5 recent NY Mets spring training injuries that derailed a player’s season

2) Justin Verlander

Just days before the 2023 season was set to open, Justin Verlander was scratched from making his Mets debut. An upper arm strain sidelined him for several weeks. Because Opening Day was so close, the team didn’t have time to adjust the rotation alignment. In came Tylor Megill to begin the year on the mound for the Mets. A trivia question answer was born.

On a team with Verlander and Max Scherzer, one would imagine either future Hall of Fame pitcher would lead the charge. Not in 2023 where everything that could go wrong seemed to. Verlander wouldn’t make his Mets debut until May 4 at Detroit. The Mets would lose the game 2-0 thanks to back-to-back home runs by Riley Greene and Javier Baez as the second and third batters of the game.

Verlander was clearly in a rut that first month with the Mets. He’d finish 2-2 with a 4.80 ERA. It was not a typical Verlander performance. The late start put him in an early hole that even a few more productive outings wouldn’t allow him to escape from. Although his Mets tenure would end promising at 6-5 with a 3.15 ERA, his early absence had the team fighting to stay relevant. They were just 16-16 after his debut loss.