The Mets are on the road today as they take on the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field in a split doubleheader with games at 1 & 7 PM.
This game doesn't really have much merit to it for the Mets present as they are 14.5 games behind the NL East division leading Braves, but this game matters a lot for the team's future.
Matt Harvey will taking the mound in game one for the Mets and has been the most dominant Mets pitcher I have ever gotten to watch. This season he has posted a 5-1 record with a 2.04 ERA and 102 strikeouts through 14 starts.
While Wheeler's numbers haven't been spectacular at the AAA level, he is still considered the number eight prospect in baseball by Baseball-Reference.com.
Both Harvey and Wheeler have yet to hit the age of 25 and could end up being the one-two punch for the Mets for the next 10 years. With the Mets sitting in fourth place in the NL East, Mets fans can only really look to the future at this point in the season.
In Harvey's 14 starts this year, only three have them haven't been quality starts. His 5-1 record doesn't do him enough justice as he has pitched at least five innings in each of his 14 starts this year with only two of his starts not lasting at least six.
The Mets haven't been the biggest run producers this far in the season as they are currently only outscoring the Washington Nationals, Miami Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers. With such poor hitting, Harvey has had to keep opposing offenses from scoring any more than two runs in hopes of the Mets walking away with a win.
While I'm expecting Harvey to keep up the numbers he's been posting for the rest of the season I am still unsure of what to expect from Wheeler in his Major League debut.
Wheeler will likely only go five or six innings tonight and all I am looking for out of him is to maintain control and not let the game get out of hand. He will likely become as good as Harvey, but I'm not expecting him to come out the gate like Harvey did at the end of last year.
At the end of last year the two guys I expected to see at the front of the rotation are now gone (R.A. Dickey) or likely never going to pitch again for the Mets (Johan Santana), so today's doubleheader will at least give me some hope going forward as a Mets fan.
This team isn't going to contend this year or the next, but two or three years from now Harvey and Wheeler might be leading the Mets back to the postseason for the first time since 2006.
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