Here are five things to watch and predictions as the Mets and Padres play a three-game series at Citi Field starting on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. on SNY.
5 things to watch
Get on my back for a piggyback ride
On Tuesday night, the Mets are going to do something that has been bandied about for a while.
Clay Holmes will get the start, with Sean Manaea expected to piggyback him.
With Holmes — who is well past his previous high for innings in a season — having pitched more than 5.0 innings just once in his last nine starts, using him as an opener of sorts makes all the sense in the world.
As far as Manaea, having him be the pitcher who comes on in relief is sensible since he has experience pitching out of the bullpen and has fared well his first time through the order this season — holding the opposition to a .703 OPS (that OPS rises to .811 the second time through and 1.071 the third time through).
With Holmes and Manaea pitching on the same day, the Mets could either go to a five-man rotation of sorts (with David Peterson, Jonah Tong, Brandon Sproat, and Nolan McLean following) or possibly insert Kodai Senga back in the next time through. Senga was strong in his first start for Triple-A Syracuse on Friday.
The offense is still searching for it
While the Mets won on Sunday, snapping their losing streak in the process, the offense was still largely absent.
They mustered just two runs over the first eight innings, with Pete Alonso's walk-off homer accounting for three runs in the ninth.
But there were some good signs over the weekend, including Francisco Alvarez's big series (four hits, including a homer), Francisco Lindor reaching base five times, and Brandon Nimmo smacking a homer on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Juan Soto continued to mash, crushing his 40th homer of the season.
New York will not have an easy assignment against the Padres' starting pitching, with San Diego sending out Michael King on Tuesday, Nick Pivetta on Wednesday, and Randy Vasquez on Thursday.
How will Jonah Tong bounce back?
It was a start to forget for Tong this past Friday, when he allowed six runs on four hits and three walks while failing to escape the first inning.
While Tong had serious issues with his control on Friday, he was also very unfortunate with the balls that were put in play.
That included the soft single that kept the inning going with two outs when he was one strike away from escaping unscathed.
Unlike his first and second starts, things snowballed for Tong on Friday. And for the first time, he looked a bit out of sorts.
He is expected to get the ball in Thursday's series finale.
The out of town scoreboard
With 12 games remaining in the regular season, the Mets enter Monday's day off with a 1.5 game lead over the Giants for the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League.
New York is 2.0 games up on the Diamondbacks, and 2.5 games ahead of the Reds.
The Mets hold the tiebreaker over the Giants by virtue of winning the season series, while the Reds hold the tiebreaker over the Mets. The tiebreaker between the Mets and Diamondbacks is TBD, and will likely be based on intradivision record since the two clubs split the season series.
As the Mets face the Padres this week, the Giants and D-backs play eachother in Arizona while the Reds travel to St. Louis to play the Cardinals.
Padres are in a comfortable spot
San Diego enters this series trailing the Dodgers by 2.5 games (three in the loss column) for first place in the NL West, while holding the second Wild Card spot.
The Padres are 5.0 games ahead of the Mets for the third Wild Card, and 3.5 games (four losses) behind the Cubs for the first Wild Card.
So the very likely scenario is that they stay right where they are, which would mean getting the No. 5 seed in the playoffs and traveling to Chicago for the three-game Wild Card series.
How that motivates them for the remainder of the regular season remains to be seen.
San Diego is 6-4 over its last 10 games, which has all but cemented their playoff spot.
Predictions
Who will the MVP of the series be?
Juan Soto
Soto has been carrying the Mets for over a month
Which Mets pitcher will have the best start?
David Peterson
Peterson was solid his last time out, limiting the Phillies to three runs in 5.0 innings while striking out eight
Which Padres player will be a thorn in the Mets' side?
Luis Arraez
The pesky Arraez has six hits in his last 13 at-bats
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