TODAY: The Mets made Senga’s return official when announcing their NLDS roster this morning. Senga was activated from the 60-day IL and Megill was also added to the 26-man roster that will face the Phillies. Right-handers Huascar Brazoban and Max Kranick were removed from the Wild Card Series roster to make room for Senga and Megill, and Blackburn was moved to the 60-day IL in the corresponding 40-man move for Senga.
OCTOBER 4: The Mets are facing off against the Phillies in the National League Division Series, with the first game set for Saturday afternoon. Manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters today that right-hander Kodai Senga will start that first game for the Mets. Mike Puma of The New York Post was among those to relay the news on X.
The Mets have received close to nothing from Senga this year. He suffered a capsule strain in his throwing shoulder in Spring Training, which kept him on the injured list for months. He was reinstated off the injured list and made his season debut on July 26, but was removed from that game after 5 1/3 innings due to a calf strain and went right back on the IL. He tried to return late in the regular season but was slowed by some triceps soreness.
That lack of production from Senga was a blow to the Mets. He made his major league debut in 2023 and tossed 166 1/3 innings with a 2.98 earned run average. His 11.1% walk rate was on the high side but he struck out 29.1% of batters faced and got grounders at a 44.7% clip. Despite that, the Mets managed to squeak into the postseason and then defeat the Brewers in the Wild Card series while Senga remained on the IL.
Yesterday, Will Sammon of Athletic reported that the Mets were considering Senga for their NLDS roster. Now it seems that the righty will not only get a roster spot but will take the ball to get the series started.
The question will be what the Mets can expect from Senga after so much time off. Per Sammon’s report, he recently threw a 25-pitch bullpen session but will probably be limited to a short outing, so perhaps this will be Senga acting more as an opener than a true starter in the classically understood sense. “We’ll see,” Mendoza said today when asked about how long Senga can go, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com on X. “We’re going to let it play out.”
The Mets have had to get creative with their pitching staff lately. Two of their games against Atlanta in the final week of the regular season were delayed by Hurricane Helene. While 28 of the 30 clubs in the league had the day off on Monday, those two clubs had to play a double-header as each still needed a victory to get into the playoffs. The Mets won the first game in an 8-7 thriller, using Tylor Megill as the starter and then four relievers, including closer Edwin Díaz throwing 40 pitchers as he got the final five outs.
With their playoff spot secured, they used Joey Lucchesi and two relievers to get through the second game of the twin bill, but then they had to start their series in Milwaukee the very next day. Luis Severino started the first game, Sean Manaea the second and Jose Quintana the third. To get through last night’s game, Díaz threw another 39 pitches while again getting five outs and starter David Peterson also tossed an inning of relief.
None of the club’s front three of Severino, Manaea or Quintana would be available on regular rest for Saturday’s first game against Philadelphia. Megill would be an option to take some bulk innings, but he was left off the Wild Card roster since he wasn’t going to be available for those contests. If both Senga and Megill are to be added, the Mets would have to open two spots by leaving off a couple of guys that were present of the Wild Card round. Peterson could perhaps be another option for bulk innings, as he tossed seven innings as recently as September 29.
The full roster decisions don’t have to be publicly announced until Saturday morning. Senga is on the 60-day IL and will need to be added back onto the 40-man roster, but the Mets could easily open a spot by transferring Paul Blackburn or Dedniel Núñez onto the 60-day IL. The Phillies have announced that Zack Wheeler will start game one, followed by Cristopher Sánchez in game two.
Wha?
They said KODAI SENGA TO START NLDS GAME ONE FOR METS
Interesting gamble on a guy who hasn’t seen game action in months. Bullpen better be ready.
What?
HUUUUUUH?
@Cainer said:
Dijeron que KODAI SENGA COMENZARÁ EL PRIMER JUEGO DE LA NLDS PARA LOS METS.
Ils ont dit que KODAI SENGA COMMENCERA LE PREMIER JEU NLDS POUR LES METS.
What?
Hanno detto che KODAI SENGA INIZIERA’ LA PRIMA PARTITA DI NLDS PER I METS.
That was the Mets plan all along.
Now, this is stylish!!!!!
Hope he can stay healthy,.,,,plus he must have been throwing all along
How did he keep it a secret or maybe they/he didn’t
Still though, very stylish
Wow.
Phils will light him up
I love my Phillies but don’t count on it.
I hope not. Psychics, gotta love them. They know everything you do not in the future, except their own futures and death.
Mets were arguably baseballs best team in second half. Phillies were suspect. Not exactly a lopsided series.
