Let’s say we’re beginning the first full week of the Major League Baseball season (hey — we can dream, can’t we?). That would mean your Fightin’ Phils would find themselves in Queens, NY visiting the Mets for the first of three games at Citi Field.
The Mets, with 86 wins, finished five games ahead of the Phillies (81-81) in 2019. New York made a nine-game improvement from 2018 (77-85) while the Phillies won just one more game — in part leading to manager Gabe Kapler’s dismissal.
BUT ... the Phils took 12 of 19 in the season series last year against New York.
The Mets' rotation is fairly strong (Jacob deGrom, Marcus Stroman, Rick Porcello) and that’s with Noah Syndergaard out for the season after Tommy John surgery last week.
They’ve got a pretty strong bullpen with Robert GSELLman (fun to say) in middle relief and Edwin Diaz closing.
How is New York’s 1 through 8?
Pretty good. They’re young and have the young All-Stars, Jeff McNeil and reigning NL Rookie of the Year Pete Alonso, at the top and middle of the order. Robinson Cano and Yoenis Cespedes are big keys — Cano was irrelevant in 2019 and Cespedes was hurt. In all, there are five current or former All-Stars in the lineup for the Mets this season.
MLB
The Mets would be in the midst of a season-opening five-game homestand. The Phillies were supposed to be in Miami and New York before coming back to Philly for Thursday's home opener against the Brewers. Oh well.
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