In their first game after the trade deadline, the Mets host the Giants at Citi Field.
David Peterson is scheduled to pitch for New York, while Robbie Ray will take the mound for San Francisco.
Mets vs. Giants prediction, preview
David Peterson has been the Mets’ best starter this season. Peterson has a 2.83 ERA on the season and has been excellent over his last four starts. He has an ERA of 1.05, never surrendering more than one earned run, over that four-game stretch. His most recent start came against these Giants in San Francisco, where he gave up one run over six innings of work. Peterson will hope to replicate that performance in this game at Citi Field, where he has been phenomenal this season. Peterson is 5-0 with a 1.91 ERA in his ten home starts this season.
The Mets made massive upgrades in their bullpen at the deadline. They already had an above-average bullpen, ranking 11th in the MLB in bullpen ERA, led by one of the game’s best closers, Edwin Diaz. However, at the deadline, they added Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers and Gregory Soto to their bullpen, without giving up any of their best existing arms. Tyler Rogers came to New York from the Giants. They now have one of the best bullpens in baseball to back up Peterson and the other Mets starters.
Robbie Ray is taking the bump for the Giants. Ray is having a great year, with a 2.93 ERA through 22 starts. Ray was an NL All-Star and is having the best season of his career since his Cy Young season in 2021. Just like Peterson, the left-hander made his most recent start against tonight’s opponent. In San Francisco, Ray gave up two earned runs against the Mets in 5.2 innings of work. Ray has not been as good on the road this season, sporting a 3.40 ERA in away starts.
The Giants had been one of the best bullpens in baseball this season, ranking second in the MLB in bullpen ERA. However, they sold off arguably their two best bullpen arms at the deadline, both to New York City. Set-up man Tyler Rogers is now in the Mets bullpen, and closer Camilo Doval is now with the Yankees. The Giants still have a couple of solid arms in that pen, but they are significantly weaker in that area than they were a week ago.
Mets vs. Giants pick, best bet
Both teams have a left-handed starter on the mound for this game. Neither of these lineups has hit lefties particularly well this season. The Mets rank 24th in batting average and 20th in OPS against lefties this year. However, the Giants have been even worse, ranking 30th, dead last, in batting average and 29th in OPS. Both teams struggle against left-handers, and both pitchers have been great this season, which should keep this game lower scoring. However, with the Giants’ extreme struggles and with how brilliant David Peterson has been at home, he should completely shut them down.
Once it gets to the later innings, the Mets now have the bullpen edge over the Giants, unlike when these teams faced a few days ago in San Francisco. The Mets have one of the Giants’ best weapons from that time, plus several other high-level arms to go along with Edwin Diaz. After an off-day yesterday and what should be a great outing from David Peterson, this could be a start-to-finish shutdown performance from the Mets, and they should get the win.
My best bet is for the Mets to win and for Starling Marte and Cedric Mullins to both register a hit. Of players with at least 50 plate appearances against left-handers this season, Starling Marte has been the Mets’ top performer. He has a .289 batting average and a .793 OPS against lefties this season, and had a double against Robbie Ray when these teams faced off in San Francisco. Cedric Mullins was acquired by the Mets, partially for his great numbers against lefties. Mullins is batting .298 with an .866 OPS against lefties this season and should register a base hit in his Mets debut.
