Mets Morning News: Mets prepare to get Wild

Meet the Mets

The regular season is over, but the Mets live on. Wednesday night’s showdown with the Giants at Citi Field is a popular ticket in NYC. In fact, it’s the most popular Wild Card game of all time according to ticket sellers.

The Mets are likely to start a lefty at first base on Wednesday night, which means either James Loney or Lucas Duda will get the call.

Rene Rivera will be getting the start at catcher with Syndergaard on the mound.

Wilmer Flores, Matt Harvey, Neil Walker, David Wright, Steven Matz, and Jacob deGrom are all expected to be at Citi Field on Wednesday to cheer on the team.

The Mets are long-shots to make the World Series according to the betting odds. The good news is that the 2016 Mets laugh in the face of odds.

The Yankees’ Chase Headley, who has a .917 OPS when facing Bumgarner, offered the Mets some advice on how to hit him.

Al Leiter spoke to the Daily News about the last time the Mets played a one-game playoff, in 1999.

Two people with connections to the Mets are among the ten finalists for Cooperstown under the “Today’s Game Era” ballot this year: former manager Davey Johnson, and pitcher Orel Hershiser, who spent the 1999 season with the team.

Around the Wild Card

The Giants are unsure whether Eduardo Nunez will be able to return for the Wild Card game. The Giants can’t use Gordon Beckham, who was acquired from the Braves after September 1.

Around the NL East

Trea Turner earned his second-straight Rookie of the Month nod for the Nationals, who will take on the Dodgers in the NLDS.

The Marlins fired Barry Bonds, Lenny Harris, and Reid Cornelius from their coaching staff.

The Phillies fired hitting coach Steve Henderson.

The Braves don’t know why Ted Turner skipped the farewell game at his eponymous Turner Field.

The Braves will interview Ron Washington and Bud Black about their managerial position, though many think interim manager Brian Snikter may have done enough by going 50-50 over the final 100 games after taking over for Fredi Gonzalez to earn the job.

Around MLB

The Diamondbacks cleaned house, firing manager Chip Hale, GM Dave Stewart, and removing Tony La Russa from his position as Chief Baseball Officer. La Russa is apparently deciding about whether to remain with the organization in some other capacity, and has not been outright fired.

Walt Weiss will not be back as the manager of the Colorado Rockies.

Chris Tillman and Marcus Stroman will face off in the AL Wild Card game.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred took the unusual step of saying that David Ortiz’s positive steroid test in 2003 might have been a false positive, though he admitted to not knowing any specific information about Ortiz’s test.

The White Sox promoted bench coach Rick Renteria to manager to replace Robin Ventura.

Yesterday at AA

Max Gelman examined Curtis Granderson’s late season hot streak.

Chris McShane had new Player Performance Meters for pitchers and hitters.

Matt Varvaro delivered another Monday Morning Mets Mind Boggler.

This Date in Mets History

Omar Minaya was fired on this date in 2010.