The New York Mets swept the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS and because of that they have five days off between the final game of the Championship Series and the first game of the World Series. Some might see that as a bad thing because they can get rusty but one positive of the long layoff is the fact that they can set up their pitching rotation the way they would like. Jacob deGrom is expected to take the ball in game one for the Mets, according to Buster Olney of ESPN.
While deGrom is likely to go game one for the Mets they are expected to follow with Noah Syndergaard in game two, Matt Harvey in game three and Steven Matz in game four. This would be the exact same order they used when they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS.
deGrom is pitching in his first ever postseason but you wouldn't be able to tell by the way he has pitched as he has been great to the tune of a 3-0 record. The 27 year old pitcher was dominant in his first outing against the Dodgers striking out 13 batters. In his last two outings deGrom struggled a bit with his command early on but he was still able to limit the damage and lead the Mets to victory.
There was some thought that the Mets might start Harvey in game one of the World Series but they instead went with deGrom who has been their best pitcher the past two seasons. Despite Harvey getting all of the press deGrom was an All-Star this past season and was in the Cy Young award running until the end of the season.
Another reason why they will likely go with deGrom over Harvey in game one is because the Mets are trying to limit Harvey's innings as much as possible. With deGrom pitching game one he is also scheduled to pitch game five and potentially be available out of the bullpen if the series were to go to game seven. Harvey is in line to pitch games three and seven should the series go that far.
The World Series starts on Tuesday night at the American League team's ballpark because they won the All-Star game. The Kansas City Royals currently lead the ALCS 3-2 over the Toronto Blue Jays as that series heads back to Kansas City for game six.
