Mets ace Max Scherzer was diagnosed with a “moderate to high-grade" oblique strain Thursday morning that will keep him sidelined for six to eight weeks.
Scherzer had removed himself in the middle of an Albert Pujols at-bat in Wednesday’s start vs. the Cardinals. In addition to the oblique strain, manager Buck Showalter also revealed Scherzer had been pitching with blisters for his past two starts.
Scherzer, who’s won three Cy Young awards, is 5-1 thus far in 2022, with 59 strikeouts in 49.2 innings, an ERA of 2.54 and a WHIP of 0.95.
The Mets pitching staff has been hit hard this season with injuries. Jacob DeGrom has yet to play this season and isn’t expected back until after the All-Star Game. Tylor Megill hit the IL last week.
Currently the Mets are +750 to win the World Series, making them the third-most favored team to win it all behind the Dodgers and the Yankees.
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Scherzer was tied with Corbin Burnes as the favorite for NL Cy Young at +450 as of Thursday morning.
The pitching staff for the Mets has been a big part of their success, logging the fourth-best ERA in the league. The Mets have won six of their last 10 games and currently have a six-game lead on the Phillies in the NL East.
Fantasy managers will need to find a replacement on the waiver wire.
Nick Pivetta is widely available, and he’s pitched well as of late. Across his past three starts, Pivetta seems to have figured things out. He has struck out 20 with a 0.82 ERA and a 0.50 WHIP across his last 22 inning pitched. Most recently, Pivetta threw a complete game on Wednesday, sending down 27 Astros in a row after surrendering a home run to leadoff hitter Jose Altuve.
Martin Perez, starting pitcher for the Texas Rangers, is less than 50% rostered and he’s still having the best year of his career, with a 2.01 ERA on the season and a 34% whiff rate on his slider.
Finally, Bailey Ober returns this week from his groin injury. Ober struck out seven across five innings with an 18% swinging strike rate in his recent rehab assignment. Before the injury, Ober had a 14% swinging strike rate in his four games pitched, which is good for the 90th percentile in the league. He’s got terrific control–walking batters only 6% of the time--though he doesn’t throw the ball very hard.
