In a high-powered division, the time is now to start stacking wins for the Mets

After a rare Sunday off, New York aims to right the ship after their offense got off to an ice cold start to the season

What’s up with the Mets? ⚾

• The Mets had an incredibly rare Sunday off yesterday, and will begin a three game series with the Marlins tonight in Miami

---

---

Injury Updates 🏥

• RHP Paul Blackburn (Knee) will resume throwing today (NY Daily News)

• 2B Jeff McNeil (Oblique Strain) has begun swinging a bat in the early stages of his comeback from the spring training injury (NY Post)

---

Who’s Cold 🥶

• Francisco Lindor is 0-for-11 with three strikeouts to start the season

• Brandon Nimmo is 2-for-11 with a walk and three strikeouts to start the season

• Pete Alonso is 1-for-9 with three walks and two strikeouts to start the season

• Mark Vientos is 1-for-11 with a strikeout, double and an RBI to start the season

• The Mets are 2-for-21 with four walks and five strikeouts with runners in scoring position over their first three games of the season

---

Today’s Game 🗓️

Match-up: Mets (1-2) at Marlins (3-1)

Where: loanDepot Park • Miami, FL

Starters: LHP David Peterson (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Cal Quantrill (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

When: 6:40 PM ET

Where to Watch: SNY

---

The Mets need to start stacking some wins…..tonight… ✍️

Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Mets fans have become accustomed to overreacting to negativity, so it would have been easy to fall into that trip after a generally underwhelming weekend in Houston.

But at the end of the day, there also was a ton of good that came out of the Amazins’ visit to Space City.

After Clay Holmes was inconsistent on opening day, the Mets got a pair of strong starts from Tylor Megill and Griffin Canning. And the club’s bullpen was dominant, firing 9.2 innings of scoreless ball while allowing only eight baserunners and striking out nine.

The pitching is what kept all three games with the Astros tight, and it’s hard to complain that the Mets got outplayed when they were outscored just 5-4 over three days.

Sure, it’s obviously irritating that aside from Juan Soto and Luis Torres, there has not been much in the way of offense, but we all know this team is too talented to have that continue for very long.

That said, I do think there’s a degree of urgency for the Mets to kick it into gear as early as tonight.

We all know—or assume—that the NL East is going to be a six-month battle between the Mets, Phillies, and Braves. There’s also a general consensus that the Nationals have assembled their best team since beginning their most recent rebuild and have the ability to stay competitive into the summer.

The last team in the East? The Marlins, who are expected to be one of the worst teams in baseball.

It’s fitting that after the opening weekend, Miami and its 3-1 record currently sit in first place. That’s baseball. You never know.

However, when the Mets and their high-powered star-studded roster take the field tonight, I think it needs to be clear from pitch one that they are the superior team. Too often the Marlins have been like an annoying mosquito sucking the life out of the Mets even in years where they are otherwise not good.

Six of the Mets’ next nine games are against Miami, and while I’m not trying to be dramatic, in a division that could come down to the wire, the East could ultimately be determined by how the three favorites fare against the Marlins.

The Mets get their first crack at that right now.

Get it done.

---

Around the League 🚩

• Josh Bell and Nathaniel Lowe both homered against Aaron Nola in the Nationals 5-1 win over the Phillies

• Aaron Judge homered again—already his 4th of the season—as the Yankees completed a first series sweep over Milwaukee

• The Marlins walked off the Pirates yet again, taking three out of four in the opening series with all three wins coming in the walk-off variety