Mets Scapegoats: 1 player, 1 playoff plan, 1 front office decision to blame most

Poor Mets plan scapegoat: The starting rotation plan

The Mets didn’t have much of a choice on how to line their rotation up against the Milwaukee Brewers. The same went for the NLDS against the Phillies. When they got past those two rounds, they finally could regroup and plan carefully for the NLCS.

They ended up not going with Sean Manaea in Game 1, rather asking Senga to take the ball in the opener despite barely pitching all year. It was a questionable call especially when Senga would be limited to how many pitches he could actually throw. Manaea could have gone on regular rest and been available in Game 5 as well as maybe a relief appearance in Game 7. It was a bad call and put a sour taste in the series from the start.

This didn’t actually end up being the costliest mistake of all by the Mets. Consider they didn’t score a run at all in Game 1 and managed to win Game 5 with David Peterson on the hill. Manaea had his chance to keep the season going in Game 6 only to put together his worst start of the playoffs.

That’s why this poor plan is more of a scapegoat than an actual true criticism. We can still hate on it, but there are other reasons why the Mets are done. They didn’t hit. They didn’t pitch. No amount of good planning could have helped them overcome this.