THE Dishes landed in Milwaukee for a big three-game set against the Brewers and announced their pitching plans for Game 1.
Sean Manaeabecome the de facto ace of the staff, will take the mound Friday. However, the Mets have not yet announced who will pitch Saturday and Sunday in Milwaukee.
It’s probably the manager Carlos Mendoza and the rest of the organization will see where the team stands in the Wild Card picture after Friday’s games before making those decisions.
As of Friday, the Mets are tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the second wild card spot — although New York owns the tiebreaker. They are just one game ahead of the Atlanta Braves for the final playoff spot.
Before Wednesday and Thursday games against the Braves have been postponed, David Peterson was ready to pitch before Manaea closed out the series in Atlanta. Having Manaea pitching Friday could potentially line up the southpaw to pitch Game 1 of the Wild Card round on Tuesday — with three days of rest — if the Mets were to make it to October.
In 31 starts this season, Manaea is 12-5 with a 3.29 ERA. However, the 32-year-old has pitched magnificently over the past couple of months.
Manaea has pitched at least 6.2 innings in nine of his last 10 starts in August and September – including eight in a row. In his previous start, on September 21 against the Phillies, Manaea allowed three runs in seven innings in the Mets’ 6-3 victory.
The Brewers will send a veteran left-hander Frankie Montas (7-11, 4.85 ERA) for Friday’s series opener against Manaea with first pitch scheduled for 8:10 p.m.
