NEW YORK — After the Mets' first three series of the 2023 season, one thing is clear: they own the Miami Marlins.
The Mets have two series victories over the Marlins — one on the road to begin the season and the other over the weekend at home. With the Mets at 5-5 to start this season, they captured four of six games over their NL East foes.
But the Mets stumbled over their only other obstacle when they were swept out of Milwaukee.
Now, as the Mets embark on their second full week of the season, they are confronted with their biggest early test of 2023 when they welcome the San Diego Padres (6-4) for a three-game series beginning Monday. It is a rematch of the teams' NL wild card series that the Padres took in three games.
Here are five things to look for in the Mets' upcoming series:
1. Conquering the NL East
Over the weekend, the Padres actually helped the Mets stay within reach in the NL East when they grabbed three out of four games over the Atlanta Braves on the road.
The Padres received quality starts from a pair of former Mets pitchers.
Michael Wacha struck out 10 across six scoreless innings in a 4-1 win on Saturda,y and Seth Lugo clinched the series win with one earned run allowed in six innings with five strikeouts.
The Mets are one game behind the Braves (6-4) entering this series with the Padres.
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2. Xander Bogaerts is Padres' new money player
One of the only teams to rival the Mets' record spending spree is the Padres, who have a 2023 payroll of $249 million, according to FanGraphs.
After spending a decade with the Boston Red Sox, Xander Bogaerts was pried away with an 11-year, $280 million deal from the Padres in the offseason. The move will push Fernando Tatis Jr. into the outfield when he returns from his suspension on April 20 after failing a drug test last August.
Bogaerts has provided a sizable lift for the Padres early in the season. The 30-year-old shortstop is slashing .333/.419/.667 with three home runs, eight runs and eight RBI through 10 games.
3. Yu Darvish is Mets' kryptonite
The Mets were forced to play from behind during last season's wild card series, largely because of the dominance of Yu Darvish.
Darvish placed the Mets on the ropes in Game 1 by striking out four across seven innings with one earned run allowed on six hits and one walk. The Mets' lone damage off Darvish was a solo home run from Eduardo Escobar in a 7-1 defeat.
The Mets had no answers for Darvish over the course of their two regular-season matchups either.
Darvish won the Padres' other two matchup against the Mets, allowing one earned run over 14 innings while striking out 15.
4. Max Scherzer needs to get on track
It has been a rough start to the 2023 season for Max Scherzer.
The Mets ace opened with five scoreless innings against the Marlins before giving up a pair of doubles and a two-run home run to the Marlins' Garrett Cooper. Brandon Nimmo helped Scherzer secure the win with a two-run double the next inning.
But Scherzer was tagged for five earned runs and three straight home runs in a 9-0 loss to the Brewers last Tuesday. Through two starts, Scherzer is 1-1 with eight earned runs allowed across 11.1 innings (6.35 ERA) and eight strikeouts.
Scherzer was blown up in his wild card series Game 1 start against the Padres last fall, giving up seven earned runs and four home runs in 4.1 innings.
5. Pete Alonso powering quiet Mets offense
The Mets offense has been slow off the startling line during the 2023 season.
After 10 games, the Mets are 27th in the league with a .216 combined batting average, and 26th with 70 hits and 25th with 3.9 runs per game.
The one outlier to the unsteady production has been Pete Alonso, who is tied for the major league lead with five home runs and has added 10 RBI and eight runs. While he has a .984 OPS, he is batting just .234 to start the season.
The Mets might need even more production from their starts with Starling Marte dealing with a neck strain he suffered on Sunday afternoon that has him day-to-day.
Mets vs. Padres probable pitchers
Monday, 7:10 p.m.: Max Scherzer (1-1, 6.35) vs. Yu Darvish (0-0, 1.80)Tuesday,7:10 p.m.: David Peterson (0-1, 6.00) vs. Ryan Weathers (0-0, 3.60)
Wednesday, 1:10 p.m.: Tylor Megill (2-0, 1.64) vs. Blake Snell (0-1, 7.88)
