The time is now, the Mets and Phillies will be playing two games starting today in the MLB London Series.
In the history of the Mets franchise they are no strangers to playing outside of the United States. It will be the 4th time they have played outside of the states with games against the San Diego Padres in Mexico in 1996, the Chicago Cubs in the Tokyo Dome in 2000, and the Miami Marlins in Puerto Rico in 2010. For the Philadelphia Phillies it is the first time in franchise history they have played outside of the continental United States.
The Phillies (44-19) currently hold the best record in all of Major League Baseball with an impressive record of 27-9 at home. They are at the top of the league in virtually every single statistic and have taken control of the National League. Leading Cy Young candidate Ranger Suarez will get the start in today’s game who has a 9-1 record with a 1.70 ERA and 79 strikeouts. In the second game the Mets face a familiar friend. Taijuan Walker will take the ball in game two looking to get back on track a rough outing against the St. Louis Cardinals.
With a wide open spot for the third wild card spot, the Mets (27-35) find themselves in an awkward spot. They are three games back from the final wild card spot that has a four way tie entering today’s game. After a brutal month of May the Mets have kept their heads down and come into today’s series with a three game win streak. Over the last 10 games the Mets are 5-5 with a record of 3-2 in the month of June. It is for the Mets taking, but have a tough task ahead of them in the London Series.
For the Mets Sean Manaea will start the first game with Jose Quintana penciled in to start in tomorrow’s game. The last time Manaea faced the Phillies was back in the middle of May and finished the game with a quality start. Over six innings pitched Manaea gave up one earned run while striking out six. He only walked one batter in that start, which has been the downfall to his starts in the early part of the season.
Offensively the Mets have new life with the additions of Jose Iglesias and Luis Torrens. With Jeff McNeil getting a mental break Iglesias has stepped up for the Mets over the three game win streak. In the Nationals series Iglesias slashed .417/.462/.500/.962 with five hits and two RBIs. With the recent DFA of Omar Narvaez Torrens has stepped up too. Over his first four games with the Mets the catcher is slashing .300/.364/1.000/1.364 with two home runs and four RBIs.
As a team the Mets have been crushing the baseball. Over the last seven days they are slashing .302/.353/.540/.893 which is top 5 in every statistic in Major League Baseball during the stretch. It will be the ultimate test this afternoon against one of the league’s best pitchers, but with a raging hot offensive anything can happen.