Meet The Mets: Tigers vs New York Preview

The Tigers have been without Kerry Carpenter, who went on the injured list with a shoulder issue, taking one of their more important left-handed bats out of the lineup. That puts more pressure on Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, Dillon Dingler, Colt Keith and the rest of the order to create offense against a Mets team that has had its own issues.

New York enters the series trying to stabilize after a difficult stretch. The Mets have dealt with injuries and offensive inconsistency, and their lineup has not produced at the level expected from a club built to contend. Francisco Lindor’s health remains a major storyline, and New York has needed others to carry more of the offensive responsibility.

For Detroit, the opportunity is clear. The Mets are vulnerable, but the Tigers are not in a position to assume anything. Their recent skid showed how quickly small mistakes can stack up. Defensive miscues, short starts and quiet innings have all played a part in Detroit’s uneven start.

The Tigers do not need to dominate the series to leave New York feeling better about themselves. They need to play cleaner baseball, get usable innings from the rotation and avoid putting the bullpen in trouble by the middle innings.

The series finale could follow a similar theme. Detroit’s ability to get through the three games without exhausting its bullpen may matter as much as the final score in one specific game.

Citi Field is not always an easy place to generate offense, which puts added value on baserunners, situational hitting and avoiding wasted scoring chances. The Tigers have had stretches where they controlled the strike zone well enough to create traffic, but they have also had too many games where the offense waited for one big swing that never came.

After a rough week, that would be a good start.

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