Remember the last week of the season when the Phillies were battling LA for who had the top seed for the playoffs. They went into NY and dropped 3 of 4. Including Wheeler & Nola losing.
Phillies kind of limped down the stretch, so anything is possible.
Look at their own run 2 years ago.
Phillies played great in first half to one of baseballs weakest schedules. Likely lost a bit of focus or determination when they got the big lead. I don’t trust them. I don’t like what I heard in interviews repeatedly either when they were struggling. The manager and players. Except Harper. No sense of urgency. No admitting how bad you are actually playing. Still calling yourself a great team when you are losing almost every game. Just own it.
He’ll be the opener. 2 IP max.
Good call on this one.
Thoughts and prayers for your season.
The ghost of Kodai throwing the ghost fork.
G1.
Ballsy.
Must be an opener for Megill
I too think that’s the plan.
Bold strategy, but the Mets seem to have the mojo right now.
Von and I agree!!!
Our teams finally meet in a postseason series! This should be a fun one… Phillies the stronger team, Mets the hotter team. Hope it lives up to expectations.
The new format always favors the hotter team. Phils benefited from it in 2022. Fair is fair.
As hot as we are the Phils are much more of a complete playoff caliber team than the Mets are. It will be interesting though. Starting Senga like this, I’m not sure what to think. It’s either genius or insane.
Wouldn’t it be awkward if Phillies struggle because of layoff after getting upset (if one can trust Ken Rosenthal which is suspect) about Braves claiming layoff hurt their team (I mean they didn’t even say it really and continually credited the Phillies for outplaying them despite being led by reporters repeatedly to give the opposite answer). If they do struggle they can’t complain.
I’d love to see someone, somewhere, anywhere prove that ‘hot teams’ exist in other than an ex post facto way.
I mean idk what to say to that. It’s literally the most obvious thing in the world. How can one “prove” something if the evidence itself isn’t considered to have any significance?
Spring Training game for Senga….this will be something to see if this works in game 1 — phillies scouting might not be up to date on him either.
Doubt they have him go more than 3 innings.- if he can get there
Seems risky but if Senga and the team’s medical staff agree that he’s good to go, bring it on!
Not risky. If the player is healthy (which he is) there is no reason to pay them all that money to rest an injury that isn’t that serious
“Not risky.”
Man, some people will argue anything. Dude has pitched exactly one inning since July and is coming off of *two* injuries but yeah, sure. Zero risk involved on “an injury that isn’t that serious”, despite sidelining him for virtually the entire season. Good grief.
Very true, definitely risky. We have no idea if there will be rust or not. If he’s on though, he’s easily the best they have so I’m excited. It may not work out, but it makes things more interesting.
Risky as in maybe him blowing the game okay yea I see that but he is healthy and is to be looked at as their number 1 starter so I know they are feeling pretty good about it
Why don’t u go cork a screw no one on earth cares about baseball and the game needs be retired like the rest of the other sports you losers drool over your tv for
chemfinancing: If you don’t like baseball, why are you on here trolling?
Move to Norway.
If I moved to Norway I could still get online and do my thang cuz I’m so entertaining (unlike baseball) for the record I am the greatest baseball player on earth and don’t like it because of the quality of play (they never swing the bat)
chemfinancing: Nobody on here finds you entertaining.
You must have been born on the highway. That’s where most accidents happen.
It’s somewhat risky as you don’t know what to expect but have someone ready in case he doesn’t have it and pull him quickly. The upside of getting a good few innings out of him is there.
I thought Severino would be the better option, but maybe Senga serves as an opener. Phillies bats will be ice cold considering they haven’t played meaningful baseball in well over a week. I’m not feeling particularly confident even though I think the Phillies are the better team.
Agree with von.
Severino pitched Tuesday, so he would have been on short rest.
He can go on regular rest Sunday and hopefully put the series in the Mets’ pocket.
Obviously, winning the game pitched by Wheeler was huge.
How exciting!
This either works or it doesnt. Either way, it sets up the rest of the rotation on regular rest.
Hasn’t pitched since July 27th. I’m assuming he will be an opener on a strict pitch limit. Leave it to the Mets to risk this guys long term health
Are you a bot acct?
This series shaping up to be baseball at its very best. 2 great teams with superstars at the top of their game. Truly exciting
Even though the Mets get credited with starting the cocaine era in baseball, Pittsburgh was the source city.
Starting a pen game….
OMGhost!
Bold move! As a Yankee fan I’m hoping he gets rocked and they run through their whole pen.
