Opening Day FAQ: Mets vs. Marlins

MIAMI – Can the Mets build upon their 101-win season with two of the greatest pitchers of their generation fronting the rotation? Can the Marlins defy the odds and make noise in a stacked National League East?

Those pursuits will begin on Thursday afternoon, when New York and Miami begin their 2023 campaigns with an Opening Day matchup at loanDepot park.

The clubs last met on Opening Day in 2011, when the Florida Marlins beat the Mets, 6-2, in a duel between Josh Johnson and Mike Pelfrey. That Mets lineup featured José Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltrán, while the Marlins fielded Hanley Ramírez and a youngster named Mike (now Giancarlo) Stanton.

Needless to say much has changed.

After pacing the NL East for nearly the entire 2022 season, the Mets squandered their division lead late and endured a first-round exit in the NL Wild Card Series. While right-handers Jacob deGrom, Taijuan Walker and Chris Bassitt moved on, New York added reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander and Japanese righty Kodai Senga. Nearly the entire lineup is back, but the Mets will have to erase the disappointment of last year without lights-out closer Edwin Díaz.

Injuries and underachievement were aplenty during the Marlins’ 93-loss season in ‘22, but optimism abounds with a new coaching staff led by manager Skip Schumaker. Miami acquired AL batting champion Luis Arraez -- though at the expense of righty Pablo López. Veterans Jean Segura, Yuli Gurriel and Johnny Cueto arrive with strong pedigrees. Several Marlins will be playing out of position in the hopes of bolstering the offense, including All-Star second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. in center field. While the club says it’s in win-now mode, how realistic is that considering the behemoths within the division?

When is the game and how can I watch it?
First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. ET on Thursday. The game will be televised on MLB.TV and MLB Network. SNY will carry the game in the local New York market, as will Bally Sports Florida in the South Florida market.

What are the lineups?
Mets: A mid-March injury to Brandon Nimmo threatened to disrupt Buck Showalter’s preferred starting nine, but the center fielder recovered quickly enough to make the Opening Day lineup. That group looks nearly identical to the one Showalter used regularly at the end of last season, with Omar Narváez taking over catching duties from James McCann.

1. Brandon Nimmo, CF (L)
2. Starling Marte, RF
3. Francisco Lindor, SS (S)
4. Pete Alonso, 1B
5. Jeff McNeil, 2B (L)
6. Mark Canha, LF
7. Daniel Vogelbach, DH (L)
8. Eduardo Escobar, 3B (S)
9. Omar Narváez, C (L)

Marlins: The addition of Arraez gives Miami’s lineup the tablesetter it so desperately needed, while also allowing Chisholm to move into a more run-producing spot. Miami’s organizational philosophy places more of an emphasis on bat-to-ball skills, which ties into the arrivals of Arraez and Segura to balance the order.

1. Luis Arraez, 2B (L)
2. Jean Segura, 3B
3. Garrett Cooper, 1B
4. Jazz Chisholm Jr., CF (L)
5. Jorge Soler, DH
6. Avisaíl García, RF
7. Bryan De La Cruz, LF
8. Jacob Stallings, C
9. Joey Wendle, SS (L)

Who are the starting pitchers?
Mets: The Mets couldn’t have made a bad decision when the choice was between Max Scherzer and Verlander, a pair of three-time Cy Young Award winners. When both played for the Tigers, Verlander routinely started over Scherzer on Opening Day. The Mets chose the opposite arrangement out of deference to Scherzer’s year of experience in New York. He will make his seventh career Opening Day start and first for the Mets. Injuries prevented Scherzer from pitching against the Marlins last season, but he’s 15-5 with a 2.94 ERA lifetime against them, including an 8-4 mark with a 2.40 ERA at loanDepot Park.

Marlins: Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara will be making his fourth consecutive Opening Day start, becoming the first pitcher in franchise history to do so. Miami has gone 1-2 in Alcantara's previous outings, dropping the past two, even though he only allowed a combined two earned runs over 11 innings. The 27-year-old right-hander gave up four earned runs in each of his two home starts against the Mets in '22, so he will need to adjust considering New York is projected to field a nearly identical lineup in ‘23.

• Mets-Marlins Opening Day starting pitchers: Scherzer vs. Alcantara

How might the bullpens line up after the starter?
Mets: More notable than who’s in the Mets’ bullpen is who’s not: Díaz, the reigning NL Reliever of the Year who tore a knee ligament during the World Baseball Classic and will likely miss this entire season. The team is under no delusions that it can replace Díaz, but it at least has two other relievers with extensive closing experience in David Robertson and Adam Ottavino. Robertson figures to receive the bulk of duties early, but the Mets will also lean on right-hander Drew Smith and lefty Brooks Raley in high-leverage situations. Righty John Curtiss also performed well in Spring Training and should be an option the Mets won’t hesitate to use.

Marlins: While Schumaker doesn’t have an elite closer at the back of the bullpen to turn to, he can mix and match with several high-leverage options: left-handers A.J. Puk and Tanner Scott as well as right-handers Matt Barnes, JT Chargois and Dylan Floro. All but Chargois have at least one Major League save on their resume. Newcomers Puk, Barnes and Chargois deepen a relief corps that will be called upon to flip Miami’s 24-40 record in one-run games from 2022.

Any injuries of note?
Mets: Nimmo is healthy enough to play after spraining his right knee and ankle in mid-March. He spent the final week of camp logging significant at-bats in games. Starting pitcher José Quintana will begin the year on the injured list following surgery to repair a stress fracture in his rib, while relievers Sam Coonrod (right lat strain) and Bryce Montes de Oca (stress reaction in right elbow) will also start on the IL.

Of course, the most significant injury is to Díaz, who is unlikely to pitch at all in 2023.

Marlins: Relievers Steven Okert (left adductor soreness), Tommy Nance (right shoulder stiffness) and Nic Enright (Hodgkin lymphoma) will begin the season on the injured list.

• Injuries and roster moves: Mets | Marlins

Who’s hot and who’s not?
Mets: Alonso hit four homers in Grapefruit League play despite missing more than two weeks due to the World Baseball Classic. Tommy Pham, who figures to start the second game of the season against lefty Jesús Luzardo, spent most of the spring batting well below the Mendoza Line.

Marlins: It was a rough go at the plate for Marlins batters in Grapefruit League play -- emphasized by the low batting averages of Joey Wendle (.125), Avisaíl García (.143) and Jacob Stallings (.167). Relievers Andrew Nardi and Chargois didn’t allow a run in their final six appearances.

Anything else fans might want to know?
• For fans who didn’t catch any Spring Training action, Opening Day will mark their first look at new rules in place for 2023: the pitch timer, defensive shift limits and bigger bases. And with a more balanced schedule, the division rival Mets and Marlins will face each other 13 times – six fewer games than in the past.

• The Marlins are 12-18 on Opening Day, having lost seven of their last eight. The club is 10-11 in season openers held in South Florida.

• The Mets remain by far the most successful Major League franchise on Opening Day, a fact made more astounding by the fact that they lost their first eight openers from 1962-69. Since that time, the Mets have gone a remarkable 40-13 in season openers, including wins in five of the last six years.