The New York Mets are set to play the San Diego Padres at Citi Field in the best-of-three Wild Card series.
Max Scherzer will take the ball on Friday night, but the Game 2 starter remains up in the air at this point.
The Mets are willing to wait until the outcome of Game 1 to determine Saturday’s starter.
In a perfect world, they would win tonight and then use Chris Bassitt to finish off the Padres on Saturday.
That would allow them to save Jacob deGrom for Game 1 of the Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In the last couple of days, deGrom has made the news because he developed a blister in his last start, against the Atlanta Braves.
With that being the situation, one would have expected manager Buck Showalter to take Carlos Carrasco or Taijuan Walker with him to the Wild Card round.
The Mets Are Confident In deGrom’s Health
He didn’t.
What did he say about it?
“Buck Showalter on the decision to keep Carrasco/Walker off the wild card roster even though deGrom had a blister in his last start. ‘[the blister] is not an issue. We don’t foresee it being an issue,’” the Washington Post’s Chelsea Janes tweeted.
Buck Showalter on the decision to keep Carrasco/Walker off the wild card roster even though deGrom had a blister in his last start.
“[the blister] is not an issue. We don’t foresee it being an issue.”
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) October 7, 2022
This tells us two things: one, the Mets are really confident that deGrom’s blister will not affect his performance as he takes the mound, whenever that is.
And two, he would like to save Walker and Carrasco for the Division Series, which is played to the best of five games.
If the Wild Card Series goes to three games, Showalter will be forced to use deGrom at one point.
If he is ever facing elimination, he is almost obligated to do so, blister or not.
