.
He will stick with his mantra that these are good problems to have because the choices involve talented players. Let’s see if he is still saying that in a week when every 20/20 hindsight champion with anger and a social media account is calling him a puppet of Brian Cashman’s analytics group or demanding his dismissal.
Short of the Yankees going 11-0 en route to their first championship since 2009, Boone should expect a hellish ride full of first- and second-guessing and perhaps players grumbling because they are not playing when they thought they would. Anthony Rizzo will play first base, and Aaron Judge will start, of course. But beyond that, there are going to be debates about how the Yankees roster is deployed. So let’s expand 3Up to take a look at Boone’s puzzle:
1. Who is closing?
Being able to pencil Aaron Judge’s name into the lineup every day is a good place for the Yankees to start in the playoffs.JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK PO
This also easily can be expressed as: Who is setting up? Or even: Who are the Yankees including in their bullpen?
Using the “wrong” reliever on May 10 tends to send Yankees fans into the kind of fury that should be reserved for surgical mistakes. So if Boone, say, brings in Lou Trivino in the sixth inning of a playoff game and the righty gives up the lead, he should expect questions about why he didn’t use Jonathan Loaisiga, Scott Effross or Goose Gossage — as well as questions about why he hasn’t yet handed in his resignation.
The problem is the Yankees don’t have someone like Gossage or Mariano Rivera to anchor the ninth and make this about the baton pass from starter to closer. Aroldis Chapman lost control, confidence and his job. Clay Holmes went from an All-Star to the Pitts (if you get it, tell a friend). Holmes and Wandy Peralta finished the season on the injured list, but the Yankees believe both will be active for Game 1 of the Division Series on Tuesday.
But play it out. If the Yankees are leading the Rays 4-3 in Game 1 and the starter (we will get to that subject in a few paragraphs) is finished after six innings, what is the path to the finish line? Is Boone really going to strategize how to get the ball in the ninth inning to Holmes, who hasn’t pitched since Sept. 26 and hasn’t been trustworthy since the first week in July?
The relievers throwing the best down the stretch were Effross, Loaisiga and Trivino. The Yankees believe in Peralta’s fortitude, but he hasn’t pitched in a game since Sept. 18. Will Domingo German and/or Clarke Schmidt be given responsibility?
And what of Chapman?
Can Aroldis Chapman, who recorded a 4.48 ERA and walked 6.9 batter per nine innings, be relied upon in the postseason?Charles Wenzelberg / New York Po
Two weeks ago, the Yankees were contemplating whether his roster spot would be better used in another way. But injuries to Zack Britton and Ron Marinaccio took them off the chessboard, at least for the first round. That assured Chapman would keep his roster spot through the regular season, and it might also now get him on the postseason roster.
And now a historical aside: In 1996, Graeme Lloyd had a 17.47 ERA for the Yankees during the regular season. Damaso Marte had a 9.45 mark in 2009. Neither was a certainty to make the postseason roster. But both did because they were lefties with stuff. And the Yankees might not win the championship either year without them; they were brilliant in the playoffs.
On the basis of his pure stuff, do the Yanks throw a dart and hope that Chapman has a Lloyd/Marte moment or three in the playoffs? It is hard to forget he has given up two of the most devastating homers in Yankees postseason history and just how erratic he was this year. He is going to be a tough choice either way.
My suspicion is Boone will use the Yankees bullpen much like Kevin Cash deployed the Rays relief group in getting to the World Series in 2020. Nick Anderson, Diego Castillo and Pete Fairbanks each appeared in postseason games as early as the fifth inning and also had saves. They were used interchangeably as the main high-leverage guys — with Aaron Loup and Ryan Thomson as the other relievers in Cash’s circle of trust.
I think Boone uses Holmes, Effross, Loaisiga, Peralta and Trivino interchangeably as his circle-of-trust relievers; German, Schmidt and Lucas Luetge are around for length and emergencies; and Chapman is a break-glass-if-needed wild card.
2. Who starts Game 1?
A few weeks back on “The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman” podcast, Boone said it would be Gerrit Cole. But he hedged late in the season. The question really should be: Who do you want starting a win-or-go-home Game 4 or Game 5 if it gets there? Because whoever starts Game 1 would have full rest for Game 4 and one extra day rest for Game 5.
