Major League Baseball’s spring training schedule ends on Monday and next Thursday is Opening Day. It’s a time of hope and optimism across the league’s 30-team landscape. This feeling doesn’t last for long for many clubs that will find themselves stuck in the low end of the standings before the midpoint of the summer.
The absurdly talent-loaded Los Angeles Dodgers, who in designated hitter/outfielder Shohei Ohtani, second baseman/outfielder Mookie Betts and first baseman Freddie Freeman have three of the top four favorites to win the National League MVP (most valuable player) award. The Dodgers are also the overwhelming betting favorite to win the World Series. The Yankees have the fourth best odds by all major sports betting companies. The Mets are listed at 18th.
Yankees fans will have to wait until April to see their team play in the Bronx. The squad will be on the road for seven games to begin their 2024 journey in search of the franchise’s first World Series title since 2009, which was also the last time they played in baseball’s premiere event. The Yankees will face the Houston Astros in a four-game series before going to Arizona to meet the defending National League champion Diamondbacks for three games. They will make their home debut on Friday, April 5 against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Mets will host the Milwaukee Brewers for three-games at Citi Field in Queens beginning next Thursday followed by a three-game home set against the Detroit Tigers. They will play their first road series the weekend of April 5 versus the Cincinnati Reds. The Mets haven’t won a World Series since 1986 and their last appearance was in 2015, losing to the Kansas City Royals 4-1.
The Yankees will be without Gerrit Cole, the reigning Cy Young Award winner, for at least one month after he experienced right elbow discomfort earlier this month, officially diagnosed as nerve inflammation and edema (swelling caused by too much fluid trapped in the body’s tissues). There is no expected date for Cole’s return.
With a rotation that was already suspect even with a healthy Cole, the Yankees will have to persevere for the early part of the schedule. Nestor Cortes has been slated to be the opening day starter in Cole’s absence with Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman and Clarke Schmidt in order behind him. If Cole’s injury causes him to be shelved for an extended amount of time— two or three months—the Yankees odds of making the playoffs, no less the World Series, will be greatly reduced. They failed to make the playoffs last season for the first time since 2016.
On the other end of the injury spectrum, the Mets are enthusiastic about the return of All-Star closer Edwin Diaz. The righty, who was arguably the best closer in all of baseball in 2022, was out the entirety of last season after tearing the patellar tendon in his right knee last March celebrating Puerto Rico’s win over the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic.
Diaz and his teammates were jumping for joy in a huddle in the infield when he sustained the injury. Heading into the Mets’ game yesterday versus the Miami Marlins, Diaz had two perfect innings, throwing only 24 pitches in two spring training outings.