Morning Briefing: Mets Await NLCS Opponent

Good morning, Mets fans!

Major League Baseball’s qualifying offer this offseason will hit a record $21.05 million, per Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. This one-year deal can be extended to eligible free agents, and if declined, the original team receives draft compensation. Players can only receive the qualifying offer once in their career and must have spent the entirety of the previous season with the same team. The offer, calculated from the average of the top 125 salaries in the league, was $20.325 million last offseason and typically increases yearly. Teams have five days after the World Series to decide whether or not to extend an offer to a player.

Furthermore, the Mets will learn their NLCS opponent tonight as the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres are set to play a decisive Game Five at Dodger Stadium, with first pitch scheduled for 8:08 p.m. ET. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will go for Los Angeles while Yu Darvish will toe the rubber for San Diego, marking the first-ever matchup of Japanese-born starting pitchers in MLB playoff history.

Now onto the morning briefing!

Latest Mets News

Topps Inc. announced that it has acquired the batting gloves that Francisco Lindor used to hit his game-winning grand slam in Game Four of the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies and has created a trading card featuring a piece of it.

Jose Iglesias‘ “OMG” remix with Pitbull and Silvestre Dangond officially released on Friday morning.

In an interview with TMZ Sports, former Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden stated that he believes Lindor is worthy of being named the fifth captain in franchise history due to his his MVP-caliber season and playoff heroics.

Latest MLB News

The Pohlad family, owners of the Minnesota Twins since 1984, announced plans to explore selling the team after 40 years. This marks the third-longest active ownership in MLB, behind the Steinbrenners (New York Yankees) and Jerry Reinsdorf (Chicago White Sox). Control has passed from Carl Pohlad to his son Jim, and most recently to his nephew Joe.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post tweets that Justin Dunn, a former Mets  first-round pick from Long Island, will have a mound session for scouts on Tuesday in the Phoenix area.

According to Mark Bowman, Atlanta Braves beat writer for MLB.com, Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, assistant hitting coach Bobby Magallanes, and catching coach Sal Fasano have been notified that they will not return for the 2025 season.

Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that Seattle Mariners second baseman Jorge Polanco had surgery to repair the patellar tendon in his left knee. The injury, which affected him throughout the season, is expected to heal in time for him to return by spring training.

The Los Angeles Dodgers announced that Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be the starting pitcher for their Game Five matchup against the San Diego Padres. The winner of this series will host the New York Mets for Game One of the NLCS on Sunday evening.

Latest On MMO

To celebrate the Mets going to the NLCS, retweet this post and follow Metsmerized on X to enter for a chance to win a Pete Alonso bobblehead from FOCO.

David Melendi goes into detail on Alonso’s playoff redemption arc.

Colin Chatto discusses starter Jose Quintana and his dominance in October.

Mathias Altman-Kurosaki talks about Mark Vientos setting a franchise record for most hits in a division series.

On This Date In Mets History

1969: The Mets play their first World Series game in franchise history, a 4-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. New York would go on to win the next four and clinch their first-ever title.

Born On This Date: Jenrry Mejía (1989), Ty Wigginton (1977), Orlando Hernández (1965), Charlie Williams (1947), Joe Ginsberg (1926)

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