Nestor Cortes may not get the traditional honor of starting Game 1 in the ALDS, but he may be given the responsibility of getting the Yankees out of a winner-take-all Game 5.Charles Wenzelberg / New York Po
So if the season were on the line, do the Yankees want Cole or Nestor Cortes starting? Or do they want Luis Severino, who looked so great with seven no-hit innings in his last start in Texas?
Jameson Taillon would be lined up to start a Game 4, if necessary, if the Yankees lead the series, 2-1. If the Yankees trail 2-1, I would suspect the Game 1 starter would go in Game 4. That would leave Taillon to start Game 5 with the Game 2 starter perhaps available for a few innings of relief.
I think the Yankees should start Cortes in the opener. I believe Boone will go with Cole.
3. Who plays second base?
DJ LeMahieu came back from his toe injury to produce four singles in 16 at-bats over five games with two walks, one strikeout, lots of groundballs and no signs of his best results. Meanwhile, in his final 17 games, Gleyber Torres hit .391 with 11 extra-base hits, including five homers. His defense at this moment also is better than LeMahieu’s.
Case closed, right?
Well, I do think Torres will start Game 1, but what I cannot shake is how much Boone admires LeMahieu. He knows that LeMahieu, when right, can hit top-end playoff pitching and will never be intimidated by a big spot. But is LeMahieu even close to right?
If he is, well, stick with me.
4. Who plays third base?
Josh Donaldson’s 27.1 percent strikeout rate this season doesn’t bode well for the postseason.Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
That will probably be Josh Donaldson, right? His defense has been strong all season, and maybe he will run into a pitch or two in the postseason. But Donaldson ended his season 0-for-15 with some shaky defense. In his last 14 games, he had two doubles, no homers, a .222 average and stuck out in 20 of 61 plate appearances.
Do the Yankees believe Donaldson will hit good postseason pitching? He spent a lot of 2022 guessing and overmatched.
Is LeMahieu an option to start at third? When fully healthy this year, LeMahieu played better defense at the position than was anticipated.
Again, which version of LeMahieu is available to the Yankees?
5. What’s the outfield?
This question might be made simple. If Andrew Benintendi (hamate)cannot make it back in time for the playoffs, the Yankees will line up with Oswaldo Cabrera in left field, Harrison Bader in center and Aaron Judge in right. But what if Benintendi is deemed ready? I’m still not sure he starts.
The Yankees have loved the extra defensive boost Bader has provided in center and the overall boost Cabrera has supplied. The Yankees won a championship in 1998 with rookies Ricky Ledee and Shane Spencer sharing left field. It has only been 44 games for Cabrera, but based on those 44 games, I would ask: Is Benintendi even an upgrade? Maybe. The rookie has not flinched yet and has shown a high baseball IQ. Will that continue into the playoffs?
In 14 games with the Yankees, Harrison Bader has provided the type of elite defense the team hopes will make a difference this month.Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
Here is one to think about: If Benintendi does come back, can the Yankees line up Benintendi in left, Judge in center and Cabrera in right with Bader available to come in late for defense? If he does come in late for defense, he goes to center, Judge to right and who would you play in left: Benintendi or Cabrera?
6. Who plays shortstop?
Isiah Kiner-Falefa, right? Yes. Definitely.
But if an important ground ball is hit to short late in a close playoff game, would you rather have Kiner-Falefa stationed there or Oswald Peraza? You might ask the same thing even about which of those two you would want taking a big late at-bat.
The major league sample size for Peraza is far smaller even than for Cabrera. But have you seen enough to at least ask whether he Peraza a better option than Kiner-Falefa?
7. Who is the catcher?
This has been so much easier the past few years when Gary Sanchez was just losing his job about this time of the season.
The Yankees have gotten so much all season in performance, especially on defense, and spiritually from Jose Trevino. But Kyle Higashioka hit .339 with three homers in September, and also is a strong defender.
Jose Trevino’s excellent defense makes him the likely first-choice catcher for the Yankees in the playoffs.Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
My guess is Trevino starts Game 1, but there could be starts for Higashioka as well. More importantly, the trust in Higashioka will lead to more aggressive pinch-hitting for Trevino.
8. Who is the DH?
Giancarlo Stanton. That’s who it is going to be. His postseason history alone (nine homers in 18 games) is going to give him the nod. And his homers in each of his last three regular-season starts suggest maybe he is just about to get hot.
