Senga and the Mets destabilize the West

If he didn’t bolster his Rookie of the Year case, Kodai Senga definitely boosted his Cy Young candidacy as his seven strong innings kept the Mets in a game they’d eventually win 2-1 against the Mariners.

With the postseason improbable, if not impossible, these final days of the season come down to rooting for individual players and tonight’s game was a perfect chance to do that. Along with Senga playing out his spectacular rookie season, Ronny Mauricio made his long awaited debut for the big league squad.

In his 25th major league start, Kodai Senga made the AL West leading Seattle Mariners look like the Oakland A’s, limiting them to one run, coming via a home run from J.P. Crawford, on five hits and one walk while striking out 12 Seattleites. On the other end Logan Gilbert went 6.2 innings, mostly stymieing the Mets outside of a Brandon Nimmo home run in the sixth inning.

In the offensive side of the world, Ronny Mauricio had the most talked about hit of the night, even if Daniel Vogelbach’s eighth inning RBI single was the one that won the game for the Mets. Prompting only the most rational and measured responses possible, Mauricio laced a 117.3 MPH double in his first career at bat before ultimately being stranded on the bases.

Phil Bickford and Drew Smith pitched a scoreless final two innings, for the time being tying the Mets and the Nationals for last place in the NL East while Seattle is temporarily knocked half a game out of first place in the AL West.

Luis Castillo and David Peterson face off tomorrow night, thankfully not on Apple TV+ or ESPN or Peacock, just good old fashioned SNY.

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Kodai Senga, +24.5% WPA
Big Mets loser: Pete Alonso, -16.5% WPA
Mets pitchers: - +49.8% WPA
Mets hitters: +.02% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Daniel Vogelbach’s go-ahead RBI single, +27.0% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: J.P. Crawford’s 4th inning home run, -13.4% WPA