It's up to Mets manager Carlos Mendoza to protect arms in rotation as NLCS progresses

One of the Mets’ biggest strengths, a major reason why they stood three wins from the World Series before Game 3 of the NLCS, was also a reason for concern as Luis Severino took the mound Wednesday night at Citi Field.

Because as sturdy as the Mets’ rotation has been, pretty much from Opening Day, there can be a toll to pay the deeper they pitch into October — especially for this group, which didn’t take a break during the regular season and has plowed right through the playoffs, too.

Severino, Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana each made 30-plus starts, with the first two totaling over 181 innings. As a rotation, the Mets ranked fifth in the majors in innings pitched — the next closest playoff team still left was the Yankees, at ninth. The Dodgers, whose starting staff was decimated by injuries, ranked 25th.

The Mets had a clear advantage over the NL West champs in that department, from a reliability and length factor. And despite that regular-season workload — made heavier by a history of medical issues — they’ve also stayed strong through October. As the only wild-card team remaining, the Mets had played nine postseason games before Wednesday night — two more than L.A. — with their rotation responsible for 43 1/3 innings (second place was the eliminated Padres, at 34 1/3).

That’s great, right? In this age of aggressive bullpenning, the Mets had bucked the trend this month — aside from Kodai Senga’s disastrous four-out cameo in the Game 1 loss at Chavez Ravine. It’s proved to be a winning formula, too. The more innings that manager Carlos Mendoza can get from the rotation, the less in-game moves he needs to make. Cycling through fewer arms means fewer chances for things to go sideways, along with keeping the bullpen better rested for later in the series.

For the Mets, however, it’s a fragile success. Manaea was huge in Monday’s Game 2 win, but after motoring through the first five scoreless innings, the Mets’ de facto ace conceded that he “hit a wall” with two walks to open the sixth. That got Mendoza’s antennae up quickly, and expect him to be on high-alert going forward. After eight months (including spring training) brilliance can fade in a hurry once the adrenaline wears off.

“We also have to understand where we're at in the season and where they're at physically,” Mendoza said before Game 3. “They're in territory now where nobody expected it. They took the baseball the whole year — Sean, Sevy, Q — and those are some of the things that we will consider when we're watching them.

“It's the middle of October, you know. So we'll talk about those things in the dugout and we'll make the decisions. But they're a big part of what we're doing here.”

Obviously, the Mets don’t come anywhere near October without this Herculean effort from the rotation, which only got five innings in July from Senga before he resurfaced again for the NLDS. The fact that the Mets' remaining Big Three all made it to the September finish line, and well beyond, was a scenario that no one could have seen coming.

In Severino’s case, he had pitched over 100 innings just once in the previous five seasons with the Yankees due to various injuries, and this year’s effort was the most he’d thrown since 191 innings in 2018. Since October began, Severino hasn’t been shy about saying that he’s tired, but acknowledges how it’s part of the gig this time of year.

The Mets signed Severino to a one-year, $13 million deal with high hopes for a bounceback season, betting on his prodigious talent and a 98-mph fastball. If they got around 25 starts, based on his injury history, that contract was a steal. As of Wednesday, Severino’s now up to 34, with a pair of superb six-inning starts that the Mets split (W in Milwaukee, L in Philly), and he’s closing fast on 200 innings total for the year.

“I’m not the same guy I was five years ago,” Severino said. “I understand that I got a bit older, so I need to stick to a routine . . . It doesn’t matter if we’re in the playoffs. Just sticking to my routine every day, come here like this is the first game of the season. So not worrying about how many innings I got. Just worry about what I need to do to feel good.”

That’s been a familiar refrain among the 30-something t starters. Each of them repeatedly credit the Mets’ training staff for keeping their arms intact this deep into October, and now it’s up to Mendoza to navigate them through (potentially) a World Series. They’ve more than earned Mendoza’s trust, but as Manaea showed when he fizzled fast in Game 2, the manager needs to grab the reins when necessary. It’s been a long ride, and yet there’s every reason to believe the Mets rotation can still get them where they want to go.

“Every single pitch matters,” Quintana said. “And sometimes we try to do too much when everything goes faster. But energy? I don’t think we need to worry about that.”

Count on Mendoza to keep an eye on his rotation’s gas tank, always hoping for a few miles more.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

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.