But there sure were a lot of long stretches of bad at-bats this year. Is Matt Carpenter really going to be back? He hasn’t played since Aug. 8. Who knows if he can recapture what he had before fracturing his left foot, when for 154 impressive plate appearances, he was the Yankees’ toughest at-bat not named Judge. He hit lefties and righties. He hit good pitching. He hit in the clutch. He hit with two strikes.
If he is back and capable, he becomes the No. 1 pinch-hitting option for someone such as Trevino — and maybe even for Donaldson and Bader in certain spots.
9. Who is on the roster?
The roster goes back to 26 for the postseason. There can be no more than 13 pitchers.
My guess is 12 pitchers: Cole, Cortes, Severino, Taillon, Holmes, Effross, Loaisiga, Peralta, Trivino, German, Schmidt and Chapman.
With two off days, I think there is no need for more, though remember in the playoffs there is no automatic runner to second base in extra innings. A game will have a chance of going much longer.
Though only 23, Oswaldo Cabrera has displayed a veteran savvy no matter where the Yankees play him in the field.JASON SZENES
Chapman is the only lefty reliever. Could they also take Lucas Luetge rather than a long guy such as German or Schmidt? Would they take Luetge instead of Chapman? Is Miguel Castro in play?
They could always take 13. But that would hinder some offensive maneuverability.
The worry on Chapman is this: If he goes in Game 1 and can’t find the strike zone and has to be yanked quickly, effectively removing him as an option the rest of the way, the Yankees would be down to 11 pitchers. For that reason, do they take Castro? My gut is still Chapman.
That leaves 14 slots for position players. I think there are 11 locks: Trevino, Higashioka, Rizzo, Torres, Kiner-Falefa, LeMahieu, Donaldson, Stanton, Judge, Bader and Cabrera.
That would leave two spots from among Peraza, Marwin Gonzalez, Aaron Hicks and Tim Locastro. Though he surprisingly lasted the whole season, Gonzalez becomes an easy removal here. Cabrera offers Gonzalez’s switch-hitting and defensive versatility. Carpenter and LeMahieu can be the lefty and righty bats off the bench. Cabrera can be the backup shortstop. But maybe Peraza is the backup shortstop. If the Yankees believe Peraza offers a comparable base-stealing threat to Locastro, this would be an easy choice. I think that is hard to definitively believe so early in Peraza’s career.
Because of that, I think Peraza doesn’t make it, and they end up going with Hicks and Locastro.. But it will be a close call.
Max Scherzer’s routine lately has included watching a certain superhero on the screen with his young daughters.
“We love ‘Batman’ right now,” Scherzer said Thursday before a Mets workout at Citi Field. “So I feel like I am doing some good parenting.”
Gotham City’s fate is intriguing, but the Mets will ask the 38-year-old Scherzer to put aside Batman for a night and become the Bat-misser who was signed to a three-year contract worth $130 million in part because of his postseason pedigree.
The Mets will send Scherzer to the mound Friday for the franchise’s first playoff game since 2016. In this best-of-three wild-card format the room for error is greater than in previous one-and-done days, but still not enough that a loss can be easily dismissed.
Yu Darvish, who pitched to a 0.64 ERA in his two starts against the Mets this season, will be the mound opponent. Darvish owns a 2.56 ERA in eight career starts against the Mets.
Max ScherzerRobert Sabo
Manager Buck Showalter confirmed his plan is to align his rotation based on the Game 1 result. If the Mets win, that likely would mean deploying Chris Bassitt on Saturday and trying to sweep the series without using Jacob deGrom, who could then potentially pitch Game 1 and 5 of the NLDS against the Dodgers. But if the Mets were to lose Game 1 or 2 of this wild-card round, deGrom could pitch an elimination game.
“The tiebreaker will always be what is best for these three games,” Showalter said.
He added: “One of the reasons we have been able to put together a pretty good year is we have some depth in our rotation. It’s kind of been a strength of our club that they can put their egos aside and do what is best for the team.”
Scherzer has 26 career postseason appearances with the Tigers, Nationals and Dodgers, pitching to a 7-6 record with a 3.22 ERA and 1.104 WHIP over that stretch. Most notably he won three games in the 2019 postseason, which concluded with a World Series title for Washington.
