On Sunday, Terry Collins said Noah Syndergaard would pitch the first game after the All-Star Break against the Cardinals in St. Louis, followed by Bartolo Colon and Jon Niese in some order.
On Wednesday, the Mets announced Syndergaard will indeed pitch on Friday night in St. Louis. He will be opposed by Lance Lynn.
On Saturday, Colon will face John Lackey, and Niese will close out the series on Sunday against an unannounced starter.
This obviously is designed to have Syndergaard Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey face the Nationals in Washington next week, which puts the club’s best foot forward in the intra-division matchup. It also gives deGrom and Harvey extra rest which will in-turn help manage their innings limit while the Mets stick to the five-man rotation, which seems all but certain for the time being.
Of course, it doesn’t help manage Syndergaard’s limit, but again, they’re putting their best foot forward against a team they’ll be facing 12 times over the final 73 games of the season.
Just Mets 