How the starting lineup should be shuffled for Game 2

The New York Mets lost Game 1 of the Wild Card round to the Padres in what ended up being an abysmal night all around.

Max Scherzer was signed to be dominant in October. He allowed four home runs and seven earned runs. For context, Scherzer didn't allow more than four runs in a start all season. The four home runs came out of nowhere.

The Mets lineup continued to show inconsistency. Yu Darvish is a great pitcher but the Mets had chances and didn't convert.

If the Mets want to keep their season alive they will need to shuffle the lineup.

Starling Marte returned after missing one month with a fractured finger. He ended up recording two of the Mets seven hits. Unfortunately, they were with nobody on base.

Eduardo Escobar, the National League Player of the Month for September, had two of the three extra base hits the Mets recorded but they were also with nobody on base.

Both Marte and Escobar should be hitting higher for Game 2 and the foreseeable future.

For Game 2, I believe the lineup should look like:

1. Nimmo - CF
2. Marte - RF
3. Lindor - SS
4. Alonso - 1B
5. McNeil - 2B
6. Escobar - 3B
7. Alvarez - DH
8. Canha - LF
9. Nido - C

The top four of Nimmo, Marte, Lindor, and Alonso were consistently great before Marte's absence. I believe putting those guys back together in that order can spark the offense.

Jeff McNeil is one of the hottest hitters on the planet and forces pitchers to give Alonso some pitches to hit knowing he's behind him.

Escobar is coming off of his ridiculous September and should have plenty of base runners to potentially drive in hitting after Lindor, Alonso, and McNeil.

Francisco Alvarez is the youngest Met to ever appear in a postseason game. With the southpaw Blake Snell starting for San Diego I expect him to start and maybe produce. He gives the Mets a better chance that Darin Ruf at this point.

This Mets lineup configuration is similar to the lineups that we saw earlier this season when the Mets were having so much success. I still believe in this offense and think it can put up runs when right.