Postseason baseball is back in Queens, New York, folks. Citi Field will be rocking this weekend. After winning 101 games in one of the best seasons in franchise history, the Mets open up the 2022 playoffs with a best-of-three series against the San Diego Padres.
Starting Friday evening in primetime, this series brings together two teams who’ve struggled for much of this century but have experienced recent organizational revivals. In San Diego, the offense is led by perennial stars Manny Machado and Juan Soto, while Yu Darvish and former Cy Young winner Blake Snell head the rotation.
As for the Mets, they return to postseason play for the first time since 2016, when they lost in heartbreak fashion to the San Francisco Giants in the one-game Wild Card elimination game. Since making the World Series in 2015, the Mets have gone through wholesale changes. Only one player from that NL Pennant-winning ballclub is still on the roster — ace Jacob deGrom.
Here is everything to know about this weekend’s matchup between the Mets and Padres.
2022 Head-to-Head Results
The Padres won the season series 4-2. Despite San Diego controlling the regular season matchups, they’ll face a far different Mets club this time around.
Most notably, when the clubs faced off in June and July, Jacob deGrom had yet to return from the injured list. He’s slated to pitch either Game 2 or 3 (if necessary). The highlight for New York this year against the Padres was Eduardo Escobar hitting for the cycle on June 6th at Petco Park.
New York and San Diego have never matched up in the playoffs before despite both teams being members of the National League since 1962 and 1969, respectively.
Probable Pitchers
GAME 1: Max Scherzer (11-5, 2.29 ERA) vs. Yu Darvish (16-8, 3.10 ERA)
GAME 2: TBD vs. Blake Snell (8-10, 3.38 ERA)
GAME 3 (if necessary): TBD vs. TBD
Some notes about the starting pitchers in this series:
- This will be Max Scherzer’s first postseason start since pitching Game 2 of the NLCS for the Dodgers last season.
- Yu Darvish last pitched in the postseason for the Cubs against the Marlins in Game 2 of 2020’s Wild Card round. But other than that COVID-impacted season, Darvish last pitched in the playoffs as the losing pitcher for the Dodgers in Game 7 of the 2017 World Series.
- The Mets’ Game 2 starter is currently listed as TBD because Buck Showalter has stated that will depend on what happens in Game 1. If the Mets win Game 1, Chris Bassitt is likely to start Game 2, saving Jacob deGrom for a potential Game 3 elimination game, or even better, for Game 1 of the NLDS in Los Angeles. But if the Mets lose Game 1, then they’ll push Jake up a day to start Game 2 needing a win. If the Mets can win then, Chris Bassitt would get the ball in the decisive Game 3.
- Blake Snell has not pitched in the postseason since he was controversially pulled in Game 6 of the 2020 World Series after throwing just 73 pitches and allowing one run over 5 1/3 innings.
Odds of Advancing to NLDS
Baseball-Reference: Mets 58.4%, Padres 41.6%
FanGraphs: Mets 56.4%, Padres 43.6%
Prediction
The Mets win this series in three games.
New York opens the series with a dominant victory in Game 1, but Blake Snell makes a triumphant return to the postseason, winning Game 2 for San Diego. In the winner-take-all Game 3, Jacob deGrom shuts out San Diego and the bullpen holds things down, giving the Mets a narrow win to advance to the NLDS.
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