The Mets have nothing left to play for but spoiler duty, and in Miami this week they're doing it to a Marlins club that still needs every win it can find.
WED SEP 9, 6:40 PM
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Mets
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New York hands the ball Wednesday to Robert Stock, the 36-year-old journeyman who's rebuilt a fringe career around a knuckle-curve and is squeezing a real rotation turn out of it this late in the year. Miami answers with Janson Junk, who's been chewing through 5-inning outings all summer trying to keep a beat-up rotation from cracking further.
The bigger swing factor for Miami might be in the bullpen, not the rotation: closer Pete Fairbanks, sidelined by a hand injury, has been throwing bullpens and could be activated as early as this game, which would hand the Marlins back their best relief arm right as this set closes out. New York's relief math looks thinner by comparison, with Devin Williams, Cionel Perez and Reed Garrett all still shelved — the kind of gap that keeps a board guessing until first pitch.
Whatever the price ends up saying, the stakes here are lopsided by design. New York is playing out a lost season, while Miami is trying to keep a thread of wild-card relevance alive and would rather this series not be the one that cuts it.
The Mets have won 2 straight and taken 2 of 3 from the Giants heading into the week, and they've already beaten Miami once in this set behind a 9-4 win in the opener. Both clubs still have a middle game against each other to get through first, so whatever streak or skid is sitting on the page Wednesday could look different by the time first pitch arrives at 6:40 PM ET.
Junk is trying to log innings for a rotation that's already lost Max Meyer, and never really had Robby Snelling or Adam Mazur healthy this season, so every start he stretches out matters more than his numbers suggest. Miami's lineup is also still without Xavier Edwards at the top of the order, and getting him back would do more for the offense than any single bullpen arm is likely to swing this particular game.
