Game Preview: Mets @ Nationals

The Mets and Nationals had the night off yesterday thanks to the rain and thanks to San Diego – the Mets are, somehow, mathematically still in it. To stay in the race, they need to win both games today and the Giants need to lose out, not great odds. Basically impossible. But the Mets will start with Jacob deGrom in a 7 inning game to set things off.

So rather than Porcello vs Scherzer, we will get deGrom vs Scherzer, a much better pitching match up to watch. Jacob will be making his 12th and final start of the season where he tossed 63.0 innings with a 2.14 ERA, 1.99 FIP (league leading), 0.921 WHIP and a 197 ERA+. He is also leading the league in K/9 at 13.4. If he records 6 strikeouts, he will reach 100 on the season this afternoon. After a hamstring shortened outing, he bounced back his last time out against the Rays with a 7.0 inning outing where he allowed 2 runs and the Mets somehow lost. He tied his season high with 14 K’s in that game. This will be his first game in 2020 against the Nationals, and the Nationals have the following numbers against him:

Brock Holt 2-6, HR, 3 K
Yan Gomes 1-2, K
Victor Robles 3-10, 2 2B, 2 BB, 4 K
Juan Soto 3-13, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 3 K
Andrew Stevenson 1-4, 2B, BB
Trea Turner 11-38, 2B, BB, 13 K
Josh Harrison 3-12, 5 K

The Mets bats draw Max Scherzer’s last start of the season. He has pitched 61.1 innings over 11 starts with a 3.67 ERA, 3.18 FIP, 1.386 WHIP, and 125 ERA+. After a terrible start on 9/13 where he allowed 6 runs over 5.1 innings he rebounded in his last start allowing 2 runs, both unearned, in 5.2 innings against the Marlins. In a fun, meaningless stat – he’s tossed 119 pitches in back to back games. He had two starts against the Mets in 2020. He left after the first inning in one start and then the next time he allowed 1 run over 6.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Max: