Against All Odds: Mets put to the test with loss of Max Scherzer

Steve Cohen’s dream of turning the New York Mets into World Series contenders was proceeding according to plan until Max Scherzer came down with an injury

It takes a lot to get the ultra-competitive Max Scherzer to leave a game. He once hit himself in the face while taking batting practice, then pitched seven shutout innings the next day with a black eye and a broken nose. He’s a throwback, a pitcher who wants to finish what he started and thrives on dominating his opponents.

So when he signaled to the dugout in the middle of the sixth inning on Wednesday after delivering a pitch to Albert Pujols, his 87th of the night, the New York Mets had to know it was serious. An MRI revealed the bad news: Scherzer has a strained oblique that will keep him out of the lineup for 6-8 weeks. He won’t return until July at the earliest, possibly even through the All-Star break.

It was a significant blow to a team that, in the first year under manager Buck Showalter, has legitimate World Series aspirations. Scherzer joined the Mets in the offseason on a three-year deal that will pay him $43 million per season, the highest annual salary in the league. He was 5-1 with a 2.54 ERA in his first eight starts in a Mets uniform. He had given up no more than one earned run in five starts this season.

The Mets were already without Jacob deGrom, who hasn’t pitched at all this season after suffering a stress reaction in his right scapula. He also won’t return until July, by which point it will have been more than a year since the best pitcher on the planet threw a pitch. Scherzer and deGrom combined have five Cy Young Awards. Their total salary is $76 million, more than four teams and nearly equal to the payroll of the Mets’ NL East rival Miami Marlins.

Now a team that, at 26-14 through their first 40 games and with a seven-game lead in the NL East, seemed like they would cruise to a division title is facing a true test of adversity.

Are the Mets still among the World Series favorites?

WynnBet still gives the Mets +800 odds to win the World Series this season, tied with the Astros for third-lowest. Responsibility for keeping them there will fall on the deep pockets of owner Steve Cohen, the rest of their pitching staff, and the veteran leadership of Showalter.

Showalter has been in a big-league dugout for more than 20 years. There is very little that surprises him, still less that fazes him. He fully embraces the “next-man-up” philosophy; the loss of Scherzer and deGrom isn’t a blow, but an opening.

“It’s a great opportunity for guys. We’ve got some guys who will meet us in Denver and try to hold the fort,” Showalter said as the Mets prepare to open a series against the Rockies on Friday. “We’ve got some rough estimates about when we’ll start to get some of these guys back but usually baseball throws you another curve somewhere along the way. You just keep ducking and dodging and see if you can get to the end game.”

The rest of the Mets pitching staff has to carry the team

The signing of Scherzer attracted the big headlines in the offseason. But, perhaps overlooked, a March trade with the Oakland Athletics for Chris Bassitt could prove to be just as important.

Bassitt was the Mets’ No. 3 starter with the stuff to be a staff ace, the role he’s now thrust into. His fastball won’t blow up the radar gun, but he’s still effective. Opponents are hitting just .171 off his cutter that he pounds into left-handers. He has the second-lowest average exit velocity among starting pitchers. In eight starts with the Mets, Bassitt has a 2.77 ERA and had given up just two runs in his previous two starts before a rough outing — four runs in 6.1 innings — against the Cardinals on Thursday.

In a rotation consisting of former All-Stars like Scherzer and Bassitt, it was Tylor Megill who was the biggest surprise at the start of the season. Megill had a sub-two ERA in April before a disastrous outing in Washington on May 11 ballooned his total on the year to 4.41. It was Megill who pitched the first five innings of the Mets’ combined no-hitter on April 29. He was put on the IL with biceps tendinitis after the start against the Nationals but has resumed throwing.

It is Bassitt and Megill who will have to carry the Mets rotation until Scherzer and deGrom return in two months. Behind them are veterans Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker. David Peterson, with a 1.89 ERA in four appearances this season, is rejoining the team after a brief stint in the minors. The Mets have the arms to, as Showalter said, “hold the fort,” and with Cohen’s propensity at spending money to improve the team, the ability to add another piece.

The Mets have had to endure a lot so far this season. Reliever Trevor May is on the 60-day IL with a right triceps injury. Sean Reid-Foley had Tommy John surgery earlier this month. Catcher James McCann will be out for six weeks with a fractured wrist.

But still, they keep winning. On Thursday, it was Pete Alonso’s walk-off homer in the bottom of the 10th that defeated the Cardinals. There are still lingering memories of last season when the Mets led the division by five games at the end of July but finished the year on a 21-37 run to end up 11.5 games back of the Braves. But this is a deeper roster, led by a manager who won’t use injuries as an excuse.

Scherzer and deGrom will certainly be missed. The Mets, though, are proving they’ll be just fine.