The New York Mets and San Diego Padres meet in Game 1 of the best-of-three Wild Card Series on Friday. In keeping with the rules of the new postseason structure, all games of this series will be hosted by the higher-seeded Mets. The winner of this series will advance to the best-of-five National League Division Series to face the NL West-champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
You can view the full postseason schedule by clicking here, and here’s the 2022 playoff bracket. Now, let’s get to the important stuff for Game 1.
How to watch
Date: Friday, Oct. 7 | Time: 8:07 p.m. ET
Location: Citi Field (Flushing, New York)
TV channel: ESPN | Live stream: Watch ESPN
Odds: TBA
Starting pitchers: RHP Yu Darvish (16-8, 3.10 ERA) vs. RHP Max Scherzer (11-5, 2.29 ERA)
Preview
Assuming the two teams in question are roughly evenly matched, the team that wins Game 1 of a best-of-three has a 75 percent chance of winning the series. So Game 1, suffice it to say, is critical.
This is one of the most intriguing pitching match-ups of the wild-card round. Darvish is a five-time All-Star who’s rebounded nicely from a sub-standard 2021. Scherzer is a three-time Cy Young winner and future Hall of Famer who at age 38 is still capable of performing at peak level when healthy. Batters presently on the Mets’ roster have combined to hit .254/.319/.459 against Darvish across their respective careers. As for Scherzer, current Padres over their careers have a slash line of .178/.253/.394 against him.
Prediction
The Mets will no doubt miss Starling Marte (finger) in this series, but it’s hard to be against Scherzer at home with an extra day of rest.
Pick: Mets 3, Padres 2