The Mets will almost certainly need a better version of Scherzer than they received last Saturday in Atlanta, where he allowed four earned runs over 5 ²/₃ innings in part of a lost weekend for the club. After that start, Scherzer turned toward refining mechanics he said were amiss.
“I just needed to clean up little things in my delivery to be consistent, where I want to execute pitches,” Scherzer said. “I have made this fix before, many times. You just get out of whack throughout the season.
“It’s easy when you win a ballgame, you don’t critique yourself as hard. But when you lose a ballgame you look at everything. It’s how you take a loss in this league. You have got to be able to take a loss to be able to critique yourself and fix what you need to fix.”
Scherzer said the oblique soreness that forced him to miss two starts late in the season hasn’t been a factor. Overall, he went 11-5 with a 2.29 ERA and 173 strikeouts in 145 ¹/₃ innings during the regular season.
In his lone appearance against the Padres this season, he pitched six innings and allowed two earned runs on July 22 at Citi Field. Since then, the Padres have added Scherzer’s former Nationals teammate Juan Soto to a lineup that includes MVP candidate Manny Machado.
“We had a moment where we won together,” Scherzer said, referring to Soto. “But baseball does the craziest things: It makes you face each other. You have got to face your friends and go out and beat them.
“Everything is on the line. Win or go home. That is the attitude you have to have. You get to the postseason and every day feels like a must-win day and must-win game, whether it’s an elimination game or not.”
We’re going to divide the column in half today, dear reader, so be prepared. Up first:
The Glass Half Empty
Look, it is useless to sugarcoat the amount of damage the Mets did to themselves this weekend in Georgia. They fulfilled a legion of dark prophesies from a solid core of their fan base, who only know Atlanta as a torture chamber that has ruined too many baseball seasons to count.
Including, for the time being, this one.
For the Mets desperately craved the biggest perk afforded the winner of the NL East. Forget the bonus that the Braves will get to wait an extra round to face the Dodgers; if you’re going to win the NL pennant, the road is almost certainly going straight through Chavez Ravine at some point. No, the best benefit was this: rest.
The Mets look cooked. They seem exhausted. Their best players have played day after day, a necessity since Starling Marte’s bat was removed from the lineup a few weeks ago. They, as much as any team in baseball, could’ve used the five days off between Wednesday’s regular-season finale and the start of the NLDS Oct. 11.
Those batteries are relatively easy to recharge. The more complicated one involves the aspect that was supposed to be the Mets’ biggest weapon: the top of the rotation. Yes, Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt had a lost weekend at Truist Park, but they still represent the Mets’ best chance for October survival.
Buck Showalter reacts during the Mets’ loss to the Braves on Saturday. USA TODAY Sports
The problem is, now deGrom and Scherzer (and, if needed, Bassitt) will pitch in the best-of-three wild-card series with either the Padres or Phillies that’ll occupy next Friday/Saturday/Sunday. The NLDS with the Dodgers begins Tuesday, and there will be but one off day in that best-of-five. That means Scherzer and deGrom only go once apiece, when a bye would’ve allowed one — presumably deGrom — to throw Games 1 and 5.
(And let’s not even speculate on the fool’s-gold errand that could be in play Wednesday if, by some miracle, the Mets sweep their doubleheader vs. the Nats on Tuesday and the Braves lose again to the Marlins after a Monday shutout. deGrom has already said he’d be ready to pitch that day, and while that’s nice, the Mets would still be shifted to the wild card if the Braves win … and wouldn’t have deGrom at all for it.)
So, yeah. The Mets made themselves quite a mess. And now:
The Glass Half Full
Right now, the Mets look like a beaten, broken, dispirited team. They have surrendered all of the momentum and many of the good vibes assembled across the season’s first 156 games. It feels impossible they can muster anything resembling a resurrection at this point.
But I can tell you two things for sure:
Nobody was more beaten or broken than the 1999 Mets. After being nose-to-nose with the Braves in September they lost seven games in a row and headed into the final weekend needing all kinds of help just to make it to a one-game wild-card play-in game in Cincinnati.
“This was an amazing ride,” Bobby Valentine said before the season-ending series against the Pirates, even the rose-lensed manager slipping into the past tense. But they got the help. They beat the Reds. They knocked off a powerful 100-win Diamondbacks team (managed by Buck Showalter) in the NLDS and came within a couple of outs of reaching Game 7 of the NLCS. Nobody saw that coming.
