The New York Mets (32-21) welcome the Chicago White Sox (17-36) to Citi Field for a three-game series starting on Memorial Day. These two clubs will be inextricably linked, with the Sox taking over the ‘worst record of the modern era’ mark from the Mets last season. Beyond that, both are regarded as the little brothers of their respective cities and, along with the Angels, form the triad of teams that typical fans regard as geographically secondary.
The Mets just won a series against the Dodgers, who are clinging to first place in the NL West. The Mets had a legitimate chance to sweep the series with Los Angeles, but they will gladly settle for two of three against the reigning world champs.
On Friday night, a rain delay knocked Griffin Canning out of the game early, giving the Dodgers a significant lead when play began. Despite battling back and tying the game in the ninth, neither team was able to get their offense going in extra innings, leaving the Manfred Man stranded in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth innings. As the Baseball Project famously stated, thirteen is never lucky, and the Dodgers broke through against Huascar Brazobán for a late-night win.
In game two, David Peterson outdueled Tony Gonsolin, and Juan Soto lined a double off the wall to drive in two runs away from a 5-2 victory. The main flaws in Peterson’s game were poor contact and bad luck. Edwin Díaz and Peterson saved a depleted bullpen after a loss in extra innings the day before, adding to their recent success.
The battle of the Japanese stars began with Shohei Ohtani hitting a solo home run off Kodai Senga in the game’s climax on Sunday night. Following that, Ohtani went five and a third innings without allowing another runner. Ryne Stanek, Max Kranick, and Reed Garrett closed out the final three and two-thirds innings. Pete Alonso’s two-run home run and an RBI groundout propelled the Mets back to 11 games over 500 and two games behind the Phillies in the National League East.
With Frankie Montas making his first rehab start over the weekend and Jared Young and Brandon Waddell being recalled, the Mets’ roster appears to be in transition over the next few weeks. Soto has recently shown signs of life, and Alonso and Francisco Lindor, despite being colder than they were a few weeks ago, are contributing to the lineup’s stability. Carlos Mendoza has effectively balanced the workload for many positions among players like Jeff McNeil, Luisangel Acuña, Starling Marte, and Mark Vientos, despite some uncertainty at catcher, second base, and third base.
The debut of Brett Baty may clean up the infield picture, mainly if Vientos can produce more from the designated hitter role, leaving McNeil and Acuña to share time at second base, with McNeil getting a few starts in center field. The bigger worry is catcher right now, with Luis Torrens continuing to improve on both sides of the ball and Francisco Alvarez seeming lost at the plate most nights. Alvarez is still young, has recently returned from injury, and is performing well defensively, but having a greater offensive presence behind the plate and in the lineup could benefit the Mets’ bottom half of the lineup.
The reality tempers anything you can say about the 2025 White Sox that things could be far worse. After a record-setting 2024 season (41-121), the Chicago White Sox had nowhere to go but up. While the club lost 12 games in a row in April and had only three wins in 26 games, May has been much better for the South Siders.
May 26: Holmes vs. Houser Pitching Matchup, 4:10 PM on SNY
Holmes (2024): 54.2 IP, 53 K, 20 BB, 5 HR, 3.13 ERA, 3.59 FIP, 79 ERA-
Holmes rebounded from a difficult start in the rain against the Pirates on May 14 with a solid start against the Red Sox last week. If the Mets hadn’t fallen into an offensive rut in mid-May, eight innings, four hits, five strikeouts, three walks, and two earned runs would have been deemed a solid start. Holmes hasn’t pitched less than six innings in May, and he hasn’t gone less than five since his second start of the season. While it is too early to consider the Holmes experiment a complete success, the Mets and Holmes have done an admirable job with the change so far.
Houser (2024): 6.0 IP, 2 K, 3 BB, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA, 3.91 FIP, 0 ERA-
Adrian Houser, an old buddy, appeared in 23 games for the Mets in 2024 after joining the club in the same deal that landed Tyrone Taylor in December 2023. Since then, Houser has been on quite the rollercoaster. He was signed as a free agent by the Cubs in August 2024, released three weeks later, signed with the Orioles the same day, elected free agency at the end of the season, signed with the Rangers in December, and then released by the Rangers in May, all without making another major league appearance.
Houser, on the other hand, made his first start in over a year last Thursday, pitching six scoreless innings against the Mariners while allowing only five baserunners (2 hits, three walks) and striking out two. Before everyone gets too excited about Houser’s upcoming Cy Young tour, consider this: in 39.1 innings in Triple-A this season, he has an ERA over five and eight home runs.
Mets vs. White Sox, May 27: Megill Faces Smith at 7:10 PM on SNY
Megill (2024): 48.0 IP, 66 K, 23 BB, 3 HR, 3.56 ERA, 2.83 FIP, 90 ERA-
Tylor Megill’s story is based on excellent Aprils and terrible Mays, so when his first three starts in May resulted in four earned runs and no appearances in the sixth inning, it appeared like history was repeating itself. The ship was partly righted with the series finale in Boston, where, while only pitching four and two-thirds innings, he struck out twelve, walked only one, and allowed one run. He was cruising until the fifth when he was BABIP-ed to death. Hopefully, this is a sign of a turnaround, and with a weak lineup to oppose him, Megill can continue his march toward a successful June.
Smith (2024): 53.1 IP, 49 K, 18 BB, 3 HR, 2.36 ERA, 3.32 FIP, 59 ERA-
Undrafted free agents who played college ball at a good school seldom make it to the big leagues, but Smith signed with the Brewers following Tommy John in 2021 and then joined the White Sox via the Rule 5 Draft last year. His 2.36 ERA in ten starts is already impressive for a Rule 5 starter, but a closer look beneath the hood reveals even more reasons to be optimistic. He’s limiting hard contact, striking out nearly three times as many batters as he walks. While his FIP is almost exactly a run higher than his ERA, the majority of that can be attributed to the White Sox terrible defense.
Canning vs. Burke – Tune In Wednesday, May 27 at 7:10 PM on SNY
Canning (2024): 50.0 IP, 47 K, 21 BB, 6 HR, 2.88 ERA, 4.02 FIP, 73 ERA-
Due to the weather, Canning only pitched two and two-thirds innings against the Dodgers on Friday evening. His stat line indicates that he gave up three earned runs that night. Still, there are several caveats to consider, including a tagging up rule that no one appeared to be aware of and a rain delay that caused Canning not to return. Max Kranick was the recipient of a slick infield, which resulted in subpar fielding and the Mets ending up in the hole. Canning has been consistent and unexpected all season, and excluding that weird start, the Mets have won all of his starts except his first against the Astros.
Burke (2024): 54.0 IP, 39 K, 30 BB, 9 HR, 4.33 ERA, 5.69 FIP, 109 ERA-
Following a strong start to the season, Burke struggled in April, giving 18 earned runs over 20.3 innings. May has been much better, with the exception of two weekends ago when the crosstown Cubs pounded him for five earned runs in four and a third innings. Like so many Red Sox pitchers, Burke is young and doing his best to keep the team in games, but the -49 Run Differential makes it difficult for the team to win games, even when pitchers like Burke give them cromulent starts.
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