LIVE: Mets-Brewers NL Wild Card Series Game 1 (ESPN)
MILWAUKEE -- The field is finally set. And the Mets are heading back to Milwaukee for the National League Wild Card Series.
The scouting reports will be a breeze, since the teams just matched up in the final series of the regular season from Friday-Sunday before New York jumped a flight to Atlanta for Monday’s doubleheader. The Mets punched a postseason ticket with a win in a thriller of a Game 1, then settled into the No. 6 seed by dropping Game 2.
It means the Mets’ first playoff series under president of baseball operations David Stearns will be against the team he ran from late 2015 until 2022.
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The Brewers, meanwhile, watched on one of the biggest big-screen televisions you can imagine while working out at American Family Field. They’re rested, and they won five of the six head-to-head matchups against the Mets in the regular season.
“They’re a talented bunch,” Mets first baseman Pete Alonso said. “They play great fundamental baseball. They’ve got great arms, and they’ve done a really good job of having timely hits throughout the course of the year. So they’re a really good ballclub, very well balanced. They’ll be a tough opponent, but I think we’ll be ready. I think we’ll be ready for sure.”
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“You throw it all out,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “This [Brewers] team hasn’t worried about who they were playing all year. In some cases, they may not have realized what city they were in. …
“Every team left is capable of winning, and recent history has told us that whether you’re a Wild Card team or a No. 1 seed, any team is capable.”
Who are the starting pitchers?
Mets: Winning Game 1 of Monday’s doubleheader was a boon for the Mets, who were able to save Luis Severino, one of their best pitchers during the regular season, for the Wild Card Series. Unlike pretty much every other Mets pitcher, Severino is well-rested, not having taken the mound since Sept. 24. The Mets will look for him to provide more length than he did in his only meeting with the Brewers during the regular season, a five-inning, six-run performance back on March 30.
“When the playoffs come, anything can happen,” Severino said. “I’ve got to give my best out there. I know the team is going to give their best.”
Brewers: After pitching alongside Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff for the first five years of his career, Freddy Peralta was the unquestioned leader of Milwaukee’s rotation in 2024 and delivered a solid season, posting a 3.68 ERA and becoming the fourth Brewers pitcher with multiple seasons of 200-plus strikeouts. Perhaps most importantly for a club that needed 17 different starting pitchers, matching a club record, Peralta made every start, setting career highs for starts (32) and innings (173 2/3). But if there’s a knock on the right-hander, it’s efficiency. He pitched past the sixth inning only two times all season.
What are the starting lineups?
Mets: The Mets’ offense transformed in mid-May, when manager Carlos Mendoza made the decision to shift Francisco Lindor into the leadoff spot. He became a bona fide NL MVP candidate from that point forward, and the rest of the Mets improved around him.
Jesse Winker, who struggled in September while batting .071/.250/.143, was in the lineup at DH over J.D. Martinez.
- Francisco Lindor, SS
- Jose Iglesias, 2B
- Brandon Nimmo, LF
- Mark Vientos, 3B
- Pete Alonso, 1B
- Jesse Winker, DH
- Starling Marte, RF
- Tyrone Taylor, CF
- Francisco Alvarez, C
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Brewers: Even with six first- or second-year players in the lineup, including 20-year-old rookie Jackson Chourio, the Brewers took a significant step forward at the plate, going from 17th in on-base percentage and runs per game in 2023 to fourth in on-base percentage and sixth in runs per game in 2024. The biggest difference was team speed; the Brewers’ 217 stolen bases were second in the Majors and second-most in franchise history, led by Brice Turang becoming the fifth player in club history with 50 steals and Chourio becoming the youngest player ever to reach 20 homers and 20 steals in a season. Just the threat of running, the Brewers believe, impacts opposing defenses.
Despite being out with a bruised left hip, Sal Frelick was added on the NL Wild Card Series roster and was inserted into the lineup, batting eighth and starting in right.
- Brice Turang, 2B
- Jackson Chourio, LF
- William Contreras, C
- Garrett Mitchell, CF
- Willy Adames, SS
- Jake Bauers, DH
- Rhys Hoskins, 1B
- Sal Frelick, RF
- Joey Ortiz, 3B
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How will the bullpens line up after the starter?