And then there was 2015, a season we best remember for the way the Mets seized the NL East early in September and then ransacked the Dodgers and Cubs in the playoffs. But with six days to go in that season, the Mets had a two-game lead on LA for what was expected to be essential home-field advantage.
The Mets promptly dropped five in a row, the last coming via an almost beyond-belief no-hitter by a Nationals pitcher named Max Scherzer. They squandered home-field to the Dodgers, and that sure felt like a death knell for the Mets’ World Series hopes.
“We know we’re better than this,” David Wright said in the quiet of the post-no-hitter clubhouse at Citi Field, a curious thing to say about a team that had already clinched first place.
Given the chance to prove that, the Mets did, all the way to the World Series. Now none of this means — empty-glass alert! — that this is the destiny of the 2022 Mets. But you really never know. You know?
ATLANTA — There are many culprits in a Mets offense that went silent when it needed to be loud. Francisco Lindor went 2-for-13 with five strikeouts in the series. Mark Canha struggled to a 2-for-11 line. In James McCann’s lone start, he showed no life in an 0-for-3 Sunday night.
But no at-bats this weekend were followed closer than the first eight of the career of Francisco Alvarez, who was called up in the heat of a pennant race as the Mets’ potential 20-year-old savior.
The top prospect in baseball could not save them. He is still seeking his first hit after a 5-3 loss at Truist Park that finished a devastating, three-game sweep at the Braves’ hands.
When they called up the DH/catcher, manager Buck Showalter and general manager Billy Eppler said Alvarez would be advised against trying to play hero ball, attempting to announce himself with a 500-foot shot. In all eight of his at-bats, Alvarez swung at the first pitch.
Francisco Alvarez reacts during the Mets’ loss to the Braves. USA TODAY Sports
Showalter pointed out that many were strikes, but acknowledged Alvarez’s struggles.
“It’s part of a young player going through it,” Showalter said of Alvarez, who was called up as a righty DH on Friday, when Darin Ruf hit the injured list. “It’s tough because with [Starling] Marte and even [Brett] Baty out and some people, it kind of pushes him there.”
The Mets saw Alvarez, who had posted an .885 OPS in 112 games between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse, as the organization’s next logical righty bat. In his first chances, he showed his youth more than his potential.
On Sunday, Alvarez pinch hit for lefty-hitting Daniel Vogelbach in the fifth inning because the Braves had brought in lefty Dylan Lee. In what was probably his best at-bat, Alvarez fought back from an 0-2 count and worked the count full, but he swung through a slider on the eighth pitch he saw for his third career strikeout.
In the seventh inning, Alvarez, against righty Raisel Iglesias, jumped on a first-pitch sinker and grounded out.
“I saw a young kid that wanted to do something special for the team and himself,” Lindor said of Alvarez, whom the Mets declined to make available to the media after the game. “I’ve never played with him. That might be his approach. That might be the way he attacks pitchers.”
Francisco Alvarez grounds out in the fifth inning.USA TODAY Sports
All series, Alvarez was given a steady dose of off-speed and breaking pitches — seven of the eight he saw from Lee were sliders. He will have to earn his way to fastballs.
Tons of minor league standouts struggle upon their first taste of the majors. Few, though, are thrust into the spotlight and called up for the club’s three largest games of the season. The Mets could have given a longer look to Mark Vientos but were too intrigued by Alvarez’s promise. Vientos had two at-bats in the series, grounding out Friday and striking out in Sunday’s eighth inning.
The Mets scored a total of seven runs in the three losses, and the young slugger was not to blame for the sweep. But he was not the rare phenom who excels immediately, either.
“He’ll learn from it and get better,” Showalter said. “He’s going to be a good player.”
Matt Carpenter won’t make it back for the Yankees’ final series of the regular season, but he will use those three days to try to prepare to be an option for the ALDS.
Instead of joining the Yankees in Texas, the veteran left-handed hitter will head to Somerset, N.J., on Monday to get live at-bats at the club’s Double-A stadium that it has set up as an alternate site to keep players ready entering the postseason.
The Yankees on Sunday transferred Carpenter, who has been out since Aug. 9 with a broken left foot, to the 60-day injured list, officially ruling him out for the Rangers series. But he remains a candidate to be on the Yankees’ ALDS roster if he can prove he is healthy enough before then.
