Following a series win against the Nations, the New York Mets (56-69) get ready to host the suddently red-hit San Diego Padres (67-58). The Mets took two out of three from the Padres at Petco Park earlier in the season. Last year, the Mets took two out of three at Citi Field when the two clubs squared off in September.
The Mets flexed their comeback muscle over the weekend against the Nationals, winning all three games after trailing at some point in the contest. On Friday, they trailed 1-0 and had
one hit into the sixth, but a Francisco Lindor homer tied up the game, and the Mets scored another in the sixth and two more in the seventh to give the team a 4-1 victory in the series opener. On Saturday, the Mets grabbed an early 2-0 lead but ended up falling before 4-2 following a three-run blast from Brady House. However, Carson Benge brought them to within one with a home run, and they went ahead with two runs in the ninth thanks to a game-tying double from Francisco Alvarez and a walk-off hit by Francisco Lindor to cap off the 5-4 win to guarantee a series win. In the series closer, the Mets fell behind 2-0, but again mounted a rally by way of a three-run inning, with Luis Torrens’ fourth home run in seven days putting the team ahead for good in a sweep-securing 4-3 victory.
The sweep was the team’s second of the month, and their first at home since they swept the Marlins at the end of May. New York has now improved to 9-3 since selling off at the deadline. A big reason for this turnaround is the work of the bullpen, which is essentially an entirely new group of arms post-deadline. Between trading Brooks Raley, Luke Weaver, and A.J. Minter, and Devin Williams’ IL stint, the team has an entirely new group of arms from opening day, and they have risen to the challenge. Since August 3, the Mets own the third-best bullpen ERA (2.79) in baseball, trailing just the Brewers and the Astros in that stretch. The bullpen dominance was on full display this weekend, as the team’s relievers pitched 10 scoreless innings across the three games, scattering three hits while striking out 12 and issuing just one free pass. Two of the wins came courtesy of relievers picking up their first major league wins (Jonathan Pintaro and Jefry Yan).
The Mets have gotten some great performances in that span, notably from Daniel Duarte, who has settled in to the set-up role with the club. In 6 2/3 innings post-deadline, he has not allowed an earned run and has picked up a win and a save. On the season, he owns a 0.93 ERA in 19 1/3 innings after not pitching in MLB in the 2025 season. Nate Lavender has also been impressive, leading the bullpen with 0.2 fWAR since the deadline while not allowing an earned run in 4 2/3 innings. Xzavion Curry and Jefry Yan have each allowed one earned run in five innings, and the latter’s strikeout celebrations have been the talk of the town since his debut. And last (but certainly not least), the club has deployed Kodai Senga in a high leverage role, and he has excelled to this point. He has not allowed an earned run in five innings of work—you may remember he had an ERA approaching nine up until that point in the season—and has picked up the first three saves of his major league career (and don’t worry, he retrieved the baseball to add to his collection). While wins and losses hardly matter from here on out, all of these guys are competing for roles in next year’s bullpen, and so far they are showing the club that they may have some serious options to consider heading into the 2027 campaign.
The Padres are one of baseball’s hottest teams, having won 18 out of 27 games since the All-Star break, which includes an 11-4 record in the month of August. San Diego had their six-game winning streak snapped in Cleveland, though they recovered on Sunday to win the series, making it eight wins in their past 10 games. The streak has catapulted them into the NL playoff picture, and they find themselves tied with the Phillies for the second Wild Card spot while holding a slim one-game lead over their division rivals, the Diamondbacks. For reference, they entered the second half with a 48-48 record and were 3.5 games back of a playoff spot. They’ve also gained 4.5 games on the first-place Dodgers during this stretch and find themselves seven back in the NL West.
The Padres’ resurgence has, simply put, been fueled by their offense remembering how to hit the baseball. They have one of baseball’s most potent offenses, but guys like Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. really struggled in the first half of the season, which led to San Diego’s precarious position. Those guys have been much better as of late. Since the All-Star break, the Padres lead MLB with a 125 wRC+ and an .803 OPS. They’ve also scored the fourth-most runs (156) in baseball during this stretch and hit the fourth-most home runs (41).
