Mets June Preview: The Schedule of Death

The Mets return home for a seven game homestand from June 14-20 to host the Brewers and Marlins.

The Mets will see the NL Central leading Brewers from June 14-16, and both teams will remain injury-tested. The Brewers have two of their starting pitchers on the injured list in Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta and are dearly missing Hunter Renfroe and Willy Adames in their lineup, but Adames just started a rehab assignment recovering from his ankle sprain.

But, the Brewers have Corbin Burnes replicating his Cy Young form from last year, as he sports a 1.95 ERA, a 7-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and he leads the league with 78 strikeouts, a 0.82 WHIP, and 5.8 hits allowed per nine innings.

They also have their devastating bullpen duo of Devin Williams and Josh Hader. Hader has appeared in 18 games this season, and notched the save in all 18 appearances without allowing a run and saved both ends of a doubleheader on Monday at Wrigley Field. Hader’s last blown save was at Citi Field against the Mets on July 7 last year, when he gave up a game-tying home run to Jose Peraza.

The Mets will then finally face the Marlins for the first time this season from June 17-20 for a four-game series. The Marlins have been playing better than their 19-27 record indicates, thanks to a dynamic duo of young co-aces in Sandy Alcantara and Pablo Lopez, who sport a 2.00 ERA and 1.83 ERA respectively in 10 starts each.

Jazz Chisholm, Jr. has been Miami’s best position player thus far, who is making a serious bid to be the NL starting second baseman in the All Star Game next month. However, the Marlins remain very much an offensively challenged team, hence the start they have. They are next-to-last in the league in runs scored and batting average with runners in scoring position. The Marlins won’t move up in the standings until those two numbers improve.

The Mets will then see the Marlins again in Miami from June 24-26.