Reese Kaplan -- Be Careful What You Wish For

Do you remember when we were all sitting around bemoaning the fact that this virus kept us from enjoying baseball?  It was like a part of us was stolen and we couldn't grasp the loss.  We'd experienced it before with player strikes, owner lockouts and the like, but this time there was no clear enemy other than the disease itself.

Then in late July the season actually began.  It was indeed strange, with no fans in the stands, players often wearing masks or scarves around their faces, a National League DH(!), 7 inning double headers and players floating in and out of the primary lineup to the taxi squad which has taken up residency nearby in Brooklyn.  It was back, but it was bizarre.

The revelation from Florida that a player and a staff member were diagnosed as positive with the disease was surprising but not shocking.  After all, hadn't the Marlins, Phillies, Reds and other teams faced this same situation?  After all, the Mets were in Miami, the epicenter of poorly controlled clubhouses and undisciplined players that resulted in the largest outbreak and longest shutdown by any team this season.  

Now the Mets were facing their own shutdown of four games over five days (including a planned day off).  That kind of raised the surrealism of the 2020 season to a whole new plane.  Teams all around the league were playing games but the Mets were sitting down.  It didn't seem right.  

However, as word filtered out that the players who were suspected of having been exposed left in Florida could return to New York and that the results of the widespread testing revealed no additional problems, the Mets team, MLB administration and fans heaved a huge and collective sigh of relief.  It was handled well, caught early, and isolated properly.  

Unfortunately the five day break is now going to cause an even loftier Salvador Dali moment when the club must play multiple double headers resulting in 9 games played over a 6-day period.  Extrapolate things further and the Mets have 34 games to play in 34 days.  I'm allready feeling empathy for, of all unlikely people, Robinson Cano and his aching legs.  

The biggest issue for the Mets, of course, is the pitching.  Everyone is holding their breath that the time away during the forced break will make injured pitchers Michael Wacha and David Peterson once again available to join the mix.  As it is, even if they are fully available, it doesn't answer the overall nagging question about who is going to pitch all of these innings that are coming up in rapid succession.  Let's assume for the moment you have Jacob deGrom, Rick Porcello, Michael Wacha, David Peterson and (ugh) Steve Matz.  Let's also assume you can bank on 5-6 innings per start from each of them.  That still leaves an awful lot of empty innings to fill.  If someone gets shelled early in the game, you have to decide if your offense can withstand the drubbing of the pitcher, you are simply giving up on that game and we see a return of Luis Guillorme on the mound, or you instead burn out every available relief pitcher.

As it is, Seth Lugo was slated to move into the rotation in place of Matz.  That may or may not happen.  For now I'd expect there to be a six-man rotation with possible contributions from Walker Lockett and Franklyn Kilome.  Any way you slice and dice it, expect every relief pitcher to be forewarned that multiple innings are not an exception but the rule.  

Mets baseball is back...warts and all.