Tatis Jr. has been raging hot since the break, leading the club with a 172 wRC+ while placing second with 1.5 fWAR in 28 games. He’s hit eight home runs since the break after managing just five in the first half and leads the club with 24 runs scored while slashing .292/.405/.594. Jackson Merrill has also come alive post-break, leading the club with 1.7 fWAR while placing second to Tatis with a 167 wRC+. He also leads the club in this stretch with nine homers and a .631 SLG, and is second in OPS (.984). Machado has also been better, though still below his career norms. Post-break he is hitting .237/.310/.377 with a 94 wRC+ and 0.4 fWAR in 29 games.
Monday, August 17: Nolan McLean vs. Walker Buehler, 7:10 PM EDT on SNY
McLean (2026): 136.2 IP, 159 K, 50 BB, 15 HR, 3.42 ERA, 3.57 FIP, 85 ERA-
McLean picked up his eighth loss of the year his last time out, though you could hardly fault the young right-hander. McLean surrendered just one hit over six innings, but that one hit was a solo home run, and the Mets were unable to score any runs to bail him out. Overall, he gave up just the one run and one hit, with two walks and three strikeouts over six frames. It was a nice bounce back after he allowed five earned runs over five innings in his previous start against the Guardians—ironically, that effort was enough to earn him a win thanks to New York’s offense exploding for 13 runs. That’s baseball, Suzyn.
Buehler (2026): 114.1 IP, 100 K, 47 BB, 14 HR, 4.88 ERA, 4.29 FIP, 122 ERA-
Buehler is back on the West Coast after spending much of his career with the Dodgers before bouncing around to Boston and Philadelphia. He has remained healthy all season and will be making his 25th start, his most since his 2021 All-Star campaign in L.A., which is right around the point where injuries started to affect his career. He is coming off one of his best starts of the year, limiting the Brewers to just one earned run on three hits, with five strikeouts and two walks over six innings as he earned his seventh win. He is far from what he used to be, but he’s still a solid pitcher.
Tuesday, August 18: Zac Thornton vs. Robbie Ray, 7:10 PM EDT on SNY
Thornton (2026): 45.1 IP, 29 K, 13 BB, 4 HR, 2.78 ERA, 3.88 FIP, 69 ERA-
Thornton picked up his third loss of the year his last time out in a start against the Braves. He was charged with three earned runs while surrendering a season-high seven hits in six innings. He struck out two, walked one, and allowed one home run in the loss. It was, however, a quality start, and he threw 59% of his 80 pitches for strikes. Against a tough and playoff-bound Atlanta squad, the left-handed Thornton continues to show that he belongs in this league and will continue to get chances to prove he deserves consideration for the 2027 rotation.
Ray (2026): 131.2 IP, 113 K, 65 BB, 17 HR, 3.28 ERA, 4.55 FIP, 81 ERA-
Ray was having a really mediocre season for the Giants, posting a 4.45 ERA through June 15, but he turned it on right around the midway point of June and has been one of the best starters in baseball since that point. In seven starts from June 16 through July 30, he posted a 1.45 ERA (the best mark among NL starting pitchers in that stretch) and a 3.25 FIP in 43 innings, picking up five wins and posting 0.9 bWAR in that stretch. That positioned him as one of the biggest trade chips of the deadline, and the Padres swooped him up. In two starts for the Padres so far, he’s pitched nine innings and allowed nine hits, six earned runs, and has walked eight while striking out six. Walks have been one of Ray’s biggest weaknesses this year, as his 11.9% BB% is the highest among qualified starting pitchers. He has walked at least four batters in seven of his 24 outings.
Wednesday, August 19: Robert Stock vs. Michael King, 1:10 PM EDT on SNY
Stock (2026): 12.1 IP, 13 K, 8 BB, 1 HR, 6.57 ERA, 4.46 FIP, 163 ERA-
Stock had a nice bounce back effort for the Mets after being tattooed for eight earned runs in three innings in his last start. The right-hander went 4 1/3 innings and allowed one unearned run on three hits. He matched a career high by striking out five batters and walked three. The outing will earn him another start for the Mets, and they will continue to roll with him so long as he can give them similar outings and keep them in games.
King (2026): 142.1 IP, 124 K, 56 BB, 17 HR, 3.41 ERA, 4.26 FIP, 85 ERA-
King is having another solid season for San Diego. The right-hander will be making his 26th start of the year and owns a 3.41 ERA across 142 1/3 innings. He is coming off back-to-back wins against the Astros and the Guardians, where he went six innings in each effort and combined to allow five runs (four earned) on 11 hits, with 10 strikeouts and two walks. He didn’t fare that well against the Mets earlier this year, allowing four earned runs on seven hits to pick up the loss back on June 5.
