Mets grab narrative from Phillies entering NLDS by rolling out Kodai Senga for Game 1
New York Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga will pitch in the first NLDS game against the Philadelphia Phillies during a press conference at Citizens Bank Park Philadelphia PA Friday, October 4, 2024. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
PHILADELPHIA
These Mets love a good plot twist, don’t they?
After a dizzying week of walking the tightrope, repeated white-knuckle trips through Atlanta and Milwaukee (twice), multiple season-saving heroics, a pair of champagne-soaked clinching parties and the introduction of yet another lucky talisman — behold the Playoff Pumpkin! — the Mets landed in Philadelphia for the Division Series.
We figured that would mean back to baseball business as usual, against a longtime NL East rival in familiar though hostile surroundings.
Not quite.
For these Mets, the default position is chaos, and to expect anything less than the unexpected would be a gross miscalculation. Which is why manager Carlos Mendoza sat in front of a microphone Friday on the eve of Game 1 of the Division Series and blew our minds with an answer to a fairly innocuous question.
Reporter: “Who is starting for you tomorrow?”
Mendoza: “Kodai Senga.”
Well, sure. Of course. Why not use the guy who’s pitched a grand total of 5 1⁄3 major-league innings this year, way back on July 26 against Atlanta, before disappearing again with a calf injury that returned him to indefinite rehab limbo, where Senga spent almost the entirety of his second Mets season.
There are secret weapons and then there is Senga, whose enigmatic 2024 status would make for a compelling X-Files episode. Penciled in to be the ace of the Mets’ renovated rotation, Senga was knocked out by a mid-February shoulder strain, then shrouded in mystery until he finally hit the minor-league rehab circuit, leading up to that calf-sabotaged start at Citi Field.
For months, Mendoza spoke about Senga like a UFO sighting. Grainy snapshots of his progress, blurred timelines. Maybe something was there, but it was hard to tell.
And now the Mets insist they are completely comfortable sticking Senga, fresh off Monday’s 25-pitch live batting practice session, on center stage in the hornets’ nest known as Citizens Bank Park, against the NL East champs, in the Mets franchise’s biggest game since the 2015 World Series run.
It’s a bold strategy. Given Senga’s relatively light workload, he seems best suited to be utilized as an opener, probably with Tylor Megill or David Peterson following as a piggyback starter. But with Senga, who knows? Mendoza wasn’t about to reveal their plans or give any hints of what he’s truly capable of. And neither was Senga despite numerous attempts, framed different ways, to draw that intel out of him.
On the last try, Senga was asked how many pitches he is “personally comfortable” throwing in Game 1. His response reminded us how much fun it was having him around on a regular basis before this injury-marred season.
“I’m ready for whatever,” he said through his interpreter. “If they say 10 pitches, I’m all in for 10 pitches. If they say 200, I’m in for 200.”
Truth is, we wouldn’t doubt him either way. Because here’s the thing with Senga: as difficult as it was for the Mets to get a dependable read on his recovery from shoulder, triceps and calf injuries, they seem to be extremely confident in his ability once he climbs the mound.
Mendoza pointed to his lone start, when he allowed two hits and two runs and struck out nine against a dangerous Atlanta lineup.
Saturday’s Game 1, however, is going to be a far more challenging test. Philly in October isn’t Flushing in July, and that’s where Senga’s ace experience has to play a factor. It’s a big dice roll, with considerable risk, and the Mets are putting a lot on the shoulder of a pitcher they’ve barely evaluated at the major-league level this season. It feels like a Grand Canyon-size leap of faith.
“I think with a guy with his talent, I don’t think it takes much at all,” pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said. “Because he knows himself really well and we trust him.”
So much so that Mendoza and Hefner said they green-lighted him after Senga gave them the thumbs-up on Wednesday. Again, that’s not much to go on, other than taking Senga’s word for it, along with the notion that he’s presumably healthy now after spending almost seven months doing nothing more than rehabbing since the Mets broke camp in Florida.
Still, Senga hasn’t pitched in a high-leverage situation since July, and you can’t mimic playoff intensity in Syracuse, Binghamton or Port St. Lucie.
Sending him out there for Game 1 is an experiment that could blow up in the Mets’ faces, robbing them of all the momentum they’ve built up during this week’s incredible roll, a valuable ally that can be earned only at this time of year.
But there’s a big upside, too. The Phillies haven’t seen Senga this season, so he should be immune to the muscle memory they can flex against the Mets’ pitching staff as a whole. Plus, the dazzling Senga, with his signature ghost fork, could really mess up a potentially rusty Phillies team that has been idle all week waiting for an opponent to show up.
“The team believes in me,” Senga said, “and I believe in myself.”
And with Senga, anything’s possible. Just like the Mets these days. The chaos has worked, so there’s no point in messing with a good thing now.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.