Nothing is official yet when it comes to the Mets’ plans for the Opening Week rotation. It could certainly change between now and whenever manager Buck Showalter actually makes the announcement. However, Mike Puma of the New York Post shared a report of what he thinks the skipper will eventually say.
New York is set to begin their 2023 regular season on March 30th in Miami against the Marlins. They will play two road series before coming to Queens for the home opener on April 6th…also against the Marlins.
About a month ago, I made some guesses as to what Buck was potentially thinking regarding how to set up his rotation for Opening Week. My thought was he’d have Justin Verlander start on Opening Day, lining up Max Scherzer to take the ball for the home opener.
As it turns out, I had it backward:
Mets are planning to start Max Scherzer on Opening Day in Miami on March 30 and Justin Verlander in the home opener on April 6. Official announcement will be coming soon. Maybe today.
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) March 15, 2023
I had a 50-50 shot at getting it right, but I still got it wrong. Oh, well.
Since his final start in the Wild Card Round was so dreadful, my initial thought was Showalter would want to run Scherzer back out at Citi Field as soon as possible to get that bad taste out of his mouth. But if this is the decision New York officially goes with, it makes obvious sense.
Verlander is the reigning Cy Young Award winner, but Scherzer has the Mets seniority advantage. We can safely assume that reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, Sandy Alcantara, will be starting for the Marlins on March 30th. That’ll be a great matchup to jump right into the fire on Opening Day, right?
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
