There’s no juicier way for the Phillies to start October than a matchup with the Mets originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Get ready for a Phillies-Mets NLDS.
The Mets staged a dramatic ninth-inning comeback in their do-or-die Game 3 of the wild-card round on Thursday night, beating the Brewers 4-2 on a three-run homer by Pete Alonso in what otherwise could have been his finale . at bat with the team.
They’ve been on the road for nearly two weeks, played five games in the last four days and have just 24 hours off before facing the Phillies in Game 1 at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday at 4:08 p.m.
The first pitch of the NLDS is thrown by Zack Wheeler. It appeared the Mets would use left-hander David Peterson, whose 2.41 ERA in his last 11 starts helped propel his team to the playoffs, but he was needed in ninth-inning relief Thursday. It could end up being Tylor Megill, Luis Severino on short rest or a bullpen game for the Mets. Peterson may still have a role to play himself, though the case isn’t as open and shut right now. Severino, Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana started the wildcard round.
The Mets are a solid team: power, plate selection, the ability to string hits together and come back late in games. They did it all week, all month and all second half. It’s a deep lineup with Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Alonso, Mark Vientos, Jose Iglesias, Jesse Winker, Starling Marte, JD Martinez. They don’t have the top pitching that the Phillies possess, nor is their bullpen as deep or talented after Edwin Diaz, but they won’t be a pushover.
The Mets were eight games under .500 when the Phillies faced them in London in the second week of June. Owner Steve Cohen raised questions that weekend about Carlos Mendoza’s managerial ability, the trade deadline and whether a rebuild was necessary. They were 28-36 leaving London and went 61-37 the rest of the way.
One of the ways the Phils match up well with the Mets is with right-handed speed. Other than Nimmo and Winker, every Mets threat comes from the right side, and the switch-hitting Lindor has been better against lefties. The Phillies can combat that with Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Jeff Hoffman, Carlos Estevez, Orion Kerkering and left-hander Matt Strahm.
Wheeler had the right hand of the second-lowest OPS (.434) of any pitcher in the past 50 years this season, behind only top-ranked Max Scherzer. Righties hit .133 vs. Strahm, .173 vs. Hoffman, .186 vs. Estevez and .209 vs. Dungeon.
Nola has faced the Mets twice this season, pitching a four-hit shutout in May and allowing six runs without reaching the fifth inning in September. He will start Game 2 or Game 3, with Cristopher Sanchez throwing the other.
The role the Mets now find themselves in is reminiscent of the Phillies of 2022 – below .500 in June, a second-half surge littered with late comebacks, a multi-week road trip to end the regular season and on the play -offs to start. They’ve spent most of the last month working out at-bats and reacting when their opponent has scored.
They’re a dangerous team, like any team you face this time of year. The Phillies won the season series 7-6 and dropped three of their last four. In retrospect, splitting that late-September series at Citi Field would certainly have made the Mets’ playoff journey more difficult and perhaps even prevented it altogether.
Instead, the Phillies will face a division rival in the NLDS for the third straight postseason. The last two times they were the underdog against a Braves team with over 100 wins that was considered the best in baseball. This time they are the prey.
There’s no juicier way to start the month that a fan base has been waiting a year for.
