How many players will represent the New York Mets in the All-Star game this year, and if it is only one, who is it?
Host Ryan Finkelstein breaks down the All-Star case for Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor, the two Mets who are most likely to get into the All-Star Game this season.
Also, a preview of the Mets' upcoming series against the Chicago Cubs.
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(upbeat music) ♪ It's the Lockdown Podcast Network ♪ ♪ Your team every day ♪ (upbeat music) - Who will represent the New York Mets at this year's All Star Game? We'll talk about it on today's show. (upbeat music) - You are locked on Mets. You're daily New York Mets Podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. - Hello to all you amazing Mets fans. You're listening to Lockdown Mets. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. Thank you for making Lockdown Mets your first listen every day. Lockdown Mets is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube. On today's show, we're gonna talk about the All Star Game. I'm gonna make the case for why Brandon Nemo and Francisco Endor are the most likely Mets to get into this year's game. I'll tell you which one I think actually does make it, if not both. So we'll go through Nemo's case from the first segment, Lidor's in the second. Then in the final segment today, I will preview what lies ahead as the Mets take on the Chicago Cubs this weekend. Before we get to any of it though, I'm Aaron, it's Ryan Fickelstein. If you wanna find any of my work, follow me on accent Fickelstein-Ryan. I can also find some of my writing at justbaseball.com where I work as the managing editor. Today's episode of Lockdown Mets is brought to you by Tax Network USA. Did you know that it's never too late to resolve your tax issues with the IRS? Don't wait, reduce your tax debt and get help from a team of licensed tax professionals by calling 1-800-549-1000 or visit tnusa.com/lockedon. We are less than a month away from the All Star Game. So I wanted to spend some time today, look at this roster and try to figure out who will be the representative of the Mets at the mid-summer classic. And you look at the voting right now. There's no chance that the Mets are going to get an All Star Game starter. Peter Lanzo is the closest. He's at fourth in the voting for his position. If you're not aware how the voting works, you can vote as I think it's like 10 entries a day. So you can vote a ton for these guys. You can just go on right now, type in All Star Game voting. You'll find a ballot. You can fill in all your Mets if you want to. And there are two phases now. So phase one wraps up. Think about a week before the game. Don't quote me on that. But there's a phase one of the voting. That's a longer period. And that will limit everything down to two candidates at each position in each league. And then phase two is a subsequent vote where you hope that you weed out the fan bases that are just stuffing the ballots for their team. And when the whole league or the whole league of fans gets to vote on the two players, you don't the best player gets in. So that's how it works. But the Mets are not going to have anybody in phase two. Allonzo is at 151,000 votes. That's fourth best in the National League. But Bryce Harper is at 1.1 million. Freddie Freeman is 713,000. Matt Olson, 154,000. So Allonzo, no chance on the vote. You look at Lindor. He is seventh in voting at 109,000 votes. He trialed Haysan Kim of the Padres. At the top of the ballot, you got Mookie Betts at a million votes. Trey Turner at 500,000. Betts hurt now. Turner's been hurt most of the year. L.E. De La Cruz, 324,000 votes. Orlando Arcea, 147. Willy Thomas, 137. We'll be talking a lot about L.E. Willy Thomas and Lindor in the next segment as it relates to the shortstop position in the National League. Look at outfielders. Strongly Martin Harrison Bader have each outvoted Brandon Nemo. How does that happen? So Nemo's not going to be voted into the Ulster Game and Martin Bader aren't either. When do you think it's the last time the Mets have had an all-star game starter voted in? You have to go all the way back to 2016. You went as cesspit as coming off the heels of his magical run in the second half of 2015, leading the Mets to a World Series. That was the last time the Mets got an all-star game starter. Prior to that, 2013, when it was at City Field, you had Matt Harvey on the mound. David Wright, starting in third base, his fifth time starting in third, I think his last all-star appearance. So, it's been a long time since the Mets have had an all-star game starter. And if I had to make my guess at the next time they'll get one, it could be this year if everything breaks right in short, it stopped for Lindor. And I'll explain that more in the next segment. But not likely. I think it might not be till