5 storylines to watch as Mets face Padres in Wild Card Series

The Mets and San Diego Padres will be facing off in the best-of-three Wild Card Series starting on Friday night at Citi Field.

The Mets went 101-61 during the regular season and enter the playoffs as the No. 4 seed after finishing tied atop the NL East with the Atlanta Braves, who won the division by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The Padres went 89-73 and enter the playoffs as the No. 5 seed after finishing second in the NL West, 22 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Here are five storylines to watch during the series, which will take place entirely in Queens...

Who starts Game 2 for the Mets?

I wrote earlier this week that the Mets using Max Scherzer or Jacob deGrom in Game 1 and using Chris Bassitt in Game 2 -- if they're able to win Game 1 -- made lots of sense.

And the Mets, who are starting Scherzer in Game 1, have not announced a Game 2 starter and are seemingly planning on starting Bassitt in Game 2 if they have a 1-0 series lead. That would allow them to potentially save deGrom and have him start Game 1 and Game 5 of the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers (should the Mets advance).

The above would also theoretically allow Scherzer, who would start Game 2 of the NLDS on regular rest in this scenario, to pitch out of the bullpen in relief of deGrom in a potential Game 5.

The idea is for the Mets to maximize their chances in the NLDS if they make it, and restore the pitching advantage they would've had if they won the NL East and received the bye. 

That advantage is the ability to start one of their aces twice without needing them to come back on short rest -- an advantage the Mets won't have if Scherzer and deGrom start the first two games of the Wild Card series.

So expect the Mets to turn to Bassitt in Game 2 if they win Game 1, saving deGrom for Game 3 or the first game of the NLDS. If the Mets lose Game 1, bet the house on them starting deGrom in Game 2 in an effort to stave off elimination.

Mets vs. Yu Darvish in Game 1

Darvish, fresh off winning National League Pitcher of the Month for September, is entering the postseason in dominant form. And he was spectacular against the Mets in two starts during the regular season.

I'm seeing lots of Mets fans and pundits running around like chickens with their heads cut off at the prospect of the Mets having to get to Darvish. And while Darvish is very good and could certainly shut down the Mets or any lineup, I think the concern is a tad overblown.

In Darvish's most dominant start against the Mets this season, on June 7 in San Diego, New York fell behind 4-0 by the second inning and couldn't muster anything against Darvish, who fired seven innings of shutout ball while allowing just two hits.

But keep in mind that Pete Alonso left that game after just one plate appearance, and was replaced by J.D. Davis, and that the bottom of the Mets' order featured Nick Plummer and Patrick Mazeika. Davis, Plummer, and Mazeika combined to go 0-for-9.

In Darvish's second start this season against the Mets, on July 22 at Citi Field, he allowed one run on four hits in seven innings. Most of the Mets' regulars played, but so did Travis Blankenhorn (who went 0-for-3) and Mazeika (who went 0-for-2).

Darvish will be facing a different Mets team on Friday, and a bunch of them -- Francisco Lindor (5-for-16 in his career with a double), Pete Alonso (2-for-10 with a homer), James McCann (4-for-10 with a double and homer) -- have done just fine against Darvish. Starling Marte (7-for-17 with a double and homer) has crushed Darvish, so it's a jolt for the Mets that Marte is on the Wild Card Series roster.

Darvish might very well shut the Mets down, but it's far from a certainty.

The Jeff McNeil factor

The importance of McNeil producing in a big way at the top of the lineup will loom large -- as will the need for Brandon Nimmo, Alonso, Lindor, and the resurgent Eduardo Escobar to do lots of damage.

How McNeil has performed over the last three months -- and especially recently as he caught fire to win the batting title -- could set him up for a big postseason. And with Marte on the roster, McNeil will have even more punch around him in the lineup. 

McNeil's ability to spray the ball all over the field, get on base at a great clip, and help the top of the lineup go could be one of the things that makes or breaks the Mets in this series.

Against a Padres rotation that will feature Darvish, Blake Snell, and Joe Musgrove -- who all possess nasty stuff -- McNeil's elite bat-to-ball skills could be a huge plus.

McNeil also rarely strikes out (he fanned just 61 times in 589 plate appearances over 148 games during the regular season), making him a potentially ideal guy to have at the plate against the Padres' aces.

What will Francisco Alvarez's role be?

Given how Alvarez looked at the plate at Citi Field after he went 0-for-8 on the road to start his big league career, it would be a shock if he's not on the roster for this series.

If Alvarez is not on the roster, it will mean the Mets are carrying either Darin Ruf (who has been injured, hasn't homered since July 24, and has hit .152/.216/.197 in 28 games as a Met), Mark Vientos, or both.

And while Ruf's track record against left-handers is very good, his at-bats since joining the Mets have been largely non-competitive. That means there should be no scenario where Ruf is on the roster at the expense of Alvarez.

Alvarez is very young and very inexperienced, but he has a potentially difference-making bat from the right side of the plate. His upside is enormous, and the Mets need to see how much of that he can tap into right now.

Alvarez should get the start against Snell, should be the Mets' first right-handed bat off the bench, and should even get some at-bats against right-handers depending how the rest of the Mets' DH candidates perform.

Can Mets hold Juan Soto and Josh Bell down?

I think that while the Padres are formidable and a threat to beat the Mets and any team in the playoffs, it's the idea of what they can be that scares people more than what they actually are right now.

And what the Padres are is a team with a scary top three in their starting rotation, a closer with otherworldly stuff who's had a down year but has been dominant lately, and an offense that is dangerous but dealing with poor performances from some of their most important players.

With Fernando Tatis, Jr. suspended due to a PED violation, Manny Machado has excelled and Jurickson Profar has had a good year. Brandon Drury, acquired at the deadline along with Soto and Bell, has been solid in the power department but has hit just .238/.290/.435 in 46 games as a Padre.

Soto (.236/.388/.390 with six homers in 52 games as a Padre) and Bell (.192/.316/.271 with three homers in 53 games as a Padre) have struggled badly.

If the Mets can keep Soto and Bell down, it will go a long way toward them beating San Diego and advancing to face the Dodgers. If Soto and/or Bell erupt, the task will be much harder.