Kodai Senga will start for Mets in Game 1 of NLCS against the Dodgers
Mets pitcher Kodai Senga before NLDS Game 3 at Citi Field. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II
Able to arrange their rotation any way they want for the next round of the playoffs, the Mets decided not to overthink it.
Righthander Kodai Senga, their best pitcher, will start Game 1 of the NL Championship Series against the Dodgers on Sunday, manager Carlos Mendoza announced Saturday. And lefthander Sean Manaea, their most reliable arm throughout the year, will get the start for Game 2 on Monday.
“It was nice to have these conversations and have some choices and options,” Mendoza said. “But I don’t put too much into it, because we still gotta go out there and play well.”
The Dodgers will use righthander Jack Flaherty in Game 1, followed by likely Walker Buehler in Game 2.
Senga remains limited because of his minimal body of work in 2024. Limited by shoulder, triceps and calf injuries, he made a surprise return in the Division Series against the Phillies, tossing two innings and 31 pitches in the Mets’ eventual win.
After pitching one game in the regular season, Senga now will pitch a second in the postseason. He should be good for about three innings, according to Mendoza, who didn’t commit to any sort of post-Senga bullpen plan. David Peterson, who followed Senga last time, will be available.
For Senga, being able to pitch now, at the most important point in the season, after barely doing so in the months prior creates a different kind of pressure.
“More so than being glad or happy, there’s definitely tension inside myself,” he said through an interpreter. “Compared to the other pitchers who have fought throughout the entire year, I haven’t been able to do that. So I really need to be able to contribute — continue to contribute — and do my job in the following games.”
The other Senga piece: By going in Game 1, the Mets would need him to pitch on normal major-league rest — four days off, taking the mound on the fifth — for Game 5, which is scheduled for Friday at Citi Field.
The Mets have gone to great lengths to avoid putting Senga, who pitched about once a week in Japan, on the regular American baseball schedule. That included customizing his spring training and post-injury buildups, as well as their intentions to utilize a six-man rotation when he was healthy.
In this case, they might not have a choice.
“I’m ready for anything,” Senga said. “I don’t anticipate getting to 100 pitches (Sunday). And how many days I have in between, it doesn’t matter at this point. We need to win the games. So whenever they call on me, I’m ready.”
Mendoza said: “He’s gotta get through his start on Sunday and then we’ll continue to monitor him the following days. But he should be good to go.”
Mendoza didn’t commit to starters for the next phase of the NLCS, but righthander Luis Severino is lined up for Game 3, with lefthander Jose Quintana set for Game 4.
That would mean going back to Senga, Manaea and Severino for Games 5-7 (if necessary).
Severino will pitch on the 10th day after his most recent start, an unusually long wait.
“If there’s somebody that needs that extra day or extra rest, it’s Sevy,” Mendoza said. “Especially with where he’s at with innings and workload and all that. We feel really good about it. He’s good with it.”
Severino is up to 194 innings on the year. Over the previous five years, he totaled 230.
With the layoff, Severino said he would “throw a couple pitches just to get used to the mound” Saturday and again Monday.
“I don’t need much,” he said.
All of the Mets’ pitchers will need to contend with the same challenge: a deep Dodgers lineup that ranked second in the majors this season with 5.20 runs per game. (The Mets were seventh at 4.74.)
Shohei Ohtani, coming off his 54-homer, 59-steal season, bats leadoff. Then there are two more former MVPs: Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman (who has been playing through an ankle injury).
Altogether, the Dodgers had nine players with double-digit home runs. Seven of their regulars qualified as above-average hitters.
“Not a secret: That’s a really good team,” Mendoza said. “A lot of superstars, they’re deep and they’ve faced a lot of adversity, just like us.”
The problems start with Ohtani, the designated hitter who is the extreme favorite to win NL MVP when voting results are announced next month.
“Don’t forget Mookie and Freeman right behind him,” Mendoza said. “That’s what makes them really good. That’s three of the best hitters. And then you got Teoscar Hernandez and Max Muncy and Will Smith. I can go on and on. That’s a pretty good lineup there. It’s deep, they’re versatile, they’re righty/lefty and they can do a lot of things different things offensively. They can hit the ball out of the ballpark, they control the strike zone. It’s not a secret.”
Senga said: “A lot of great hitters in the lineup. If I leave a ball over the plate, they’re probably going to hammer it.”
And Severino: “We just need to do the same thing we’ve been doing for the last 10 days.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