someone like Francisco Alvarez becomes the player that we think he can be. Because I almost feel like homegrown players are what Mets fans will vote for. And maybe it's just a matter of the team having success. If the Mets went to the World Series at some point, maybe the following year, if they were still a juggernaut, you start to get the verter, the voter turnout that you would want. But for now, I just don't know who's going to start next, unless you get a pitcher who has an elite season, let's say Kodai Seng is healthy next year, and he's unbelievable in the first half. That's another way you can get an all-star starter in, because then voting is taking out of it. But who's going to represent the Mets this year? If you look at how this typically works, at most you're going to see three players per position, outside of outfielders, of course. And then it could be a ton. Last year, there was nine outfielders in the American League, but that'd be technically three per position if you look at it at left fields that are field right. So that was part of my parameters here, trying to figure out who would be an all-star for the Mets. So this is why I believe Piedelonza will not be an all-star. And speaking of a lot, so I talked about him on yesterday's show, why he needs the Mets, the Mets need him, and I broke down a contract. I think both sides would eventually accept. One thing I omitted from yesterday's show that I was kicking myself on today is the contract that I laid out, the $200 million dollar deferred money, the reason why we deferred that specific amount of money, and I'm talking about we, myself, and Christopher Soto, who is at Soto 803, I believe, on Twitter, if you just look at Christopher Soto, you'll find him. He does a lot of tax stuff, and is able to break down the numbers of baseball. So he helped me out. I said on the show that the reason why it was this much deferred money was to get the average annual value close to Brendan Imo. I forgot that really the reason I directed Soto to make it the way that I did was because I wanted the contract to be of the same value as that proposed deal from last year that was reported, where the Mets submitted an offer to Alonso for seven years, $150 million. So if you go back and listen to yesterday's show, put that in your mind. That contract that I laid out would get you to pretty much the exact number of the Mets already offered Alonso. So we know they'd probably be willing to give him that contract, and then you can go back and listen why I think Alonso would accept that. So just a side note, because I had to clean that up from yesterday's show, getting back to his all-star case, Pete Alonso, would he be one of the top three first baseman to make this team? If there are even three first baseman to make this team? Here's why I don't think so. You got Bryce Harper and Freddie Freeman. They are killing the votes, and they have the best numbers. They will be all-stars, barring injury. So who's the third guy? It could be Alonso, but Christian Walker has nearly identical stats to Pete Alonso right now. Really it's pretty much the same home runs, close to the same WRC+, the war, which is wins above replacement, favors Walker because he's the better defensive player, and he has some more RBIs. He has like 49, Alonso has 42. Alonso goes on a tear across the final month here. Maybe, and I guess if someone got hurt, that would be the other thing, but I just can't imagine it. Honestly, I think there's only going to be two guys in the National League this year at first base. It's just going to be Harper and Freeman. Stanley Marte, a friend shot at best. I just wanted to mention his name. Maybe, but I doubt it. Regira another one of those guys, honorable mentions. His stats, if you look at a wins above replacement, and maybe the advanced stats under his ERA, they're good, but he doesn't have the 1.2 ERA that would jump out enough for a non-closure to make it. So I don't see Garrett making the team. It came down to three guys in my mind. Luis Severino, Brandon Nemo, and Francisco Lindor. But then I looked at Severino's stats. He's 29th in wins above replacement, 22nd in ERA, 12th in innings, doesn't have nearly enough strikeouts. So now all of a sudden, I don't think Sevi's going to make it either, which brought it all down to Brandon Nemo or Francisco Lindor. Here's the case for Brandon Nemo. You sort it by war wins above replacement. That tells us how valuable a player is. Brandon Nemo is tied with to Oscar Hernandez for the fifth best mark in the National League. You have Jerksham Profar for nanotities and Christian Yellich as the top three in war. They're also the top three vote getters. So if the voters have it right right now, those guys should start the all-star game. Elliot Ramos of the Giants has been unbelievable. Doesn't even have a full season. He came up the middle of