Even a rough day at the plate couldn’t stop New York Mets third baseman Jeff McNeil from two major wins in “MLB The Show.”
New York Mets star Jeff McNeil is getting used to streaming as he grows more comfortable in the “MLB The Show” players league. He’s doing a much better job of addressing the chat and he’s even customized his stream setup. He moved the face cam and even set up a camera for his dog Willow at one point.
That hasn’t been enough to retain an audience, but it’s clear he’s growing into his role as a streamer. Friday night’s stream was the weakest for McNeil from a viewer count standpoint, he rarely topped 1,000 and was hovering around 750 viewers for most of the night.
That number will go up if he continues to play the way he has been and continues to grow as a streamer. He’s only one-third of the way through the “MLB The Show” players league. There’s still plenty of time to become the best streamer of the group.
Recap
McNeil and the Mets were scheduled to start their day against Eduardo Rodriguez and the Boston Red Sox. That game wasn’t played Friday night due to complications on Eduardo Rodriguez’s end so the two will have to make that up another time.
That had McNeil going in cold against the red hot Tommy Kahnle and the New York Yankees. Kahnle came into this game having won four games in a row.
This was a back-and-forth affair that saw McNeil make a crucial baserunning mistake that cost him a run. The game was forced into extra innings, and Kahnle took advantage. An Aaron Hicks‘ two-run home run gave him a 4-2 lead. Zack Britton would then shut down the Mets’ lineup.
A tough first loss for Jeff, but he was ready to bounce back. He played Carl Edwards Jr. and the Seattle Mariners in matchup No. 2. McNeil was dominant in this one putting together his best performance to date.
Jacob deGrom and Edwin Diaz combined to throw a no-hitter while McNeil put up three runs including Michael Conforto and Pete Alonso back-to-back solo shots.
With a little bit of confidence back, McNeil moved onto his final match of the day. He faced off against Niko Goodrum and the Detroit Tigers, and McNeil’s opponent came to play.
The two players combined for one hit in the first three innings. A downtrodden McNeil felt it was only inevitable that he’d lose due to his lack of offense, but that wasn’t the case.
After another strong pitching performance in the fourth inning, McNeil finally broke through. A double from Yoenis Cespedes followed by a walk-off single from Wilson Ramos sent all the Mets fans home happy.
McNeil and Mets walked away with a 2-1 record on day three, leaving him 8-3 on the season.
Standings
At 8-3, the Jeff McNeil-led New York Mets currently sit in sixth place in the “MLB The Show” players league. He’s just 0.5 games behind third place and only 1.5 games up from losing his playoff spot altogether.
The league is tight at the top with a three-way tie for third and multiple players tied for ninth. It’s going to be a battle for a playoff spot. The good news is that McNeil holds the tiebreaker over the guys currently sitting in seventh and eighth after beating both of them.
He’s in a comfortable spot for the playoffs, but one bad night could change that. On the flip side, one great night could push him one step closer to locking down a playoff spot.
Who’s Next
Jeff McNeil and the New York Mets are set to hit the virtual field again on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET. He is set to face off against Carlos Santana and the Cleveland Indians (1-9), Ian Happ and the Chicago Cubs (7-5), Hunter Pence and the San Francisco Giants (3-9), and Juan Soto and the Washington Nationals (1-6).
All of those games can be seen on McNeil’s twitch channel.
