Senga will make his second major league start of the year in the series opener.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza announced this afternoon that Kodai Senga will start Game 1 of the NLDS against the Phillies tomorrow afternoon. While the team had reportedly been considering whether or not to add Senga to the roster for the series, the news still comes as something of a major—and pleasant—surprise.
The 31-year-old pitcher has just one major league start to his name thus far this year, as he returned from a lengthy absence to face the Braves in late July. In that start, he was dominant, but he suffered a calf injury that cost him the rest of the regular season. There wasn’t necessarily any expectation that he would make it back on the mound at all this year.
In late September, Senga made one rehab appearance for Triple-A Syracuse. He threw just one inning in the outing and felt triceps soreness afterwards. Mendoza said this afternoon that Senga has been ramping his workload in Florida, and when asked how many pitches or innings the Mets expected to get out of him, he was rightfully a little cagey about it.
Mendoza did say that the Mets have other pitchers who are available to follow Senga tomorrow if needed. And he announced that Luis Severino will get the start on Sunday in Game 2.