How Will Mets’ Rotation Fare In Senga’s Absence?

In any other circumstance, we might be ecstatic right now.

The Mets escaped Thursday by the skin of their teeth, beating the Washington Nationals 4-2 and completing yet another series sweep.

New York is now 45-24 and owns the best record in all of baseball.

Life should be good.

But everything has come to a halt because of Kodai Senga.

On a routine play to first, Pete Alonso tossed the ball to Senga, who stumbled while landing on the bag. “He hit the bag awkwardly…oh boy,” Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen remarked. Senga left the game with a trainer and is headed to the injured list with a right hamstring strain.

According to Carlos Mendoza (via SNY), Senga will undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the injury.

The injury comes after he threw 5 2/3 dominant innings, allowing just one hit and one walk.

Senga has been the rock the Mets needed, with his pristine 1.47 ERA and 7-3 record. But make no mistake — the Mets’ rotation hasn’t just been the Senga show. Every Mets starter has a sub-4 ERA and has contributed to the team’s league-leading 2.79 rotation ERA.

David Peterson owns a 2.49 ERA. Clay Holmes is 7-3. Griffin Canning has a 3.22 ERA. Tylor Megill has been a strong No. 5. Still, it’s clear that someone will need to step up in the absence of the Mets’ ace.

“We got people coming, and the guys that are healthy now, they will continue to step up…we gotta keep going. We’ll get him back,” Mendoza said.

Right-hander Paul Blackburn appears to be the perfect solution. He is one of the healthy options that Mendoza referenced. Joel Sherman of the New York Post previously reported that the Mets had been receiving trade interest on Blackburn due to their rotation depth.

If there was any real indication of the Mets trading from that depth, it’s gone now. With Senga out, Blackburn now has a place on this team, at least for the time being. He can slot into Senga’s spot and bring legitimate major league experience to the Mets’ staff. After all, he did dominate the Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani in his one start this year.

They say you can never have too much depth — and that’s where Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas come in.

Neither has found much success in the minors during their respective rehab assignments, but both are proven big leaguers — and rehab is more about fine-tuning mechanics, not purely results. Manaea, in particular, is coming off a season where he was a rotation stalwart and stepped up in big games. He’s not nearly as close to returning as Montas, but a pre-All-Star break comeback is still very much on the table.

Montas, meanwhile, is scheduled to make his fifth rehab start today, though Mendoza has said that the Mets’ current situation will not impact his timeline.

“If he needs another one, he’ll get another [rehab start],” the skipper said.

It’s worth noting that the team is not ‘lucky’ to have all of these reinforcements. David Stearns rightfully anticipated that the Mets would face a situation like this, and now he has three legitimate big-league arms ready to step in for the team’s ace.

Even so, it’s a concerning turn of events that could seriously hurt the Mets if Senga doesn’t return before the stretch run. Ultimately, he is the best pitcher on the roster, and no realistic deadline move changes that. Without him, Stearns and the Mets will have to find a way to keep chugging along without their ace.

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