the year. He has just been on an absolute tear for them. He's got a 1.9 F-4, but that was before tonight's game. And I think he homered again. So he is right now fourth best in war. It might even be better than that. He should make the all-star game for the Giants. So that's the first reserve, in my opinion. That I just mentioned to Oscar Hernandez is tied with Nemo when it comes to war. But Hernandez leads all-outfielders in the National League in RBIs and in home runs. And he's on a big market team in the Dodgers that they would love to have as many representatives as possible. So I think Hernandez is going to be in it. That gives you your second all-star reserve. Now we don't know how many there's gonna be. Is there just one more? Is there potentially as many as three or four or more? I'm going to do this based on the notion that there's gonna be six outfielders representing the National League on this year's all-star team. So that's the case. Who are the players that Nemo is competing against? To me, it's actually guys that are potentially the lone representative for the team. And I guess Nemo fits that bucket as well. Jesse Winker, is he the Nationals all-star? It's either him or CJ Abrams if you look at position players. But Winker has the better numbers. At the same time, I looked at the pitchers. You have Mackenzie Gore, who's got a 3-2-4 ERA and has 91 strikeouts and 75 innings pitched. That's the guy my money's on to be the Nationals all-star. They also have Jake Ervin, who's a 3-2-4 ERA and 86 innings pitched. Not as much strikeouts, but another guy that's having a really good season. Trevor Williams has the Gaudy ERA of 2.22. Is Gaudy the right way to describe being ERA? Might not be. He has the sparkling ERA, whatever. Trevor Williams has been really good this year, but he's been hurt. So I don't imagine he's gonna be an all-star. I think it probably comes down to Winker or Gore. And my guess is Mackenzie Gore is gonna get it. Now, you look at the other outfielder that I think is competing with Nemo for this spot. It's Jaz Chisholm. He could absolutely be the Marlins lone representative in the all-star game. He's definitely their best position player. They don't have any other position player with a war over one. But there's the pitchers. I looked at Ryan Weathers and I thought, no chance. He's their best starting pitcher this year, but I don't think he's an all-star. And then I stumbled on Tanner Scott. The Marlins' closer was a 1-7-4 ERA. I bet you he will be the all-star for the Marlins. So then you look at the rest of the different outfielders. And Nemo stands out the most. He's top five and runs scored in RBIs. He's top 10 at home runs. His win runs creative plus is eighth. And again, war total, he's in the top five. So Brandon Nemo, based on what's around him in the National League and it has cleared out because Juan Soto, oh yeah, he's in the American League. Mookie Betz, he has a shortstop this year. Bryce Harper, he's a first baseman. Ronald Okuyu Jr., he tore his ACL, his other one. So that has cleared out a lot of the names and this has set the stage for Brandon Nemo to make his first career all-star game. He is my pick. I think Nemo will represent the Mets in the all-star game. Oh, Francisco Endord joined him. I'll talk about that in just a minute, first throw a word from our sponsors. Today's episode is brought to you by Stitch Fix. With Stitch Fix, you get a stylist who understands your style, size, and budget and they do all the shopping for you. It's the easiest way to update your wardrobe this season. You sign up for an account. You give all your preferences, the size, the style, the budget, all that stuff. 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If you want to be a Locked On Mets insider, find the link in the episode description. We're going to subtext.com/LockOnMets. Will Francisco Lindor finally make an All-Star team in a Mets uniform? Let's go through the shortstop position. As I mentioned before, Mookie Betts far away in the lead when it comes to voting. He's got a million votes. Trade Turner at 500,000 since second L.E. Daily Cruise in the 300,000 range. He has a chance to edge out Turner and get into phase two of the voting, but I believe Mookie Betts is going to be voted as the All-Star game starting shortstop despite the fact that he's hurt because we've seen Mike Trout get voted in as a starter time and again in the past, even though he was hurt. So I think Betts is going to end up being the All-Star game starter and that's going to help Lindor because Trade Turner has played half the games this season. He is hitting 340 and there could be a case made if he's great over this final couple of weeks that he still deserves it. But honestly, I just can't justify having a guy on the All-Star game that has missed so much time to get ready guys that have been in there day in