A relentless win on Opening Day for the Mets
Plus, the Mets made a depth signing, and an update on contract talks for Freddy Peralta
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets defeated the Pirates 11-7 to improve to 42-23 on Opening Day which is by far the best in baseball (box)
RHP Freddy Peralta made his Mets debut and had some hiccups but still got the win. His final line was 5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 2 HR
RHP Tobias Myers also made his Mets debut in relief of Peralta and served as a solid longman. He pitched three innings and gave up one run on one hit which was a home run
RF Carson Benge hit a home run in his big league debut. He went 1-for-3, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB, 2 K, SB
CF Luis Robert Jr. also did well in his Mets debut. He went 2-for-4 with a run, two RBIs, a walk, and a strikeout
DH Brett Baty got the biggest hit of the day with a bases loaded triple in the first inning
Memorabilia from Tom Seaver’s illustrious career will be on display in Cooperstown for the first time during induction weekend
The Mets signed OF Tommy Pham to a minor league contract (ESPN)
The Mets and Peralta are far apart in their talks for a contract extension, but the Mets remain open to getting something done in-season (NY Post)
Injury Updates 🏥
OF Mike Tauchman (knee surgery) is expected to miss at least six weeks following surgery to repair a torn meniscus - he is on the minor league disabled list and not on the 40-man roster
What I’m Reading 📖
RHP Paul Skenes suffered the shortest outing of his career after the Mets knocked him out of the game in the first inning (NY Post)
The new additions to the team all made a strong impression in their debut with the Mets (The Athletic)
C Francisco Álvarez got the first successful strikeout with the new ABS challenge system (MLB.com)
Today’s Game 🗓
The Mets will enjoy an off day before resuming their series against Pittsburgh on Saturday.
About the Mets revamped and potentially relentless lineup ✍️
As we always seem to say about the Mets, over the course of their history, the Mets are almost unstoppable on Opening Day; it is just the rest of the season they need to figure out.
The Mets improved to 42-23 all-time on Opening Day on Thursday - their .646 winning percentage is the best in baseball history, even after losing the last two Opening Day contests before snapping that brief losing streak on Thursday afternoon. After getting down early against Paul Skenes and the Pirates, the Mets offense punched back with a five-run first inning that chased the Cy Young winner before the inning was over.
That first inning was hopefully a microcosm of what this offense will look like going forward this season.
Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto got it started with a walk and a hit. Bo Bichette then put the ball in play for a sacrifice fly after falling behind in the count 0-2. Next up, Jorge Polanco perfectly placed a ball on the infield for a hit to bring Luis Robert Jr. to the plate. The centerfielder was 1-2 in the count before working out a walk in a 10-pitch at-bat. That set it up for Brett Baty’s bases-clearing triple to give the Mets the lead. Of course, Oneil Cruz’s misplay on Baty’s triple and Marcus Semien’s double that followed certainly contributed to the win, but the team also helped themselves by putting the ball in play.
Working counts, staying in at-bats, and putting the ball in play are what got Skenes out of the game for the shortest outing of his career. Sure, bad defense behind him contributed to all of it, but the Mets’ ability to grind out at-bats and make contact against Skenes, the reigning Cy Young Award winner in the National League with a lifetime 1.96 ERA, will hopefully serve as the general theme and brand of offense they’ve built heading into this season.
“Our lineup is really special,” Brett Baty said after the game. “We put together a lot of scrappy at-bats.”
David Stearns seemed to specifically target low-strikeout players in the offseason in his quest to tear down and rebuild the team’s offense during the off-season. His Brewers teams were built in a similar way, which helped turn them into the perennial contender they’ve become and the nightmare for the Mets specifically in the Wild Card series in 2024. Now the Mets have the opportunity to issue that same relentless attack against opposing pitchers, and that was on full display during their 11-run rout of the Pirates on Opening Day.
Even in at-bats that don’t end in a hit can be viewed as a success.
Carlos Mendoza made mention of Bichette’s 13-pitch at-bat that ended in a strikeout in the middle of the game. Immediately following his at-bat, Polanco walked on four pitches to force in a run with the bases loaded. Bichette’s lengthy at-bat wore down the pitcher, which set his teammate up for success.
And lets not forget Luis Robert Jr., who reached base three times in his Mets debut, made a great catch in center and in his first plate appearance with the club, drew a ten-pitch walk in the first inning.
A thought experiment after watching this team is, does last year’s lineup win this game after getting down 2-0 against Skenes? It is certainly hard to say yes since that team struggled to come back in games after they got down. In this game, whenever the Pirates attempted a comeback, the 2026 Mets responded. The Pirates scored two in the first, the Mets scored five. The Pirates scored one in the third, the Mets scored one in the fourth. The Pirates scored one again in the fifth, and the Mets responded with three in the bottom of the inning. Then again, the following inning, when Pittsburgh scored, the Mets scored two.
Obviously, it is still way too early to draw any conclusions from one game, but for one game, this team looked like a complete team and a completely different offense than that of the 2025 team, which was still good but different and hardly resilient - their 0-70 record when trailing after eight innings last year demonstrated a lack of overall resiliency despite its overall potency. The starting pitching was good enough, and for Freddy Peralta specifically, he will be a lot better than what he showed on Thursday. Tobias Myers filled in as an admirable long man, Carson Benge had a memorable debut which included his first big league homer, and both the new and old Mets contributed to the victory.
It’s a long season, and despite all the pomp and circumstance, Opening Day is still only one game, but what a perfect, hopeful game it was.
Around the League 🚩
The Cubs and 2B Nico Noerner reportedly agreed to a six-year contract extension (ESPN)
Tigers rookie Kevin McGonigle went 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored in his Major League debut
Brewers RHP Jacob Misiorowski and the Milwaukee bullpen combined to strike out 20 opposing batters which tied a major league record (ESPN)
Phillies 3B Alec Bohm is suing his parents for allegedly mishandling his finances (ESPN)
Hard to say what encourages me more: Robert or Alvarez or Benge, there was a whole lot to like. Btw, despite being a baseball traditionalist otherwise, I detest the obsolete definition of what constitutes an error such that Semien's "double" doesn't get scored as an error. At least with Baty's "triple" you could argue it would have taken a good play to haul it in.
It’s encouraging that the lineup in game 1 executed Stearns’ vision exactly. It was also nice to see Benge pull a ball with power. The kid has a real shot to be special 🤞