Mets Morning News: Time to beat the bad teams

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The Mets took the series finale against the Dodgers yesterday at Citi Field, giving them a win in both the three-game series and the season series against the only team in the National League with a record better than their own. And from here on out, the Mets have the easiest schedule in baseball in terms of their opponents’ combined winning percentage.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, Faith and Fear in Flushing, New York Daily News, New York Post, Newsday

Like Clayton Kershaw yesterday, Carlos Carrasco will return from the injured list on Sunday without making any rehab appearances first. His absence has been far shorter than Kershaw’s was, though, and he gets to face the Nationals in his return.

In other potential return news, Tylor Megill made a relief appearance for Binghamton last night and struck out all three of the batters he faced as he prepares for a return to the Mets in a relief role.

And speaking of injuries, Francisco Álvarez has a loose body in his ankle and does not require surgery at this time. There had been fears that the top catching prospect in baseball would miss the rest of the season.

In very important news, if you’re attending the game at Citi Field tonight, Taijuan Walker will be handing out free tacos from 5:30 to 6:30 in partnership with The New York Foundling organization.

Rosters expanded yesterday, and the Mets called up an unexciting pair of players in Deven Marrero and Adonis Medina. Anthony DiComo asked Billy Eppler about the team choosing not to call up Mark Vientos.

Newsday has you covered if you were wondering about the things that are on Buck Showalter’s mind.

If you’re feeling joyous about the Mets’ win over the Dodgers, you are under no obligation to click on the next two links. Joel Sherman is here to rain on your parade by telling you that it’s meaningless because the Dodgers have dropped series to lesser teams this season, too. David Lennon struck a similar tone in trying to downplay the series. You know things are going well for the Mets when writers are trying to discredit the their wins against the best teams rather than their wins against the worst teams.

Among other baseball notes, Jon Heyman writes that Max Scherzer thinks bad mechanics are playing a role in baseball injuries. He also wrote about the free agent market.

Andrew Tredinnick wrote about five things we learned from the Mets’ series with the Dodgers.

Around the National League East

Spencer Strider went eight scoreless as the Braves beat the Rockies last night.

The Phillies and Marlins were off, but the last-place Nationals beat their fellow cellar-dwelling A’s.

Around Major League Baseball

The Orioles had a busy day, as they called up Jesús Aguilar and beat the Guardians, the latter of which has them 1.5 games behind the Blue Jays for the final Wild Card spot in the American League. FanGraphs looked at why Baltimore’s playoff odds remain so low.

Also in the American League playoff race: The Mariners beat the Tigers with ease.

The Brewers continue to struggle, as were shut out last night by the Diamondbacks and are three games back of the last Wild Card spot in the National League and 6.5 games back of the division-leading Cardinals.

If you’re a college student, you can get a free MLB.tv account that covers the rest of the regular season and runs through the winter. The playoffs are notably not available on the service domestically.

Carlos Martinez, who was a free agent, has been suspended 85 games for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

David Capobianco about the Mets doing things right and embracing fun, while I made note of the team’s very good mix of live music and baseball. And we dropped Episode 139 of APOTO.

This Date in Mets History

The Mets have started catching up in the number retirement department, but on this date in 1965, the team retired #37 for original manager Casey Stengel.