Not a Yankees fan but it’s going to he hilarious watching the Mets overpay for Alonso this winter. Now the fan base that has been crying about him all year loves him just because of that HR last night.
Also Phillies are going to take them to the woodshed.
Alonso is gonna be terrible as soon as next year. If he gets more than 3 years I’d be amazed.
You mean like Giancarlos Stanton’s 32M a year till 2028
You’re forgetting the Marlins subsidy and his lowered cap hit. Bad deal nonetheless and you’re starting to see less long term deals to giant defensively limited sluggers… The polar bear is gonna turn into Luke Voit real soon.
Agreed, long term deals for “sluggers” after the age of 30 is a fool’s bet.. In ways would be a better bet ot let him walk.
All of these “mega” contracts are a crap shoot… some pan out, other become a killer for a team.
Marlin’s pick up roughly $8M per year, Yank’s $24M (which also limits spending on needs) Steinbrenner has money, but also puts a damper when you have $90M invested in only 3 players (Judge, Stanton, Cole)
I’d love Stanton off the books. Judge and Soto assuming he signs could both benefit from more Dh duty. It was a good trade since they gave up very little, Hal’s cheapness has made it a terrible trade. Allowing Stanton to limit the roster is ownerships fault. If Hal knew he would allow Stanton’s presence to block signing superior talent they should’ve passed on the deal.
The unfortunate part is that unless Soto is willing to take a bit less (It’s going to be a bidding war), I believe he will go elsewhere.
Plus the Yankee’s do have other glaring holes which became more noticeable as the season progressed.
Agreed there will be no discount for Soto. Conceivably he does have a price that once met he will start picking by preference though. Could be any city…
I disagree on glaring holes. There are 5 good candidates to step in at 2nd, Rice or a stop gap vet for 1st and a corner outfielder. A few arms for the pen and it’s a 90 win team on paper.
I still feel that their starting pitching can be suspect (number of hr they’ve given up) and they need to unload Stroman, especailly at $18M for 25 and an option for 26.
Can get better & cheaper in FA
Meh. I don’t love Stroman and the option would blow but… he’s fine as a 5th starter. I’d happily flip him but the starting staff is above average presently. I want a WS every year but on paper even with the key FA’s leaving this is a team that contends for the playoffs. Let’s finish out 24 and see if the can have a decent off-season.
The Roy Halladay, Joe Blanton, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels Phillies were better
The 8 ball sniffin 86 Mets were better I hate to say it!
The Mets just signed Papelbon to close if Diaz isn’t available.
I heard they called Jason Isringhausen
It’s interesting that 3 of the 4 playoff match ups this round are all divisional rivals. The regular season records for each series:
NYM vs Phi (Phillies won the season series 7-6)
SD vs LAD (Padres won season series 8-5)
Det vs Cle (Guardians won season series 7-6)
Note the Phillies took the May series 3 to 1, split the June 1 to 1, took the home series is Philly 2 to 1, and then lost the series in NY 3 to 1…
So other than when the Mets were playing awful in May, the Mets played them very tight
He won one game this year. If they lost that game, no playoffs. Just a fact.
I completely disagree with this move. Why throw him into the fire after not pitching all season? He should be in relief, not starting. I’m guessing that they are going to use Senga for 2 or 3 innings and then bring in Megill. I can see this not ending well
But it’ll go better if he throws in relief?
‘Interesting’ thesis…
You see everything the Mets do under the leadership of Stearns not ending well. So, it’s almost guaranteed to be a brilliant move.
My opinion is that this is a desperate move you make that could end up killing your bullpen. This like a spring training start as he hasn’t been able
to face live hitters in a game. He can’t be able to throw many pitchers.
If I was the Phillies my game plan would be to first couple innings work the counts deep. Try for 20 pitch innings with takes a foul balls. Be into the Mets bullpen early and affect the whole series.
As we have seen the Mets don’t have a bullpen they trust outside Diaz.
The Mets will use Peterson or Megill after him. The bullpen will be more rested for games 2-5.
Bullpen game
Will Pat The Bat Burrell be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch?
I’m glad these two teams are meeting up since after this series there will be only one of the mouthy fan bases left
They really kept that under wraps. Big wild card for the series now. Not sure what you can realistically expect from him.
Phils in 3.
lol.
That’s out the window…
Not such a dumb move considering that they just beat the Phillies 6 to 2 in Philly.
Sometimes there seem to be otherworldly forces at play in this game
*NLDS and NLCS.