Rain and baseball in the Big Apple

The San Francisco Giants are in the midst of 11 road games in 11 days, and their next stop is the city they called home from 1883 until 1957: New York.

But New York has a problem: rain.

The Giants and New York Mets were supposed to start a four-game series on Monday. Instead, that game got rained out long before it was supposed to start — and long before the rain began to fall, for that matter.

It’s still a four-game series, it’s just squeezed into three days. And, as many might have predicted when the season began, it’s a showdown between two of the top teams in the National League, and a few of the best pitchers, too.

This should be fun.

Series details

Who: San Francisco Giants vs. New York Mets
Where: Citi Field, Queens, New York
When: Tuesday doubleheader (12:10 p.m. PT), Wednesday (4:10 p.m. PT), and Thursday (10:10 a.m. PT)
National broadcasts: Tuesday Game 1 and Wednesday (MLB Network, out of market only), Thursday (ESPN+)

Projected starters:
Tuesday G1: Alex Cobb vs. Tylor Megill
Tuesday G2: Logan Webb vs. Max Scherzer
Wednesday: Carlos Rodón vs. Chris Bassitt
Thursday: Anthony DeSclafani vs. Carlos Carrasco

Where they stand

Giants

Record: 7-2, T-1st in the NL West
Run differential: +23, 3rd in the NL
Momentum: 5-game winning streak

Mets

Record: 7-3, 1st in the NL East
Run differential: +26, 2nd in the NL
Momentum: 1-game winning streak

Three Giants to watch

Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Joc Pederson: Don’t look now, but Pederson is hitting .364/.417/.636, good for a wRC+ of 199. He’s doing exactly what the Giants brought him on to do: destroy right-handed pitching. All four starters the Giants are facing in New York are righties, so we can expect a heavy dose of Pederson. He’ll have his chance to make a mark on this series.

Steven Duggar: Four righties also means lots of Duggar in center field. A 28-player roster for April, and the injury to LaMonte Wade Jr. has left the door open for Duggar to not only make the roster, but start every time a righty is on the mound. But when May and a healthy Wade show up, Duggar’s spot could become perilous. So far he’s been unable to replicate last season’s offensive success, as he’s hitting just .208/.259/.333, which translates to a 67 wRC+, and has a 40.7% strikeout rate. But his average exit velocity has been in the top two percent in the Majors, and his hard hit rate has been in the top nine percent, all while he’s provided excellent defense. This series offers an opportunity to turn that hard contact into hits, and secure his role as a key part of this team.

Anthony DeSclafani: DeSclafani’s two starts haven’t been great, as he allowed 10 baserunners in 3.2 innings in his first outing, and five in 4.2 innings in his second outing. Yet despite that, DeSclafani has looked really close to putting it all together and finding his rhythm. He’d love to make it out of the fifth inning this week, and with the Giants still having a long road trip ahead of them after this series, and a doubleheader early in the series, they’ll definitely turn to him to eat innings during Thursday’s day game.

Bonus — Carlos Rodón: Just because he’s so damn fun.

Three Mets to watch

Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images

Max Scherzer: Scherzer is one of the greatest pitchers alive. Do I really need to elaborate on this? He’s also matched up against Logan Webb, which is going to be irrational amounts of fun.

Chris Bassitt: Bassitt spent six seasons on the other side of the bay before the Oakland A’s did what they do best and traded him. And after being named an All-Star for the first time in his career last season, the righty has picked up right where he left off with his new team. Through two starts, Bassitt has allowed just five hits, three walks, and one run, while striking out 14 batters in 12 innings.

Francisco Lindor: Lindor’s first season with the Mets didn’t go quite as well as expected, as his offense struggled a little (by his star standards, it should be noted). But his start to 2022 is going much better, as the switch-hitting shortstop is slashing .273/.442/.606, good for a 198 wRC+. He’s also drawn nine walks to just five strikeouts, so the Giants pitchers will have their hands very full.

Last week just 16% of responders expected the Giants to pull off their sweep against the Cleveland Guardians. A whopping 66% expected the Giants to win 2-1. Let’s try it with a harder-to-predict four-game series.