Max Scherzer’s official injury diagnosis is in.
The Mets’ pitcher will miss six to eight weeks with a “moderate to high grade” internal oblique strain, according to the team.
Something was definitely wrong when Scherzer, perhaps the most intense competitor of his generation, took himself out of the game on Wednesday night. In the middle of a sixth-inning showdown with Albert Pujols, Scherzer immediately made a signal to the dugout indicating that he was done. The initial language from the Mets was that he was experiencing “discomfort in his left side.”
After the game, Scherzer called the feeling a “zing” and said he didn’t believe it was a major strain. The tests, unfortunately, proved that to be untrue.
This marks the first left side injury of Scherzer’s career. Before Thursday’s series finale against the Cardinals, manager Buck Showalter also said that Scherzer had been dealing with blisters as a result of the new baseball that’s seemingly irritating everyone around the league.
He’ll have plenty of time for the blisters to heal now, as it doesn’t sound like the 37-year-old will see a big-league mound until July.
“He’s been pitching with a blister issue, another thing with the baseball and the seams being different,” Showalter revealed. “He’s been pitching with that for his last two starts. That’s one of the reasons he’s really struggled with his breaking ball. He couldn’t command it. He was trying to keep that from ripping open again.”
As for the ball, Showalter said it’s not just the players who are growing frustrated with it.
“I’m telling you guys, it’s different,” Showalter said. “We’ve had batting practice pitchers talk about it, that throw batting practice for a living.”
No roster moves have been made yet, whether sending Scherzer to the injured list or bringing up someone to replace him. Showalter did say that Starling Marte is most likely going to join the team in Colorado on Friday “at the latest” and he hopes the outfielder will be able to fly there with the team. Marte, who returned to the Dominican Republic to be with his family, is on the bereavement list following the death of his grandmother.
“With the state of mind we’re assuming he’s in, we’re going to give him that space,” Showalter said of Marte.
In addition to Marte’s brief absence, the injury bug is also starting to make a home in the Mets’ clubhouse. Catcher James McCann had surgery on the fractured hamate bone in his left hand and is expected to rehab for about six weeks. Jacob deGrom is continuing to heal but still a ways away from making an official return. Starter Tylor Megill and reliever Trevor May are both on the shelf with injuries to their throwing arms. With Scherzer now suffering something of his own, the manager knows that the preparation of both him and the players in the organization is crucial.
“Every loss is an adjustment that organizations have to make,” Showalter said. “Shame on you if you haven’t at least thought about what you’re going to do if x player isn’t able to play for an extended period of time. There’s another opportunity for someone to step up. It creates good morale in an organization when Tylor Megill and [David] Peterson and [Patrick Mazeika] think that we’re going to look within first before we start coveting someone else. We’d like to have the answers be here.”
ADIOS, ALBERT?
Thursday’s matinee could very well be the last time Albert Pujols played at Citi Field. The 42-year-old future first ballot Hall of Famer got the start at first base and batted seventh. Knowing that Pujols’ time in Major League Baseball is nearing its end, Showalter was asked what has impressed him the most about watching The Machine over the years.
“The thing that always jumped out to be about Albert was his productivity without strikeouts,” Showalter effused. “The guy struck out less than 100 times a year. He’s one of those guys where there’s very few times you’d catch him and he wasn’t on his game.”
Entering play on Thursday, the three-time MVP and ten-time All-Star owned a .309/.392/.611 career slash line in 78 games against the Mets. He launched nine regular season home runs at Shea Stadium and three at Citi Field. In the 2006 National League Championship Series against the Mets, Pujols went 7-for-22 (.318) with seven walks, a homer and a double.
HISTORIC START
With their convincing 11-4 demolition of St. Louis on Wednesday night, the Mets moved to 25-14, tying the Dodgers for most wins in the National League. In the history of the franchise, only the 1988, 1986 and 1972 teams collected more wins in their first 39 games. Each of those three teams went 28-11 out of the gate.
While the ’86 team won the whole thing and the ’88 team won 100 games before falling to the Dodgers in Game 7 of the NLCS, the ’72 bunch ended up missing the playoffs altogether. After starting 28-11, those Mets went 55-62 the rest of the way. Ironically, the next year, the Mets finished the regular season with a worse record but still captured the division and the National League pennant.
Along with 2022, the only other time the Mets started 25-14 was 2007, a year that featured an infamous September collapse.
