Morning Rundown: Kodai Senga returns, Joe Musgrove needs Tommy John, Divisional Series begin Saturday
Mets get pitcher back, Padres lose Musgrove to TJ
The New York Mets got some good news heading into the Divisional round. After defeating Milwaukee Brewers in the best-of-three Wild Card series, they will get righty Kodai Senga back and start game one on Saturday.
After a solid rookie season, Senga only pitched 5.1 innings this season as he dealt with injuries. That lone game was on July 26 against the Atlanta Braves.
Senga, 31, went 12-7 with a 2.98 ERA in 166.1 innings last year with the Mets as a rookie.
Baseball can be a cruel sport at times, and we saw a bit of that on Friday, as it was announced that Joe Musgrove would need to undergo Tommy John surgery after leaving the Wild Card round against the Braves.
A steady force for the Padres during his first two years with the organization, Musgrove has failed to top 100 pitches in the last two. He had a 6-5 record with a 3.88 ERA in 99.2 innings during the regular season.
He pitched 3.2 innings against the Braves, allowing one run on one hit while striking out four.
Here is a quick rundown of the games today:
Detroit Tigers vs Cleveland Guardians, 1:08 pm ET
New York Mets vs Philadelphia Phillies, 4:08 pm ET
Kansas City Royals vs New York Yankees, 6:38 pm ET
San Diego Padres vs Los Angeles Dodgers, 8:38 pm ET
There will be a gameday thread coming out around noon, eastern time. Nola will finish up his three-part series gearing up for the off-season. Ryan Palencer has a feature on an Indianapolis player dropping on Sunday.
I return (sort of) on Monday, with some players to watch in the Arizona Fall League (non-Pirates). We’ll also be recording a new podcast episode. There should be a few other things dropping on Tuesday and Wednesday before I dive back into things on Thursday with a paid feature on Lonnie White Jr.
We will also be starting some end-of-season features like we did last year. The first series will be the ‘state of the system,’ where I break down each position grouping.
Again, a HUGE shoutout to Nola, WTM, and Ryan (Ethan will have something next week as well) for helping cover the features this week to allow me to enjoy my time with my family in Florida.
When I get back, I’ll be able to dive in and add a lot more to the playoff gameday threads. Plus, the AFL kicks off, so we get some more baseball back as well.
You guys are all awesome, thanks for sticking around for the off-season.
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Go Royals!! Be sweet if they could bounce the Yanks early.
Tough break for the Padres and Joe Musgrove, but thankfully, he has a 5 year $100 mil contract in place that will pay him $20 mil for the 2025 season and still have 2 years remaining when he comes back in 2026.