max scherzer mets
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The Mets’ successful West Coast road trip continued on Thursday night in San Francisco with a 9-4 victory. Before they took the field at Oracle Park, though, starting pitcher Max Scherzer made more news. Instead of fighting his 10-game suspension for using a foreign substance, he decided to immediately start serving it.

If he’s not guilty of doing what he said — as he’s maintained — then why would he accept it? Well, the veteran hurler had two very specific reasons as to why. It shows the type of competitor he is.

The first was how he felt the hearing would go. Here’s what he said about it to the media (via SNY):

I thought I was going [to] get in front of a neutral arbitrator, but I wasn’t. It was going to be through MLB. Given that process, I wasn’t going to come out on top.

The best thing for the Mets is to come to a settlement with MLB on what the fine should be and move forward with that. That’s the best thing for the Mets at this point and time.

Yea, I don’t blame him here. We all know how fair and just MLB is when it comes to looking out for the players’ best interests. Upon hearing this, it makes more sense as to why we heard earlier on Thursday that there was “zero chance” of Scherzer having any kind of success with his appeal.

If there was virtually no chance of either reversing or lessening his suspension, Scherzer looked at the Mets’ upcoming schedule and knew it was better to start serving it. And that’s exactly what he’s done. The suspension officially began on Thursday and he’ll be eligible to return on May 1st.

After New York’s final three games in San Francisco, they head home for a seven-game homestand. The first three are against the Washington Nationals, with the final four being against the Atlanta Braves. Scherzer will only miss a couple of starts. However, it puts a little extra strain on a Mets rotation that’s already a little shorthanded now that Carlos Carrasco is on the injured list.

Immediately accepting the suspension will give Scherzer an opportunity to come back and help his squad during their first head-to-head meeting against the Braves in 2023. That’s more important to him than potentially causing a distraction with his appeal and dragging out the process longer than he wants. This was the second reason he gave for not appealing.

Getting a little extra rest probably isn’t a bad thing, anyways. Scherzer was supposed to start last Sunday in Oakland. He instead started Wednesday because of lingering back soreness. If you’re the Mets, you want your ace in the rotation and taking the ball every fifth day. But, this is an opportunity for him to make sure he’s 100% once May 1st rolls around.

You can reach Matt Musico at [email protected]. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.

Matt Musico is an editor for ESNY. He’s been writing about baseball and the Mets for the past decade. His work has been featured on numberFire, MetsMerized Online, Bleacher Report, and Yahoo! Sports.