Matt Carpenter on the Yankees dugout steps in a boot on Sept. 5, 2022.Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
“The biggest thing is we just want him to start getting at-bats,” manager Aaron Boone said Sunday. “Between now and the start of the Division Series when we get back, he should be able to rack up a number of live at-bats.”
Boone said Carpenter would not get any outfield reps, at least not initially, while in Somerset.
The Yankees will have eight or nine minor league pitchers in Somerset who will be able to throw to Carpenter and then the rest of the Yankees during the layoff between the regular-season finale and the start of the ALDS.
The Yankees’ Matt Carpenter hits a double against the Royals on July 31, 2022.Corey Sipkin
Wandy Peralta (left thoracic spine tightness) will be one of those pitchers as the Yankees decided to send the rehabbing lefty reliever to the alternate site instead of returning from the IL in Texas. Peralta threw a second bullpen on Sunday and will face hitters on Tuesday or Wednesday.
“He’s doing well,” Boone said. “It was more like, do we want to get him in one game there or just have him live. You gotta kind of create a roster spot, which gets a little dicey. So in the end, we decided on he’s good to go live. He’ll get another one or two in prior to the Division Series.”
The Yankees expect to activate reliever Miguel Castro (shoulder strain) off the 60-day IL on Monday.
ST. LOUIS — Albert Pujols hit his 701st home run, Jack Flaherty allowed one run in six innings and the NL Central champion St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1 on Friday night.
Pujols mashed a slider from Johan Oveido 398 feet to left field in the fourth inning, his 22nd homer of the season.
“It was a good pitch to hit and I just put the best swing on the night on it,” Pujols said. “That was it. A 1-2 count, just not trying to do too much.”
The drive tied the game at 1-1. After a lengthy standing ovation, Pujols came out of the dugout and tipped his cap to the sellout crowd.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Pujols said. “I didn’t know it was going to be like this. It’s pretty good just to be embraced like this. I mean this is what I’ve been getting all year long but today was extra special. It was a great night overall.”
The 42-year-old Pujols is fourth on baseball’s home run list behind Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714). He has said this is his last season.
Pujols’ homer was his 55th against the Pirates, his third-most against any team, trailing Houston (70) and the Chicago Cubs (62).
Before the game, the slugger was recognized for hitting his 700th last week at Los Angeles. He was given a gold-plated, engraved bat by owner Bill DeWitt Jr., team president Bill DeWitt III and manager Oliver Marmol.
Albert Pujols belts his 701st homer, a solo shot, in the fourth inning of the Cardinals’ 2-1 over the Pirates.USA TODAY Sports
Oviedo (4-3) allowed two runs on six hits while striking out four. The Cardinals traded him and infielder Malcom Nunez to the Pirates on Aug. 1. The deal brought starter Jose Quintana and reliever Chris Stratton to St. Louis.
Flaherty (2-1) gave up four hits, struck out six and walked two in his fifth start since returning from a right shoulder injury that sidelined him most of the season.
“I’m just getting more into a groove the more times (I) get out there. We’re just continuing to execute pitches and it feels great,” Flaherty said.
Albert Pujols salutes the fans during a curtain call after he hit his 701st homer in the Cardinals’ win.USA TODAY Sports
The right-hander improved to 9-1 with a 2.60 ERA in 14 career starts against the Pirates.
He was happy to be the beneficiary of Pujols’ power.
“He’s done it in a lot of my starts. I feel like every time I go out there he’s going to hit one,” Flaherty said. “I get to see the ball come off the bat and hear everybody, so it’s fun when he does that.”
Nolan Arenado put the Cardinals in front in the fifth inning with a single that dropped just in front of right fielder Jack Suwinski to score Brendan Donovan.
Ji Hwan Bae drove in the Pirates’ only run with a bunt single past Flaherty to score Ben Gamel in the fourth.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton took a moment to appreciate Pujols’ accomplishments.
“I think we’re seeing one of the best hitters of our generation and he’s had an unbelievable second half,” Shelton said. “You cannot make mistakes to him right now. We made the one mistake to him and he hit it out of the ballpark. What he’s done over the course of his career and especially what he’s done over the second half is extremely special.”
Ryan Helsley pitched a scoreless ninth for his 19th save in 23 opportunities.
