Fresh off winning road trip, Mets return home to face Royals (2024)

Coming off a resounding 16-4 win over the Braves that gave them a series win yesterday afternoon, the Mets (5-7) return to Citi Field for three games against the Royals (9-4) this weekend.

Considering how poorly the Mets started the season, their 4-2 road trip to Cincinnati and Atlanta was a major step in the right direction. They’re set to face a Royals team that has gotten off to an excellent start this season and sits just a half-game back of the first place Guardians in the American League Central.

The Mets began their road trip with a lineup that was overwhelmingly struggling, but they’re set to start this series with eight hitters sporting a league-average or better wRC+. Jeff McNeil is just off that pace and could soon make it nine, and the only regulars hitting significantly below league average are Harrison Bader at 55 and Francisco Lindor at 18.

On the pitching side of things, the Mets’ rotation and bullpen are playing fairly well. Both rank in the upper part of the league in team ERA in the early going, and the rotation figures to gain some stability when José Buttó presumably joins it. Thanks to the game that was postponed in Atlanta on Wednesday night, the Mets could choose to call up Buttó during this series against the Royals or to wait and call him up for their series opener against the Pirates on Monday.

As for the Royals, they’re doing just about everything well so far this year. Collectively, their pitchers rank second in all of baseball in ERA, and at the plate, the team has a 118 wRC+ that ranks seventh.

In terms of former Mets, Kansas City has two: pitchers Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo. The former is scheduled to pitcher in this series, but the latter—who remains a starting pitcher after successfully making that long-desired transition in San Diego last year—is not.

Friday, April 12: Luis Severino vs. Michael Wacha, 7:10 PM EDT on SNY

Severino (2024): 10.0 IP, 13 K, 2 BB, 1 HR, 3.60 ERA, 2.51 FIP

If you like high strikeout rates and low walk rates, Severino has had you covered in his first two starts in orange and blue. He’s looke pretty good along the way, too, and gave up just three hits in his second start, a massive reduction from the twelve he gave up in his first start.

Wacha (2024): 12.0 IP, 13 K, 2 BB, 1 HR, 2.25 ERA, 2.63 FIP

If you remember how poorly Wacha pitched for the Mets in the shortened season in 2020 or for the Rays in 2021, you might find it hard to believe that he’s been a pretty good pitcher since the start of the 2022 season. Having spent that year with the Red Sox and the 2023 season with the Padres, Wacha now has a 3.22 ERA and a 3.95 FIP dating back to that time.

Saturday, April 13: Sean Manaea vs. Alec Marsh, 1:40 PM EDT on SNY

Manaea (2024): 11.0 IP, 14 K, 4 BB, 0 HR, 0.82 ERA, 2.30 FIP

Like Severino, Manaea has made a great impression in his first two starts with the Mets and has put up plenty of strikeouts while limiting his walks. It’s super early, but if he and Severino were to continue pitching anything like this, the Mets’ rotation might look flat out great—especially if Kodai Senga is ready to return not too long after his stint on the 60-day injured list is up.

Marsh (2024): 11.2 IP, 8 K, 2 BB, 0 HR, 3.09 ERA, 2.35 FIP

Marsh fits the theme here, albeit with fewer strikeouts than the other three aforementioned pitchers. Still, there have been enough strikeouts in his first two starts, not many walks, and generally good performance. In his rookie season with the Royals last year, Marsh split his time between the rotation and the bullpen and had a rather unsightly 5.69 ERA and a 5.70 FIP in 74.1 innings with a good strikeout rate, a not-so-great walk rate, and a significant issue with surrendering home runs.

Sunday, April 14: José Buttó vs. Cole Ragans, 1:40 PM EDT on SNY

Buttó (2024): 6.0 IP, 6 K, 3 BB, 0 HR, 1.50 ERA, 2.72 FIP

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza announced that Buttó will start on Sunday. It’ll be his second major league start of the season, and his first one went pretty damn well. The fact that he looked as good as he did probably made it a lot easier for the Mets to move on quickly from Julio Teheran.

Ragans (2024): 17.1 IP, 21 K, 6 BB, 1 HR, 2.60 ERA, 2.58 FIP

Picked up from the Rangers in the trade that sent Ardoldis Chapman to Texas at the end of June last year, Ragans has been nothing short of spectacular since getting to Kansas City. While he had some major league experience in Texas in 2022 and early in 2023, he put up a 2.64 ERA and a 2.49 FIP in 71.2 innings following the trade last year and looks to be in almost exactly the same form thus far this year. Early season stats are weird, so he only ranks 35th among qualified starters in ERA right now, but the 26-year-old lefty seems like he’s capable of moving up those ranks significantly as the season progresses.