Game Thread #160: Milwaukee Brewers (91-68) vs. New York Mets (87-70)

The 2024 season ends as it began

Way back in late March, the Brewers opened their season with a three-game series at Citi Field in which they swept the New York Mets. It was the Rhys Hoskins “waaaah” series, one that kicked off a magical run through the regular season for Milwaukee.

Now, just shy of six months later, these two teams will wrap up the regular season together. (Well, maybe. Sort of.) The Brewers are locked into their spot as the number three seed in the National League, and don’t really have anything to play for; their mission for this series is to be healthy and to get key guys rest. The Mets, on the other hand, have everything to play for: they’re currently in a virtual tie with the Diamondbacks, a game in front of the Braves, and only two of those three teams will make the postseason.

The Mets have an extra incentive to win this weekend—if they can lock up a postseason spot before Monday, the league could make a controversial decision to nix the Monday hurricane makeup doubleheader in Atlanta, a decision that would allow the Mets to avoid traveling across the country and back in one day, giving their arms a full day of rest before the wild card series. So, depending on the results of Atlanta’s series with the Royals, the Brewers may very well have an interest in dropping an L or two on the Mets.

While it’s not totally clear how the Brewers will use their pitching over the whole weekend, what we do know is that Frankie Montas will be on the mound for tonight’s game. He’ll face off with his old Oakland A’s (RIP) teammate, Sean Manaea. It’s kind of a fun matchup—for a year or two there, Montas and Manaea were the 1-2 punch in Oakland’s rotation. Now they’ll face off at very different times in their careers, both three teams removed from Oakland.

Montas has been mostly solid since arriving in Milwaukee, but he was shelled his last time out, when Arizona put eight runs on him in 2 ²⁄₃ innings. That was, of course, the game Milwaukee ended up winning by scoring 10 of the game’s final 11 runs. Manaea had mostly unsuccessful stops in San Diego and San Francisco after leaving Oakland, but he’s been very solid in 2024; Manaea sports a 3.25 ERA (120 ERA+) and 3.75 FIP and, by bWAR, is having the best season of his career.

A slightly unfamiliar lineup greets us today, with Sal Frelick in the two-spot, Jackson Chourio batting third, and William Contreras hitting cleanup. Garrett Mitchell will start this one on the bench (Manaea is a lefty). For the Mets, likely MVP runner-up Francisco Lindor is back in the lineup for the first time since September 15; he was expected to return Wednesday, but of course New York’s last two games were hurricaned out. Noted instigator Jeff McNeil will not get to face off with his old pal Hoskins, as McNeil will miss the end of the season with a broken wrist.

First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. on Bally Sports Wisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network.