Tylor Megill looks to build on his first start of the season at Thursday’s home opener

Tylor Megill will be the answer to a trivia question for the rest of baseball history as the Mets’ Opening Day starter in 2022. He is about to add to his trivia bona fides with the home opener start against the Marlins to Thursday. While the fans in attendance would rather the originally scheduled starter, Justin Verlander, to start the season, a teres major injury took away that plan.

However, if we look at Megill’s start on Saturday, there may be some optimism for Big Drip’s 2023 Citi Field debut.

While five innings, two earned runs, seven strikeouts, and two walks is a perfectly cromulent start from the seventh starter on your depth chart, Megill did a couple of things on Saturday that bode well for future performances. His slider and curveball both outperformed their historical average of vertical movement, and with his four-seam fastball averaging 94.5 miles per hour, Megill seemed to find a happy medium between the overthrowing that got him hurt in 2022 and his softer approach that was met with less success.

Aside from the four-seamer he left over the plate to Nick Fortes that he smashed into the left-field seats, Megill was able to limit his hard contact, even if it was often times his defense that bailed him out in that regard.

Will Megill’s performance electrify the crowd at Citi the way that Verlander’s might have? Probably not. However, the home opener is fun regardless of who is pitching. Megill has shown that he can stand toe to toe with the 2023 Marlins, and the additional adrenaline boost of the home opener might do wonders for him. Hey, it’s not his first opening day start.

Tickets for the home opener are still available via StubHub. And hey, the weather is looking better than it did a few days ago!

Purchase Opening Day Tickets

MLB is finally back, and you can make sure you secure seats to see your favorite team in action through StubHub

• StubHub