Mets start Kodai Senga in Game 1 of NLDS against Phillies

PHILADELPHIA – New York Mets right-hander Kodai Senga will start Saturday’s Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies after missing the past two months with a calf injury.

Senga, who is 31 and was the Mets’ best pitcher last season, has not pitched since July 29, when he exited his only outing of the season with a strained calf after 5⅓ innings. Shoulder and triceps injuries sidelined Senga for the first four months of the season.

Senga and Mets manager Carlos Mendoza were cautious when asked how deep Senga could go in the game. Senga said Mendoza and Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner would decide.

“I’m ready for anything,” Senga said. “If they say 10 pitches, I’m all in for 10 pitches. If they say 200, I’m in for 200.”

Senga’s return is a welcome sight for the Mets after they exhausted their pitching performances in the Division Series. New York played a doubleheader on Monday – clinching a playoff spot in the first game – and followed that with games in Milwaukee over the next three days. The final game, a dramatic 4-2 come-from-behind victory punctuated by Pete Alonso’s three-run home run in the ninth inning, continued the magical run of a team that was 24-35 in early June.

Senga had hoped to return toward the end of the regular season, but was shut down after a triceps strain ended his minor league rehabilitation start on September 22. He continued to work at the Mets’ Florida complex and said he was told Wednesday he would start Game 1 if the Mets beat the Brewers and he was healthy.

“We went through this with him for a whole year,” Mendoza said. “And when he goes out there and faces hitters or throws a lot of bullpens and he’s not feeling well, he always lets us know. And that wasn’t the case in this situation. He was the one who approached us and he wanted to know what we were thinking in case we were here in the division series or a potential NLCS.”

Senga has been getting himself into batting shape with live batting practice, and in the last one Mendoza said, “He threw a lot.”

In his first season with the Mets, Senga was one of the best pitchers in baseball, posting a 2.99 ERA over 166⅓ innings and striking out .202. His vaunted “Ghost Fork,” a devastating split-finger fastball, was among the best swings -and-miss pitches in last season’s game.

New York is counting on the return of this version of Senga and will need it – former Mets and Phillies star Zack Wheeler, a postseason standout, is slated to face him in Game 1, adding to the already inherent difficulty of switching from Live BP increased to more than 40,000 screaming fans at Citizens Bank Park.

“You can get your stuff right in the bullpen, you can kind of get everything in,” said Mets starter David Peterson, who recorded the save in the wild-card win and was able to piggyback on Senga in Game 1. “But I think we’ve been playing a lot of high-leverage games for quite some time now, and so I think it’s going to be a challenge to go back to an atmosphere like that and get back to the speed of the game that you come back like that.”

“But I have no doubt about the work he has done and the way he has prepared. He’s ready for the challenge.”

Senga said before he was ready to go, he needed to “get my physical and mental condition up to speed” – and once he did that, his previous communication with the team paved the way for a return.

“If I thought it would be difficult, I wouldn’t be ready,” Senga said. “So I’m ready for (Game 1). And no matter how much I can control my body and the flow of the game, it will be big.”