and day out. So if Betts is voted as a starter, I don't think Turner gets in and that opens up the field a bit for Lindor. Now, I really think this comes down to three players. L.E. Daily Cruise, William Thomas, and Francisco Lindor and maybe all three of them get in. There's one caveat, Ezekiel Tovar. He right now is fifth in the National League in wins above replacement. It's Betts, L.E. Daily Cruise, William Thomas, Lindor, and then Tovar. Tovar is right above two wins above replacement. All those other guys are about 2.7 or better. Tovar, though, could be the Rockies lone representative. I think it's going to be McMahon, Ryan McMahon. I believe he is going to get in at third base because I just think that position is a little more wide open and I believe he deserves it and should be the guy. But if it's Tovar, you can certainly make a case. So we'll see that would throw a wrench in this, but I'm going to basically say that McMahon's going to get in and I'm going to table Tovar at this time. So that would bring us to those three guys. Daily Cruise, Adamus, and Lindor. Now, L.E. Daily Cruise is third in votes, right? So he definitely is marketable. He's one of the brightest young stars in the game. And you could also say he might be the res a little representative, although Hunter Green has a good case to be made on the pitching side. At justbaseable.com, we did our own vote. So we had a poll. We all picked our all-star teams. I had L.E. Daily Cruise as the all-star game starter. I think he should start. Because for one, you look at the stats between the Domus, Lindor, and L.E. when it comes to WRC+, and home runs and all these different things. Their marginal differences at best. The two biggest gaps you can find is RBIs were a Domus leads at 52 compared to Lindor at 37 and L.E. Daily Cruise at 31. And then you have stolen bases where L.E. Daily Cruise has 37 before the all-star break. That jumps out. And the fact that in the American League, you're going to have one of Gunnar Henderson or Bobby Wood Jr. starting the all-star game. I think Major League Baseball want to counter that with a young bright star in the National League. And L.E. is that guy. So I think L.E. is going to get in to this game regardless. And I believe he will probably start. So the question is who should get in a Domus or Lindor? You look at those stats again. They're close. A Domus having one of, if not the best year of his career. He has never been an all-star. Lindor bounced back after a rough start and is once again showing to be one of the best in the game. He's short the stats from April 10th to now. Francisco Lindor is leading all N.L. short stops and wins above replacement by half a win. Only Trey Turner and Mookie Bats have a higher WRC+ again. Stat measure hitters on a league average of 100. That's the all-encompassing stat that everyone looks at now to see who's the most valuable hitter. Lindor third best. Leads all short stops at home runs. He's short the stats by May 18th. Francisco Lindor is hitting 300, 366, 508. So 366 on base, 508 slug. This is when he got switched to the lead-off spot. His WRC+ of 152 is the best mark among all short stops. He trails only, actually all short stops in the National League, I should say. He trails only Mason win in batting average. Only Ezekiel Tovar and slug. Leads all short stops in on Bates percentage in WRC+. Also an OPS by 50 points. When you look at his War of 1.8, that is better than every short stop. And the next highest is at one win above replacement. And that's William Amis, Hae Sung Kim, and Ezekiel Tovar. If the National League looks back to last year, they will do what's right and make sure Lindor's in the All-Star game. 'Cause there was an injustice on Lindor last year. It was ridiculous, this guy was not an All-Star. Who got in over him? Giraldo Perdomo. At the end of his career, we're gonna say, oh, Giraldo Perdomo got an All-Star. And it's a slight to baseball history that this guy has an All-Star. And a guy like Lindor is gonna only be a four-time All-Star. We'll see if he gets in in a later year. But right now, he's only a four-time All-Star. When he clearly was a better player, we knew that at the break last year where Perdomo really only had two things going for him. His batting average was better than Lindor's. And you look at the WRC plus, they were identical. So offensive value, they were the same. But then you actually looked at the numbers a little bit more. Winds above replacement, nearly a win less. And then home runs, Perdomo had 14 less home runs. He scored 18 less runs, drove in 27 less. So Lindor had 19 home runs, 13 stolen bases, and 60 RBIs by the break didn't get in the All-Star game. He ended up, at the time he was leading the league in war along with Danby Swanson, who started for the Cubs. By the end of this season, Francisco Lindor led all short stops and