Its going to be up to the Mets big pitching prospects now

Also - the Mets look to extend their lead in the Wild Card race against one of the teams chasing them in Cincinnati tonight

BMCollins via Flickr

What’s up with the Mets? ⚾️

• The Mets were off on Thursday - they’re in Cincinnati to open a three-game series with the Reds tonight

• New York is calling up RHP Brandon Sproat to make his major league debut against Cincinnati on Sunday (Story)

• Both RHP Jonah Tong and RHP Nolan McLean have elite stuff and they are a testament to the team’s pitching lab and how they are able to develop talent (MLB.com)

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Roster Moves 📰

• Claimed RHP Wander Suero off waivers from the Braves

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Injury Updates 🏥

• RHP Reed Garrett (elbow inflammation) struck out two in his rehab assignment with Binghamton

• The Mets are activating C Francisco Álvarez (right thumb UCL sprain, pinky fracture) off of the IL ahead of their series against the Reds on Friday (NY Post)

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Just Mets Podcast 🎙️

In a special bonus to Just Mets this week, Rich MacLeod was joined by former Met RHP Trevor May to talk about the pressure of playing in New York, what's going on with the Mets pitching staff & a full breakdown of Ryan Helsley's pitch tipping problem.

Listen now and subscribe!

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Playoff Race 🏁

The Phillies were the only ones in action and defeated the Brewers to extend their lead over the Mets in the division to six games.

Heading into the weekend series with the Reds, it is the Giants who are actually closer to the Mets for the final Wild Card as they sit four games out while the Reds are five games out. The Mets magic number over the Giants is 18 (they own the tiebreaker) and 18 over the Reds:

Per Fangraphs, the Mets now have a 95.1% chance of qualifying for the playoffs.

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Down on the Farm 🌾

• OF A.J. Ewing (No. 7 prospect, Double-A): 2-for-4, R, RBI, K

• SS Antonio Jimenez (No. 18 prospect, Single-A): 1-for-3, RBI, R, BB, K

• R.J. Gordon was named Eastern League (AA) pitcher of the month for August

BOX SCORES

Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR (PPD)

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Today’s Game 🗓️

Match-up: Mets (75-65) at Reds (70-70)

Where: Great American Ball Park — Cincinnati, OH

Starters: LHP David Peterson (8-5, 3.61 ERA) vs. LHP Andrew Abbott (8-5, 2.65 ERA)

When: 6:40 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

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It’s all up to Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat, and Jonah Tong now ✍️

With RHP Brandon Sproat reportedly making his major league debut this weekend, he joins a rotation that includes two other youngsters leaving their mark on the team. Both RHP Jonah Tong and RHP Nolan McLean have performed well at the big league level, which is not easy to do as a rookie, let alone during the home stretch of a playoff chase.

The two youngsters have brought stability to a rotation that had been suffering from veterans both not getting deep into games and flat out underperforming. Tong has only pitched in one game so far, so more needs to be seen from him before thinking ahead to any possible playoff rotation, but he unquestionably brings promise and hopefully some order to a rotation that has been among one of the worst in baseball since the middle of June. McLean, on the other hand, has firmly put himself in the conversation and after only four starts, is clearly the club’s best and most reliable pitcher right now. He has been masterful so far while baffling opposing teams’ commentators with how nasty his stuff is, specifically the spin on his breaking balls which are all swing-and-miss.

Sproat has performed as well as the others in the minors this year, but he has been much better in the second half of the season. In July, he went 2-0 with a 0.67 ERA and had 33 strikeouts in 27.0 IP. In August, he had a couple of hiccups and went 2-1 with a 4.85 ERA, but he was still striking out batters at a good clip - in 26.0 IP, he struck out 31 batters and allowing only 26 hits.

Given the success the other two enjoyed in their debuts, it is unfair to place such high expectations on Sproat, especially since he has had more of an up-and-down season at Triple-A than the others, but honestly, how much worse can he be than what they have here with Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea and most recently, David Peterson?

At least Sproat along with McLean and Tong give the Mets hope, right? The others are just floundering and just killing this team almost every time they pitch right now.

It’s funny - if Senga and Manaea specifically were simply 70 percent of what they had been in the past, none of the three top pitching prospects might be here right now.

Unfortunately, the Mets hand has been forced, and they’re going to have to rely on all three to course-correct this rotation and get them into the playoffs and beyond. Is that unfair to ask? Absolutely. Is it unrealistic to expect them to perform at a high level into October? Unquestionably.

But, it’s this or nowhere if you ask me.

No matter what, this experience for all three will help teach them how to pitch in high-pressure situations. As we all remember, in 2015, it was Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz joining Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom to help them on their way to their incredible run that ended in the World Series. In 2016, with injuries to the rotation, a crew of Seth Lugo, Rafael Montero, and Robert Gsellman had to do some heavy lifting down the home stretch to get them to the, albeit, short playoffs.

It’s not ideal having to rely on three rookies in the rotation in September, but it is also not unheard of that it can be successful, especially around here.

So far, it has worked. Let’s hope the latest addition can keep it going.

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Around the League 🚩

• The Royals placed RHP Seth Lugo on the IL with a lower back strain

• The Dodgers designated RHP Alexis Díaz, brother of Edwin, for assignment

• RHP Paul Skenes bolstered his Cy Young case and held the Dodgers scoreless as the Pirates completed the sweep of Los Angeles

• The Cubs signed veteran Billy Hamilton to a minor league deal

• Yankees 2B Jazz Chisholm exited the game against the Astros early with knee contusions that he sustained on different plays