Kodai Senga will start Game 1 of the NLDS for the New York Mets against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday, manager Carlos Mendoza announced Friday.
The decision came as surprise after Senga made only one start during the regular season due to injuries. He was diagnosed with a capsule strain in his throwing shoulder in spring training and did not make his season debut until July 26. He was pulled in the sixth inning of that start after throwing just 73 pitches due to a calf strain. Although the Mets initially hoped Senga would be able to come back by the end of the regular season, he complained of a triceps strain during a rehab start with Triple A Syracuse on Sept. 21 and the team ruled out the possibility of a comeback before the playoffs.
“We’ll see, we’re going to let it play out,” Mendoza said when asked how long he expects Senga to be able to pitch. “He’s been in Florida throwing, facing hitters. We have a plan. We’re going to go out there and watch him closely and go from there. But he’s ready to go, and that’s why we’re going with him in Game 1. He’s excited. He said right away when we talked to him that he was ready to go.”
The Mets signed Senga to a five-year, $75 million contract before last season following a decorated career in Japan. He was their best starter in 2023 and finished second in National League Rookie of the Year voting behind Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll. He also received six Cy Young votes, finishing seventh in the voting.
New York will have to shuffle its roster a bit to make room for Senga. Luis Severino, Sean Manaea and José Quintana started the three games of the wild-card series against the Milwaukee Brewers. Starter Tylor Megill was left off the roster after he threw 100 pitches in the Mets’ playoff-clinching victory over the Atlanta Braves on Monday but he figures to be included on the roster for this series. Max Kranick, who has not pitched in the majors since 2022, took Megill’s spot on the wild-card roster and would be a likely candidate to be left off the NLDS roster. But that still leaves one more change to make to accommodate adding Senga. Relievers Danny Young, Huascar Brazobán and Adam Ottavino were not used against Milwaukee and would be the most likely to be shuffled off the roster.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mets Make Surprising Decision to Start Kodai Senga in Game 1 of NLDS.