Sunday is the finale of a three-game set between the New York Mets and the Miami Marlins from Marlins Park. In what you would expect to be a complete dumpster fire between these two teams, they have actually put on some really fun games to watch this season. Special performances from Pablo Lopez and Sandy Alcantara come to mind from their series in the middle of May.
Unfortunately, however, these teams are playing for literally nothing because they are never going to make the playoffs, or even be in contention (yes, you can take that as a bet). At 34-55, the Marlins are 19.5 games out of the National League East, and 12 games out of the Wild Card. The Mets are 40-51, 14.5 out of the division and seven out of the Wild Card.
Probable Pitchers
While we may not be watching this game for playoff implications, we will be watching what will be a fun pitching matchup. For the Mets, Jacob deGrom will take the hill for his 19th start of the season. It has been yet another prime season of deGrom’s gone to waste because of the Mets’ incompetence. He’s only 3-7 on the season despite a 3.27 ERA and 3.14 FIP, and he has a higher K/9 than ever before.
Eight of deGrom’s last nine starts have been quality (six innings and three or less earned runs), yet somehow he has only notched one win. If you extend that window two more starts, to his last 10, he has that one victory despite a sparkling 3.29 ERA. Whatever the Mets are doing isn’t working, and the Wilpons along with BVW and Mickey Callaway need to be fired into the sun.
For the Marlins, we get to see rookie Sandy Alcantara take on the Mets once again. His last time pitching against the Mets, everyone saw a glimpse of what this youngster can do. In that May start, he pitched a complete-game shutout with only two hits and eight strikeouts. Since that start, he has only allowed three or more earned runs in one start, yet only has two wins over those eight starts (very deGrom-esque).
He currently has a 4-8 record in 17 starts so far and has an ERA of 3.82. It’s not very often you see a pitcher with a 4-8 record make an All-Star team, but the Marlins needed a player to represent them, and Caleb Smith likely wasn’t ready to go yet from his injury.
Batter To Watch
One of the men who stole the show over the All-Star Week festivities, Peter Alonso. On one of the worst teams in the league, Alonso is absolutely running away with the Rookie Of The Year Award. He has a .277 average, 30 (!!) home runs and 68 runs batted in, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the Mets’ runs (RBIs and runs scored).
The Pick
Who knows. Both teams suck. We’ll go with the Mets here and hope they can give deGrom some (any?) kind of run support. Take New York.
