The Fish migrate north for one last meeting with the Mets

The Mets welcome the Marlins to Citi Field as the Fish are currently looking in on the playoff picture from one game out. With six games left in the regular season, the Marlins can’t afford any unnecessary losses, and with a history of being spoiled by the Marlins at the end of a season, the Mets are probably trying to hand the Marlins as many loses as they can.

Although the Marlins have won six of their last ten, they only managed to split the series with the Mets last week, and happen to be facing two of the Mets’ more successful starters as of late (and Tylor Megill). While there’s nothing but individual achievements to play for on the Mets side, it always feels good to end a season on a high note.

Tuesday, September 26: Joey Lucchesi vs. Braxton Garrett, 7:10 PM EDT on SNY

Lucchesi (2023): 40.2 IP, 29 K, 15 BB, 4 HR, 2.88 ERA, 4.37 FIP, 1.279 WHIP, 1.0 bWAR

Joey Lucchesi isn’t the second coming of Walter Johnson, but since his call up for a spot start in August, he’s been good for the Mets. Quite good, even. He’s limiting runs (just two earned over 16.1 innings), giving the Mets more length than he historically has, and has made folks like me wonder why he hasn’t been given more chances this season.

Garrett (2023): 155.2 IP, 154 K, 27 BB, 18 HR, 3.53 ERA, 3.52 FIP, 1.143 WHIP, 3.9 bWAR

Unfortunately for the Mets, Braxton Garrett hasn’t been quite good for the Marlins: he’s been great. This year, he’s really put it all together, limiting his walks considerably while staying near his career strikeout rate. His ERA and FIP are nearly identical, so there’s not much luck helping his results.

Over his last four starts, he’s given up just two earned runs while striking out 21.2 innings, including a six inning performance against the Mets last week.

Wednesday, September 27: Kodai Senga vs. TBD, 7:10 PM EDT on SNY

Senga (2023): 161.1 IP, 194 K, 74 BB, 15 HR, 2.96 ERA, 3.53 FIP, 1.221 WHIP, 4.4 bWAR

This will be the last start of the season for Kodai Senga, and he has a chance to cap off a fantastic year with a milestone: if he can strike out six, he’ll finish the season with 200 Ks. Senga’s ERA is second best in the National League behind Blake Snell who, unfortunately for Senga’s Cy Young chances, has twenty more innings under his belt and a 2.25 ERA. He’s also considered a finalist for the National League Rookie of the Year.

However, whether he ends the year with some hardware or not, that doesn’t diminish what Senga has done in his first season in MLB. He’s been a bright spot in what has been, at times, a very cloudy year.

TBD

Eury Perez was scheduled to start, but recently hit the IL. The Marlins haven’t named his replacement yet.

Thursday, September 28: Tylor Megill vs. Johnny Cueto, 7:10 PM EDT on SNY

Megill (2023): 119 IP, 98 K, 56 BB, 18 HR, 4.92 ERA, 5.14 FIP, 1.622 WHIP, 0.2 bWAR

Megill has, for the second time in three years, played a bigger role in the Mets’ plans than anticipated on Opening Day. This will be Megill’s 25th start of the season, which was not the plan when he was sixth or seventh on the team’s depth chart pre-season depth chart. He’s been exactly what you’d expect: a perfectly cromulent sixth starter who got exposed by the amount of innings he’s tossed.

Cueto (2023): 48 IP, 35 K, 14 BB, 15 HR, 6.19 ERA, 6.93 FIP, 1.271 WHIP, -0.3 bWAR

Since his return to the big league club in mid-July, Cueto has looked like a shell of his former glory. Sure, there have been a few quality starts, but overall, Cueto looks like a guy trying to hang on to a game that he loves. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

However, with the Marlins trying to win a playoff spot, maybe Cueto shouldn’t be starting games down the stretch.

Prediction: The Mets get to contribute to the spoiling of the Marlins’ season and take two of three.