Coming as no surprise, three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer will take the mound for the Mets on Opening Day against the Marlins in Miami on March 30.
It will be Scherzer’s seventh Opening Day start and his first with New York.
Scherzer will go up against reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara for the Marlins, who had a 2.28 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 207 strikeouts last season.
By starting Scherzer on Opening Day, its expected the Mets will turn to Justin Verlander later in the series to allow him to pitch the team’s home opener on April 6 against the Marlins.
Last season, Scherzer was still working his way back from injury and the Mets were forced to start Taylor Megill on Opening Day against the Washington Nationals. Scherzer started the team’s second game of the season and earned the win by striking out six over six innings.
The 38-year-old has had a strong spring training, allowing just one earned run in 11.2 innings of work with a 0.77 ERA and 14 strikeouts. He recently said that he’s “itching and ready to go” for the regular season, but added “there’s still work to be done” before Opening Day.
“You get to this point and you get itching and ready to go, but these last two starts are big,” Scherzer said. “This is when you’re building your endurance, you’re building the ups, you’re building the pitch count. You think you’re ready for the season but there’s still a lot to gain from these last two outings. There’s still work to be done to make sure you’re absolutely ready for Opening Day.”