It has become increasingly difficult to imagine a 2023 baseball season with Aaron Judge playing for a team other than the Yankees. As he proved Wednesday night in Toronto, Judge is a sucker for tradition and for connections with titans of the past.
Of course, no franchise packages and sells that brand of tradition and those cross-generational bridges like the one that currently employs the incomparable No. 99.
“That’s one thing so special about the Yankees organization,” Judge said, “is all the guys that came before us and kind of paved the way and played the game the right way.”
Look at how Judge interacted with Roger Maris Jr. after the historic 8-3 victory, and listen to how he spoke of Roger Maris Sr. and the fulfilled quest “to be enshrined with him forever” after tying his American League single-season record with homer No. 61. The slugger and the Yankees are so much better together than they would be apart, and it seems inconceivable that Hal Steinbrenner, the steward of a $7 billion empire, wouldn’t pay whatever it took in free agency to keep the game’s best player in The Bronx.
But Judge didn’t grow up in Linden, Calif., dreaming of playing for the Yankees, the way the New Jersey-born and Michigan-raised Derek Jeter did. And if Tom Brady can leave the Patriots — once an unfathomable scenario — then any superstar can leave any team in any sport.
A smiling Aaron Judge is congratulated by Yankees teammates after he hit his 61st homer to tie Roger Maris’ AL record.N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg
So if the improbable does happen and Judge signs a long-term deal for north of $300 million with the Giants or another big-game hunter, he would have earned a free pass to that next phase of his career. He would have left behind a parting gift valuable enough to millions on the receiving end to ensure that his passage to the next club is absent any real fan-base animus.
The 2022 season is that gift. When factoring in the bigger, stronger, faster realities of the modern athlete, it can be argued that Judge played baseball at a higher level this year than any Yankee ever has. If you lined up Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle next to the big man, they’d all look like Phil Rizzuto. At 6-foot-7 and 282 pounds, Judge is Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points against the 1962 Knicks — night after night after night.
He has made a brutally difficult game look relatively easy. Nobody has ever won the Triple Crown by hitting more than 52 home runs, and now Judge has a chance to win it by hitting more than 62, while batting at least 70 points higher than the league average, .243, the lowest it’s been in more than 50 years.
Comparing eras is always a tough proposition, especially when measuring teams and players from before and after the game’s integration. Ruth and Gehrig regularly put up ridiculous numbers in their primes. The Babe is the only player to ever post a single-season WAR of more than 12.5, and he did it three times, including a 14.2; and the Iron Horse won the 1934 Triple Crown (.363, 49 HRs, 166 RBIs).
Aaron Judge watches his 61s homer leave the yard during the Yankees’ win over the Blue Jays.N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg
DiMaggio delivered his epic 56-game hitting streak in 1941, and Mantle won the Triple Crown 15 years later (.353, 52 HRs, 130 RBIs). The 30-year-old Judge might not match their feats over the long haul, but this franchise has always separated the men from the boys with one stat — the home run — and Judge has more of them in a year than any Yankee other than the late Roger Maris, who could lose his share of the record before the season ends.
Maris wasn’t nearly as dominant in 1961, when he finished the season 92 points behind batting champ Norm Cash and didn’t land in the top 10 in WAR. Maris showed a lion’s heart when toppling the Babe that year against the wishes of nearly everyone involved, but he wasn’t the 2022 Aaron Judge, who has 23 more homers than the next guy on the American League list (Mike Trout) and leads the sport in just about everything — WAR, OBP, OPS, runs, extra-base hits, total bases, you name it.
Everything to know about Aaron Judge and his chase for the home run record:
And soon, Judge will be paid accordingly. Before the season, the Yankees made him a contract offer (seven years, $213.5 million) best described as reasonable, but underwhelming. For a guy who insists he wasn’t betting on himself, Judge took a helluva bet on himself, and ran the table for the better part of six months.
It was a staggering performance at a time when seemingly half the league is batting .229, so you almost felt as if you were defacing Judge’s work of art when bringing up his pending free agency. But given that the situation isn’t going away until the slugger calls his shot, this much needs to be said:
World Series title or no World Series title, Judge has given Yankees fans a magical ride and eternal memories. That shouldn’t be forgotten if he makes a different kind of history this offseason — the contractual kind — and decides to go swing his heavy lumber for someone else.
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