Mets: Asked immediately after Monday’s doubleheader if Edwin Díaz could be available to pitch on Tuesday, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner answered in the affirmative. It will depend upon how quickly Díaz recovers from the heaviest workload of his career, which saw him throw 66 pitches between Sunday and Monday. If Díaz is unable to go, Ryne Stanek is the Mets’ best-rested leverage option.
New York’s top setup man, Phil Maton, has similarly pitched in three consecutive games and struggled Monday during the third of those. He may need a day to recover.
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With all that in mind, the Mets will hope Severino can pitch deep into Game 1. If he can’t, the team will have little choice but to press José Buttó and Danny Young into heavy duty.
Brewers: If you haven’t watched the Brewers all season, you might not be able to name a Milwaukee reliever other than closer Devin Williams, the reigning NL Reliever of the Year who missed the first four months with a back injury but returned strong with a 1.25 ERA, 14 saves and a 43.2 percent strikeout rate. Yet, the Brewers led the NL during the regular season with a 3.11 bullpen ERA. Trevor Megill logged 20 saves early in the season while Williams was down and now is his 100 mph-throwing setup man. Other high-leverage innings go to Joel Payamps, a right-hander who has a 2.78 ERA in 137 appearances over the past two seasons, and left-handers Jared Koenig and Aaron Ashby. Both are an example of the way in which the Brewers have found value in surprising places in recent years; Koenig was a journeyman swingman before finding a high-90s fastball with the Brewers, and Ashby spent most of the past two years enduring a tough recovery from shoulder surgery before emerging late this season as a relief weapon. The Brewers have even helped veteran righty Joe Ross discover a renaissance after an elbow injury kept him out of the Majors for all of 2022 and ’23.
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Any injuries of note?
Mets: Lindor certainly appears recovered from the lower-back injury that sidelined him for most of late September. Although Lindor says he still feels pain bending over, he’s been able to ignore it while going 4-for-9 with two homers, two stolen bases, five RBIs and four runs scored over his last two games.
The Mets still don’t know if Kodai Senga, who has appeared in just one game this season due to shoulder, triceps and calf injuries, will be able to contribute in October. But they do know it won’t happen in the Wild Card Series.
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Brewers: Frelick's hip injury, suffered in the final regular-season series, did not throw a wrench into the Brewers’ outfield rotation after he was added to the NL Wild Card Series roster.
Two big names won’t play in the postseason, so don’t even think about it. Left fielder Christian Yelich had back surgery in mid-August and will be ready for the start of Spring Training. And starter Brandon Woodruff is going step by step in his comeback from last fall’s shoulder surgery. He won’t pitch in 2024, no matter how far the Brewers manage to go. But Woodruff will throw one of the ceremonial first pitches prior to Game 1, the team announced.
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Who is hot and who is not?
Mets: Lindor has been on fire since recovering from his aforementioned back injury. Keep an eye also on two players who slumped early in September, Nimmo and Martinez. The former has homered in four of his last 11 games, while the latter has gone 3-for-8 with a walk since busting out of a career-worst 0-for-36 slump over the weekend.
As for the not-so-hot, Alonso is in a 3-for-32 skid since his last homer on Sept 19.
Brewers: Williams finished the regular season with 13 consecutive scoreless appearances including one against the Mets on Saturday, holding hitters 4-for-43 with 22 strikeouts in those games. … After his OPS dropped as low as .575 on June 1, Chourio hit .305 with an .887 OPS from June 2 on, becoming one of Milwaukee’s most productive hitters. … Coming off a team-best .844 OPS and four home runs in September, Mitchell will be an important piece for the Brewers with Frelick at best hobbled for the series. … Backup catcher Gary Sanchez was a weapon against left-handers for much of the season but went 8-for-49 (.163) in September.
Anything else fans might want to know?
• The Brewers are in the postseason for the sixth time in the last seven years. The Mets have made it twice in that same span, but they haven’t won a playoff series since their World Series run in 2015.
• Willy Adames batted .307/.386/.603 with 27 homers and 91 RBIs in the Brewers’ 93 wins this season, and .171/.251/.262 with five homers, 21 RBIs in the club’s 68 losses.
• If you’re attending the game in person, parking lots open three hours prior to the first pitch of postseason games at American Family Field and the stadium gates open two hours prior to first pitch. The Brewers say they are expecting sellouts for the series.