winds above replacement, and home runs and runs scored on RBIs, who was third in stolen bases, and the only short stop to be in the 30/30 club, 30 home runs, 30 stolen bases. He should have been an All-Star last year. He was clearly, by the end of the year, the best short stop in the National League, clearly. And at the break, he was right there with Danby Swanson to be the best or the second best. And they put Perdomo in. So because of that, I'm hoping that things change this time around, but for some reason, I just don't know if they will. That's why I said Brandon Nemo is who I believe will start for, they're not start for the Mets, but I believe Brandon Nemo will be the Mets representative because for some reason, Lindor just does not get loved. I don't understand it. But he's been the hottest short stop for over a month now. And you look at the numbers. He's right there with all these guys. He's right in line with the Namas. I think all three of them should make it quite honestly, because if you look at the top 10 in wins above replacement in the National League and you include Mookie Bets in that, it's not gonna play. You have L.E.D. of the Crews, Willie and Namas and Lindor all in the top 10. So I think there should be three short stops and Lindor should be one of them. The fact that Tovar could get in and knock him off, that worries me the fact that Trey Turner could get Boulder in as the starter and then that would take up a spot that worries me. Ultimately, I believe that Lindor finally gets in as I met this year along with Brandon Nemo. But I had to put my money in one of the other. The fields in the outfield is so wide open. There's just not a lot of guys who are worthy of being all-stars. And I think Brandon Nemo has a more open shot at it, more of a clear runway. Whereas Lindor, it's definitely more crowded. So I don't know how it's gonna shake out in the past history of this. Makes me more worried. Also, I feel like if they can give a guy a first all-star nod, sometimes that ends up being the tiebreaker. That's why I think Adamus might get in over Lindor. And that's also why I think Nemo has a better shot from the outfield perspective. Anyway, we're gonna talk now, Metz vs Cubs for this weekend series. I'll get to all that in just a minute. First, throw a word from our sponsors. Today's episode is brought to you by Tax Network USA. Here at the lockdown, Metz, we pride ourselves on getting you the latest news for your team, whether it's the off-season, the drafts, from the training of the playoffs, it's year round. Do you know what else is year round? Collection season. Just because tax season's over doesn't mean the IRS will stop coming after you for your unfiled taxes. The IRS can garnish your wages, deliver your bank accounts that can even seize your property, go let the IRS target you, let the licensed professionals and tax experts at Tax Network USA go to bat for you. There were 14 years of experience in an A-plus rating by the Better Business Bureau, Tax Network USA has saved their clients over $1 billion in tax debt. Whether your taxes have complicated matters that require tax planning or finally hit that parlay this season and need help correctly filing, call 1-800-549-1000 or visit tnusa.com/lockedon or see the link in the episode description below. - The lockdown MLB Fantasy Minute is presented by PrizePix, PrizePix is the most fun of head playing daily fantasy baseball and winning up 25 times my money. Download the app today in user code lockdownmlb for first deposit match up to $100. Exploring my skills on PrizePix this season, it's an extra layer of excitement to daily fantasy sports with just a few taps you can transform $10 into $1,000 if you've got the skills. PrizePix is incredibly user friendly, I could make my selections and submit my entries in less than 60 seconds. And as a host of lockdown fantasy baseball, I got some great picks to get you started with. Off for Aaron Nolive, higher than five strikeouts in his next game. Off for Jonathan India to have higher than 1.5 total bases in his next outing and off for Big Daddy Bryce Harper to have higher than 0.5 home runs in his next game. Download the app today in user code lockdownmlb for first deposit match up to $100. Again, download the app today in user code lockdownmlb for first deposit match up to $100. Pick more, pick less, it's that easy with PrizePix. