Before hitting the road, the New York Mets (60-74) will play a three-game weekend set with the Houston Astros (67-67). These two teams kicked off the 2025 MLB season, with the Astros taking two of three in their home ballpark. The two squads faced off at Citi Field to close out the month of June 2024, with the Astros also emerging victorious in two of the three games (however, the one Mets win was also notable for being capped off with a special postgame concert from Candelita).
The Mets were humbled
a bit at home in a series loss to the Brewers. They won the first game 3-2 thanks to a walk-off error in the tenth inning, and it only got to that point because Francisco Lindor made a spectacular diving play to save two runs in the top of the ninth after Austin Warren squandered the team’s 2-1 lead. The Mets lost the final two games by a combined score of 16-3, getting knocked around 8-1 on Wednesday and dropping the finale 8-2, as they had no answers for eventual NL Cy Young winner Jacob Misiorowski.
The starting pitching, which has been a strong as of late, crumbled in the last two games, with Robert Stock and Sean Manaea both getting pummeled in their respective efforts. Stock allowed seven earned runs—the second time this year he’s allowed at least seven earned runs in an outing—while Manaea was tagged for six earned runs. Manaea is still fighting for a spot in next year’s rotation, as he has one year left on his three-year, $75 million deal, but this could very well be the end of the road for Stock with the Mets. The team will likely look to the farm for his replacement (should it come to that), with Jonah Tong and Jack Wenninger performing quite admirably as of late after some struggles throughout the year. Tong specifically has bounced back from a rough start to his year, allowing two earned runs with 15 strikeouts over 14 1/3 innings in his last three starts.
One positive for Mets, at least on the offensive side of things, is that there has been movement on Juan Soto’s return attempt. During the week, Soto was seen taking multiple rounds of batting practice and getting reps in left field. Soto has not appeared in a game for New York since suffering a calf injury on July 24, but was having a great season before that. The All-Star outfielder was slashing .283/.408/.539 with a 158 wRC+ and 2.8 fWAR in 84 games played. Soto has had two separate IL stints this year, which has muted his impact and has not allowed him to replicate his 40-home run campaign from last year—he currently sits at 21 home runs. Even with the Mets out of the race, watching Soto play is one of the joys of being a Mets fan at this point in time, so his return will do wonders for the team’s watchability in September.
The Astros are in first place despite a mediocre .500 record. That speaks more to the putrid play of the AL West as a whole, as they hold a slim one-game lead over baseball’s other Texas team, the Rangers, who enter play with a 66-68 record. Last year’s AL West winners, the Mariners, are surprisingly not out of it despite entering play at 64-70. In fact, Seattle is just three back in the West and four back in the AL Wild Card race. Yeah, it’s bleak over in the other league. Houston began their New York swing by taking two out of three from the Yankees, which is encouraging for them. Despite being in first place, Houston did mutually part ways with GM Dana Brown this week, though they have said that manager Joe Espada will remain at the helm and won’t be going anywhere.
There’s really one player to watch on Houston: Yordan Alvarez. He is likely going to be the runaway AL MVP this year and is looking to become the first Triple Crown in MLB since Miguel Cabrera in 2012. He currently leads in each of the categories, with the best batting average (.319) in the AL, as well as the most home runs (36) and RBI (91), though former Met Pete Alonso recently tied Alvarez with 91 runs batted in, putting a possible dent in his efforts to bring home the Triple Crown. He also leads all AL hitters in OBP (.434), SLG (.609), OPS (1.044), wRC+ (183), and hits (152), and is second to Bobby Witt Jr. in fWAR.
Friday, August 28: Christian Scott vs. Hunter Brown, 7:10 PM EDT on SNY
Scott (2026): 89.1 IP, 111 K, 39 BB, 10 HR, 3.73 ERA, 3.67 FIP, 91 ERA-
Scott had a rough go in Chicago last weekend, and was unable to pick up a win despite New York staking him to a big lead. He was tagged for four earned runs, and due to a high pitch count was only able to last 4 2/3 innings, falling one out short of his fifth victory. He allowed five hits, which is fine, but the two home runs and the four walks were what really did the right-hander in. Despite that, the Mets picked up the win, making it 14-5 in Scott’s 19 outings this season.
Brown (2026): 74.1 IP, 76 K, 43 BB, 10 HR, 3.51 ERA, 4.68 FIP, 85 ERA-
Brown suffered a Grade 2 right shoulder strain back on April 5, which cost him two months of his 2026 season. As a result, he hasn’t been able to replicate his 2026 success, where he finished third in AL Cy Young voting, made the AL All-Star team, and posted 5.9 bWAR, a career best. He is coming off a solid outing, holding the Athletics to one earned run over 5 2/3 innings, though he did walk three. The walks have really been his kryptonite in 2026. Among all MLB pitchers, starter or reliever, who have accumulated 70 innings pitched, his 13.7% BB% is the highest in baseball. As a small snippet, he’s walked 11 over 15 2/3 innings across his last three outings. Houston has lost each of his four starts in August.
Saturday, August 29: Nolan McLean vs. Cristian Javier, 4:10 PM EDT on SNY
McLean (2026): 148.2 IP, 168 K, 58 BB, 15 HR, 3.21 ERA, 3.61 FIP, 79 ERA-
McLean is coming off a dominant outing against the White Sox, limiting Chicago to just one hit over six shutout innings. The start wasn’t all sunshine and flowers, as he walked four, which is not what you want from McLean. He’s now walked four in each of his last two outings and has walked 13 in 23 innings across his four August starts. He continues to rebound from his early season struggles, however, and now has a 1.97 ERA across his last 10 starts as he looks to sneak back into the NL Rookie of the Year race.
Javier (2026): 40.1 IP, 38 K, 19 BB, 8 HR, 6.47 ERA, 5.34 FIP, 157 ERA-
Like Brown, Javier’s season has been derailed by an injury, resulting in the worst worst season of his major league career to date. He suffered a grade two shoulder strain, which put him on the shelf in April, and he wasn’t activated until July 3, with Houston bouncing back and forth between starting him and using him out of the pen. He enters play with -0.5 bWAR, which would represent the only time in seven seasons he’s finished with negative WAR. He’s picked up three losses in four August starts, and Houston has failed to come away with a victory in any of his outings. His last time out, he went four innings and allowed three earned runs on four hits in a no decision against the Athletics.
Thursday, August 27: Zac Thornton vs. Ethan Pecko, 3:10 PM EDT on NBC/Peacock
Thornton (2026): 56.1 IP, 40 K, 14 BB, 6 HR, 2.88 ERA, 3.85 FIP, 70 ERA-
Thornton is coming off a really impressive showing against the MLB’s best team. Against the Brewers, he limited the damage to one earned run on seven hits while striking out four. He was in command all night and did not issue a single free pass, the first time in ten major league starts where he did not walk a batter. He would have evened his record up at 4-4 had the bullpen not squandered a one-run lead in the ninth, but regardless, Thornton continues to be a bright spot in the rotation alongside the team’s other two young starters who are taking the hill against Houston.
Pecko (2026): 8.0 IP, 5 K, 7 BB, 2 HR, 7.88 ERA, 8.08 FIP, 191 ERA-
Pecko was drafted by the Astros in the sixth round of the 2023 MLB Draft and has climbed his way up the team’s farm system before being called up on August 16. He’s made two starts to date at the major league level. His debut went well, as he went 3 2/3 innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits, with four strikeouts and three walks. His second showing did not go as well, as he was tagged for five earned runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings against the Yankees. On the bright side for Houston, they have won each of his two starts.
