The New York Mets face the Baltimore Orioles in a short two-game series to begin the final month of the season. Both teams come into Tuesday’s matchup with 15 wins and sit in fourth place in their respective decisions. In 36 prior matchups, the Mets won 23 of the games.
Probable Pitching Matchups
Tuesday (9/1) @ 7:35 p.m. ET: Ariel Jurado (Mets debut) vs. Asher Wojciechowski (1-3, 5.13 ERA)
Wednesday (9/2) @ 4:05 p.m. ET: TBD vs. TBD
.@RobinsonCano flexing the ?. #LGM pic.twitter.com/nHdQBEPSZi
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 31, 2020
The Mets had their worst four-game streak, dropping four straight games that they all had the opportunity to win. All the losses were truly team efforts as every part of the roster and coaching staff contributed to the defeats. Luckily for the Mets, the Orioles are just as mediocre this season.
New Faces in New Places
Ariel Jurado makes his Mets debut in the first game of the series as he is one of three former Texas Rangers joining the roster. The addition of Robinson Chirinos and Todd Frazier are very questionable decisions, especially the weak-hitting Chrinios. The Mets have not announced the roster moves to add them to the roster but assumingly, J.D. Davis is heading to the injured list and Ali Sanchez is heading back to the alternate site.
Former Oriole, Miguel Castro is joining the Mets as well to help the beleaguered Mets bullpen. Castro is a favorite for people in the analytics department and serves as another middle reliever. They will need his high strikeout stuff with Dellin Betances on the injured list.
Robinson Cano and Dominic Smith have spearheaded the Mets offense over the last week. Despite wanting to avoid back-to-back lefties, it will be interesting to see if manager Luis Rojas opts to bunch them together in the middle of the order. If not, putting Pete Alonso between them should help him get out of his slump. He will get more strikes since pitchers do not want to face Smith with runners on base.
Matchup to Look Out For
Robinson Cano Career at Camden Yards: .356/.405/.567 (128-for-360), 31 Doubles, 15 Home Runs
Dominic Smith 2020 Stats in Away Games: .352/.446/.722 (19-for-54), 8 Doubles, 4 Home Runs
Pete Alonso 2020 Stats Batting Fourth: .200/.273/.500 (4-for-20), 2 Home Runs, 2 Walks, 6 Strikeouts