After weeks of scrambling, the Mets on Friday found themselves in the unfamiliar position of enjoying relative comfort while their next-round postseason opponents face stress.
The Mets held an afternoon team practice at Citi Field before the Padres and Dodgers play Game 5 of the National League in Los Angeles.
The winner of this game will host the Mets in Game 1 of the NLCS on Sunday.
“It's nice to have an off day and reset.” [the pitching] And plan as much as you want,” manager Carlos Mendoza said on a Zoom call with reporters. “But I think it's more of a rest for our players, our position player group and the team as a whole. We've been going back and forth, traveling, playing some hard-fought games, so we've been trying to reset for the last few days and get our players back on track.” Being able to receive treatment is huge.”
As for pitchers, Mendoza wasn't ready to announce his rotation for the NLCS.
He said that was more a function of figuring out where the pitchers were among the starters than the uncertainty of which team the Mets would play.
Kodai Chiga, Luis Severino and Sean Manaea are all options for Game 1.
Manaea, who pitched on Tuesday, is the least rested of the members, but it will still be a normal fifth day.
Chiga, who returned from the disabled list last Saturday and pitched two innings, is still limited and will probably need a piggyback ride from David Peterson, but Tyler Megill is another possibility.
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Peterson has been the Mets' secret weapon in October, and his availability, whether for multiple innings or one, will influence team leaders' decisions.
“Because that’s amazing. [Peterson] “He's a guy we've seen all season starting, and in close games he was able to come out of the bullpen and pitch multiple innings like he did in the last game,” Edwin Diaz said. “He's doing very well. I'm really happy to have him in the bullpen, he's another arm we have there and we can use him in any situation.”
Diaz has struggled with control in the postseason, walking two batters in the ninth inning of Wednesday's National League championship game against the Phillies, but he expressed confidence in his rebounding ability.
And Mendoza said Diaz is an essential piece for the Mets to continue winning this postseason.
“We've been pushing him pretty hard this past week with a lot of things coming together, but one thing he can tell you is he always wants to play baseball,” Mendoza said. “He always wants to be in those situations. He wants to be in the moment and he's one of us.”
The Mets were scheduled to hold another practice at Citi Field before chartering to Los Angeles on Saturday.
This will be the team's first appearance in the NLCS since 2015, when the Mets defeated the Cubs to advance to the World Series.
That was the season before Brandon Nimmo made his major league debut.
While Nimmo is enjoying this week's downtime, he also recognizes the Mets can't afford to relax.
“We’re still trying to make sure we’re getting reps, we’re still seeing some high-velocity movement in the cage, and if guys need to look at the bullpen or anything like that,” Nimmo said. “The biggest thing is not letting go of the rust, because we were able to play such high-intensity games and we didn't get a lot of rest in between.
“It’s definitely great injury-wise, but we also have to make sure we stay mentally focused and we try to treat these reps like game reps.”
