The Mets head to Seattle fresh off of a series win in Colorado. Winning three of their last four games, the Mets pushed their way back into a wild card spot Thursday, knocking out the Braves who got routed by the Brewers. Overall, there are seven teams separated by seven games in the wild card race. Every game is critical.
Things are a bit different on the American League wild card race where the teams that hold the spots are at least 12 games above .500. The Mariners are four games above .500 and four games out of the last wild card spot. If the Mariners are going to break into the race they need to beat the Mets. So we have a series where both teams need to win!
Jose Quintana has pitched 118 1/3 innings with a 3.95 ERA, 4.91 FIP, 1.268 WHIP and a 100 ERA+. Quintana didn’t look as sharp in his last start, allowing three runs from three hits and four walks over five innings, in a game the Mets eventually lost 3-2 because the offense couldn’t get anything going. Before this start, Quintana allowed two runs over 11 innings while striking out 11 batters. The Mariners have the following numbers against Quintana:
- Randy Arozarena 1-3, 2B, 2 BB, K
- Luis Castillo 4-11, 2 K
- Mitch Garver 0-1, BB, K
- Mitch Haniger 1-3, HR
- Dylan Moore 0-2, K
- Jorge Polanco 5-12, HR, BB, K
- Cal Raleigh 0-1
- Victor Robles 1-6, 2 K
- Josh Rojas 0-1, BB
- Justin Turner 6-20, 2B, 5 BB, 3 K
Bryce Miller has tossed 126 2/3 innings over 22 starts with a 3.62 ERA, 3.79 FIP, 1.050 WHIP and a 104 ERA+. Miller oscillates between being dominant and human on the mound. In his two starts around the All-Star break he allowed no runs over 13 innings, scattering eight hits and no walks. In his two starts since then he’s allowed seven runs from 13 hits and a walk over 10 2/3 innings. This is a microcosm of his whole season. The only hitters in the Mets lineup that seen Miller before are Harrison Bader (2-for-4) and J.D. Martinez (0-for-2, K).
Three Things To Watch For:
- Jesse Winker. The Mets got Jesse Winker to help the team against right-handed pitching. Before Wednesday’s game he had gone 3-for-15 over his first six Mets games hitting .200/.250/.200, which is not great. On Wednesday though Winker went 3-for-5 recording his first RBI as a Met. He’s still looking for his first extra-base hit as a Met. Was Wednesday the start of something for Winker?
- Francisco Alvarez. From July 2nd to August 2nd Alvarez recorded only 13 hits, slashing .186/.250/.257. In his last four games Alvarez has gone 6-for-13 slashing .462/.462/.615. He has two multi-hit games in his last three games. The strikeouts are still high over this stretch (five over his last four games), but it looks like things are starting to click again for Alvarez.
- Victor Robles. When the Nationals released Robles earlier this season, he was hitting .120/.281/.120 (22 OPS+) over 14 games. He then signed with the Mariners and has become a completely different hitter, going .320/.383/.474 (151 OPS+) over 39 games. The closest OPS+ he’s ever had in his career was in 2018 when he was only 21-years old (127 OPS+). This tear has pushed his season OPS+ to 123, and marks only the third time in his career where his OPS+ is above 100. This is all to say, he’s not the Victor Robles we remember.
Let’s Go Mets!