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Game six of the Stanley Cup finals is on tonight. If you wanna miss out on any delays from the world of sports, make sure you check out Lacton Sports today. It's gonna be 24/7 on YouTube. One little note before we get into our series preview, Brett Bade, you started another game at second base in AAA and he hit it to your own homer. At second base, I think Jeff McNeil still has until the all-star break to try to get his season going. I think they're gonna give him that much time. I really do, especially 'cause the team has played so well. So there's no rush to get McNeil. I mean, you want McNeil to start hitting, but there's no rush where you think, "Oh, he's the reason why we're not winning." The Mets are doing good. So I don't think there is that pressure to make a move and you still have a glaze CSU has played well in his limited run. But if he struggles and we eventually get to a point where Brett Bade is starting regularly at second base in AAA, that's when we take notice. For now, it's been two starts. So I think it's just, hey, let's give him some work there. So if he does, or if and when he comes back to the Big League roster this year, he has that in the toolkit. But if we see a week where Brett Bade starts three or four games that are out at second, that means that a move is coming. So that's just something that we will continue to monitor throughout this season. Now, Luis Trenz will not be with the Mets for this series. He's heading to the paternity list. Joe Hudson will take his place. And funny enough, the Mets claim Joe Hudson off of waivers from the Cubs back in April. He has an 833 OPS in AAA this year. 330 catcher with that much big league experience. I'd be surprised if we even saw Hudson in a game, honestly. The Mets had an off day, of course, on Thursday. They have an off day on Monday. I think Avros will start all three games. We'll also see Tomás Nido in this series. I can't remember if I mentioned this on a prior show to figure mine as well now. Tomás Nido has signed with the Cubs. He was released by the Mets after he'd cleared waivers. Yes, nobody wanted to pay Tomás Nido a little bit more than the league minimum. I can't remember what his contract was. $2.1 million, something like that. So at that dollar amount, he clears waivers. He could have refused an assignment to AAA. So the Mets release him sort of instead of even ask him to assign, they just release him. He goes and he gets the chance to sign anywhere he wants to. And he ends up with the Cubs, which is a really nice spot for him. They DFA young goams to put Nido on the roster. And I think he's going to get a lot of run there. He could be the starting catcher for the Cubs by the end of the season. I don't imagine this is a Travis Darnot situation where Nido suddenly becomes a stud offensive catcher, but you never know. I'm still wishing him nothing but the best. 12 years with the Mets organization, by all accounts, an amazing guy team made the whole work. So hopefully he gets a chance here and can really carve out a long career and maybe a long home in Chicago. But I hope that the bat doesn't get going until Monday. The Cubs this season are 36 and 39. They are even with the Mets in the log car race. Both teams, three games under 500. They've gone five and five in the last 10 games. They're coming off a serious victory against the Giants. You look at the matchups for this series. Jose Quintana vs Shoda Imunaga game one, hate that matchup. Don't like it at all. Imunaga had a blip on the radar start against the Brewers at the end of May where he gave up seven earned. Then his next start, he gives up five runs on the only one of them was earned, but he got knocked out in the fifth inning against the White Sox. So you might have thought, is the league figuring him out? Last two starts tell us Nodelique has not figured him out. He went six and two thirds, allowed two runs with seven strikeouts against the Reds. And then his most recent start, seven innings, one earned six strikeouts against the Cardinals. The Mets faced Imunaga on May 1st. He pitched seven shut out innings, allowed three hits, one walk, seven strikeouts. Gonna be a really tough matchup. He has a 1-8-90 array on the season. Is 0.99 whip and he's a guy that has already embraced being sort of a star in Chicago. So pitching in front of the home crowd. I don't love that game for the Mets. I really don't. I wanted to look up Jose Quintana's Wrigley stats because he did spend some time in his career with the Cubs. 20 and 10 record, so he fared pretty well. But ERA of 4-4-2 and 234 innings pitch. Definitely a game the Cubs theoretically should win. And they have not listed their other two starters for this series, but I looked and in the past it has been Jameson Tyone and Javier Asad that have followed up Imunaga. So I imagine it's gonna be McGill versus Tyone in game two. Tyone has a 3-0-8 ERA on the season. Last two starts have been quality start. He's been very good this year. And he faced the Mets at the end of April. Seven and a third innings pitched. One on run, one strikeout. So not a lot of strikeouts, but remember in a very good game against the Mets. As did Javier Asad, who has a 2-7-5 ERA in the season, went five innings, allowed one run against the Mets. His time faced in the mid-shear. David Peterson