A few days ago the Mets fell apart in devastating fashion in Arizona, allowing a grand slam in the 8th inning. The Mets fell to four games out of the last wild card spot and things felt bleak. Since then the Mets have won four games in a row and have gained three games in the race. Entering play today they are only one game out of the last wild card spot. With 25 games left to the play this season, this month is going to be a wild ride.
Luis Severino looks to help the Mets make it five wins in a row tonight when he takes the mound. Over 152 1/3 innings he has a 3.96 ERA, 4.32 FIP, 1.260 WHIP and a 100 ERA+. He’s coming off of a tough start against the Diamondbacks where he allowed four runs over 4 2/3 innings. Before that he allowed only one run over 14 innings, including a nine inning shutout against the Marlins on August 17th. The Red Sox have the following career numbers against Severino:
- Triston Casas 1-2, 2B, BB, K
- Rafael Devers 3-19, 2B, 2 BB, 7 K
- Jarren Duran 1-2, BB
- Romy Gonzalez 0-2, K
- Danny Jansen 1-3, 2B, BB, K
- Rob Refsnyder 1-2, K
Brayan Bello has pitched 137 innings this season over 25 starts with a 4.66 ERA, 4.38 FIP, 1.372 WHIP and a 93 ERA+. He’s coming off of a tremendous start where he held the Blue Jays to no runs and two hits over eight eight innings. He has a 2.49 ERA, 3.37 FIP over his four starts, and that includes a start where he allowed five runs over 5 1/3. Only a few Mets have seen Bello in a major league game before:
- Harrison Bader 1-5, 2 K
- Tyrone Taylor 1-2, 3B
- Jesse Winker 1-5
Three Things To Watch For:
- fWAR Leaders. This series will feature the #4 and #5 ranked players in the majors for fWAR. Jarren Duran is fourth in the league with a 6.9 fWAR hitting .295/.353/.529 this season with a 141 OPS+. He currently leads the American League in PA’s (624), AB’s (567), doubles (44) and triples (13). Francisco Lindor is right behind him at 6.8 fWAR, leading the National League in games played (137), PA’s (625) and AB’s (561). Both of these teams rely on their fWAR leaders for dependability and pushing the team forward.
- The Red Sox need this series too. Entering play today the Red Sox are the bubble team in the American League, 4.5 games out of the last wild card spot. They just lost two games in a row to the Tigers, who are 0.5 games behind them. The Red Sox need a solid series to catch the Royals who are currently sinking in the American League wild card race, losing five games in a row. The last time the Mets faced a fringe wild card team in the American League, the Seattle Mariners, the Mariners swept the Mets.
- The Mets struck out a lot on Sunday. Hopefully coming home overnight and ending another wild August road trip helped the Mets recover. They struck out an astounding 16 times on Sunday and still outhit the White Sox 7-2. Lindor and Alonso each struck out three times and Crochet started the game with seven straight strikeouts. In the end, the Mets proved it didn’t mattered and literally powered through thanks to Francisco Lindor.
Let’s Go Mets!
