Mets Morning News for March 31, 2023

Mar 31, 2023 - 12:00 PM

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Meet the Mets

As per usual, the Mets won on Opening Day. This time, they started the season in Miami and led for almost the entire game. There was a bit of a hiccup when Max Scherzer gave up a game-tying home run in the bottom of the sixth, but Brandon Nimmo’s two-run double in the top of the seventh brought in the Mets’ fourth and fifth runs in what wound up being a 5-3 victory.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, Faith and Fear in Flushing, MLB.com, New York Daily News, Newsday, nj.com

You can watch Gary Cohen’s call of Nimmo’s two-run double.

Max Scherzer talked about the Mets’ win, as did Brandon Nimmo.

The Mets’ winning percentage on Opening Day was the best in the history of the league coming into the day, and it only got better.

Opening Day wasn’t a perfect day, as the Mets announced that Justin Verlander would begin the year on the injured list and that Bryce Montes de Oca underwent Tommy John surgery.

Verlander is not too concerned about his injury and described it as minor. Tylor Megill will take his place in the rotation for now, which lines him up to pitch the home opener on Thursday.

Pete Alonso likes hitting home runs.

José Quintana is hopeful that he’ll return to the mound this season.

Edwin Díaz is already working hard in his rehab.

Around the National League East

Travis d’Arnaud had a big day as the Braves opened the season with a win over the Nationals, but Atlanta ace Max Fried is likely to hit the injured list after suffering an injury covering first base.

The Phillies roughed up Jacob deGrom on Opening Day in Texas, but after Aaron Nola blew that lead, Philadelphia lost.

The Braves and Orlando Arcia agreed to a three-year deal and got pitcher Richard Lovelady from the Royals in a trade.

Phillies first baseman underwent ACL surgery.

Stephen Strasburg is very much not doing baseball activities.

Around Major League Baseball

Shohei Ohtani struck out ten in six scoreless innings, and he’s using PitchCom to call his own games without having to look at the device. Angels outfielder Hunter Renfroe made a wild catch during Ohtani’s start.

The Yankees are running out of uniform numbers, but Aaron Judge is comfortable being their team captain.

Dodgers pitcher Ryan Pepiot won the fifth spot in the team’s rotation, but he hit the injured list before he got to make his first start of the season.

The Guardians signed reliever Trevor Stephan to a four-year extension.

Rockies reliever Daniel Bard will begin the year on the injured list because of anxiety, which he wants to be open and honest about.

Starting yesterday, players making their major league debuts will wear a special patch that will later be used in very exclusive rookie cards.

If you’re keeping track of this sort of thing, Marcus Stroman earned the first ever pitch clock violation.

Levi Weaver of The Athletic is moving into a new role after covering the Rangers for several years and wrote about the team and the changes.

Speaking of the Rangers, they signed Rafael Ortega to a minor league deal after Ortega opted out of a contract with the Yankees.

Megan Thee Stallion threw out the first pitch at the Astros’ Opening Day game, which they lost to the White Sox.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

We made our bold predictions for the 2023 season and covered the team’s official announcement of its Opening Day roster.

Vas Drimalitis previewed the Mets’ first series of the year.

This Date in Mets History

As Brock Mahan put it at the time of this March 31 post: “The 1998 Mets home opener could have easily won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Baseball Season.”