will square off against Asad. Pigeon matchups favor the Cubs in this one. Like pretty much across the board. With that said, the Mets are the hotter team and they definitely have the hotter bullpen at the moment. The Cubs have been struggling to close games. Hector Norese has been there closer this year. He has a 4-7-3 ERA. He has allowed runs in each of his last three outings. The Cubs as a team have a 4-5-3 ERA in their bullpen, which is near the bottom of the pack. Majorly baseball. They have 18 saves as a team. 34 attempts. They've blown 16 saves this year. The Mets have blown 12 for context. We know how bad it got for the Mets in that department. With that, when Diaz going through his struggles and then the closer by community, which never really worked for the Mets at the end of May. So, if you look at this series, what's going to be the difference? The lineup for the Mets. Can they turn some good stars and make them look bad? We've seen them do that lately with Dylan Cease, John Gray in particular. Can they look at Eminaga who carded them last time and find their way to a huge, huge game? I will acknowledge that in that last time where Eminaga faced the Mets. Francisco Aversa is on the I.L. Marc Vientos was in AAA. Those two guys being the lineup is going to help a lot. Jamie Martinez is hotter now than he was then where he was still just getting his feet wet. So, maybe the Mets can do some damage against the very tough left-handed pitcher, but it's hard to count on that. So, it's going to be a tough one for the Mets. I think they are in a position here where they've made it so close to an outstanding June and they just have to get it across the finish line. If they can win this series, they can split their series against the Yankees, the two-game set, and then win against the Astros to close out this month. It'd be a five and three finish over these last eight games and they would finish June with a 16 and eight record heading to July, one game under 500. I think that would be fantastic if the Mets can pull that off. Especially considering how late their schedule gets once they turned page to July. Anyway, that's going to be all for today's edition of Locked On Mets. I'll be giving you shows throughout the weekend as well and we pushed back our Friday far report, which typically would have been, of course, today. It's going to be a Saturday far report. So, tomorrow's show, I'm going to break down some of the best stories going on right now in the Mets minor league system as well as the game, which is an afternoon game as well, I believe. Mets first Cubs here. I think both of the first two games are 220 starts, Eastern time, and then on Sunday, it is Sunday night baseball between the Mets and the Cubs. I also almost forgot to mention, I'm undefeated this year when I go to Mets games. I'm not going to be there for this series, but my dad is also undefeated. He's been there with me for two of the three games I've been at, and that's one of both games. So, we will learn if this is all about me or if it's about him as well as he's going to be at a couple of these games. It's going to be there on Friday and Sunday with my brother-in-law and I think my sister's going to one of those games. My sister and brother-in-law, they live in the Chicago area. My parents, Snowbirds out there for the summer. So, we'll see if my dad gets to enjoy some Mets baseball. I don't know if he knows that Imanaga is going, he might be figuring out right now, is he's walking his dog Hershey or if he's jogging. He might be just learning this, but I'm excited for them to get to go to these games. It's been killing me. I had some real FOMO. I really wanted to hop on a bird fly out, but I got a lot of traveling ahead myself coming up in the next couple months here. So, just couldn't end up pulling the trigger on it, but I'm excited for them to get to go to these games. And we'll see if I'm the good luck charm or if it's just a Finkelstein thing. We'll figure it out. But anyway, again, I'll be back for a show tomorrow, breaking down prospects, breaking down this first game. Make sure if you're listening on the audio side, you follow rate and review where we get to podcasts. We're watching on YouTube, hit that subscribe button, trying to make a push to 9,000 subs. I appreciate all of you who continue to subscribe. You found me on acts at Finkelstein Ryan while the show locked on Metz. You want to be locked on Metz Insider? Find the link in the episode description. Go to subtext.com/lockedonmetz. And also, thank you for making lockdown Metz your first watch, your first listen every day. Now, fair second watch. Head over to Lacton Sports today on YouTube to stand up to date with all the latest in the world of sports. Lacton Sports today is also streaming 24/7 on Amazon Fire TV. - A prime member. 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