Mets set to make MLB history in Sunday doubleheader

The New York Mets are set to play in a doubleheader on Sunday against the Cleveland Guardians, but they are making history in the process.

The New York Mets have not exactly lived up to the expectations entering the year, considering all of the money they spent in the offseason. But, they seem to have turned the corner after taking two games in a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays and earning a walk-off win over the Cleveland Guardians on Friday night, courtesy of a single by shortstop Francisco Lindor.

However, the scheduled Mets-Guardians game was postponed due to rain in New York, forcing both teams to play in a doubleheader on Sunday. In the process, the Mets are now set to make history.

According to MLB’s Sarah Langs, the Mets would be the first team to have two pitchers with three or more Cy Young awards each start in both games of a doubleheader. Those pitchers are Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. Additionally, the Mets are the only team to start pitchers with two Cy Young awards to their credit each in a doubleheader, where they started Johan Santana and Pedro Martinez in a 2008 doubleheader, per Langs.

Mets to make MLB history with Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer starting in doubleheader

Verlander won his Cy Young awards in 2011 with the Detroit Tigers and in 2019 and 2022 with the Houston Astros. Scherzer, meanwhile, won the Cy Young with the Tigers in 2013 and 2016 and 2017 with the Washington Nationals.

This past Tuesday, Verlander had a game he would like to forget, as he surrendered six earned runs on eight hits (two home runs) while recording three strikeouts and two walks in five innings in the team’s 8-5 loss to the Rays.

This will be Verlander’s fourth start of the season after returning from a teres major strain. Through three starts, he recorded a 4.76 ERA, a 1.18 WHIP, a 1-2 record, 15 strikeouts, and five walks in 17.0 innings.

As for Scherzer, he pitched last Sunday against the Nationals, in which he recorded six strikeouts and two walks while allowing just one earned run on two hits in five innings in the 8-2 victory.

Scherzer recorded a 4.88 ERA, a 1.30 WHIP, a 3-2 record, 26 strikeouts, and 12 walks in 27.2 innings (six starts).

Can the Met’s veteran duo pick up huge wins to secure a three-game sweep of the Guardians? We’ll find out on Sunday, with Game 1 starting at 1:40 p.m. ET and Game 2 beginning at 7:10 p.m. ET.