The New York Mets' dream start to 2022 has suddenly hit a rough patch.
Max Scherzer has hit the injured list for an estimated six-to-eight weeks due to an oblique strain. He joins ace Jacob deGrom, who has been out since the end of spring training due to a stress reaction in his right scapula. Tylor Megill also landed on the IL last week with biceps tendinitis following a rough outing against the Nationals, in which he allowed eight runs in 1.1 innings.
You can't blame Mets fans for thinking, "Here we go again," as the franchise has been cursed in recent years with all sorts of maladies -- some of them self-inflicted, some of them bad luck.
DeGrom made his last start of 2021 on July 7, at which point the Mets were 46-38 and 4.5 games up in the NL East. They would go 31-47 the rest of the way, see only two starting pitchers make more than 18 starts, and end up under .500 at 77-85.
So now they have to get by without their two aces, plus Megill, who had initially replaced deGrom in the rotation and pitched well until that last outing. Even if Megill is only out a short time, the Mets have holes to fill in the rotation. They also face a road trip this weekend to Colorado, where -- no kidding -- snow is in the forecast, setting up the potential for cancellations and/or doubleheaders that might further mess up the rotation.