Baseball is back with spring training games now underway with the exhibition games giving players a chance to establish their roster position before camps break for Opening Day. The spring training workload overall is smaller, but is geared for veterans to ramp up for the upcoming season.
Injuries at spring training happen every year and are an unfortunate, but inevitable, part of the game. Every team tries their best to avoid them, but ultimately to no avail. One club that is undergoing an injury bug of their own is the Philadelphia Phillies' rival, the New York Mets.
Rival Mets keep taking hits with more early injuries piling up
The Mets are a longstanding rival in the NL East. After last year's knock out blow in the Division Series paired with their record-breaking addition of outfielder Juan Soto, the rivalry only intensifies for 2025. A misstep from the Mets could tilt in the Phillies’ favor and their recent injuries could prove costly early on.
Manaea will be shut down for a couple of weeks. He's probably going to start the season on the IL.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) February 24, 2025
Mets starter Sean Manaea is one of the big pitching additions the Mets made this offseason. To shore up their rotation, they brought Manaea back on a three-year deal to fill the holes they had in their pitching staff. According to MLB.com's Anthony DiComo, the payoff will have to wait as Manaea went down with a right oblique strain and is now scheduled to miss time until late April. This problem develops in light of other Mets' starter Frankie Montas getting shut down for six to eight weeks for a high-grade right lat strain, per MLB.com's Anthony DiComo.
As if adding salt in the wound, Mets second baseman Nick Madrigal was also shelved for an extended period of time after a fracture was found in his left shoulder. There’s no timetable for Madrigal's injury, except for “a long time,” but it’s another tough blow.
Nick Madrigal's MRI showed a fracture in his left shoulder. He'll go for a CT scan for more info, but he'll be out "for a long time," per Carlos Mendoza.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) February 24, 2025
The Mets are coming off an 89-win season and are determined to climb and pass the Phillies as division champions this season. If the Mets had any potential threats to prevent them from reaching that goal, it was the rotation. Now after losing Montas, Manaea and Madrigal, the hill becomes much tougher to summit. The Phillies are not looking to take a step back in 2025 and have higher aspirations themselves so getting behind already is a reality check.
The Phillies were mostly healthy in 2024 besides a series of hamstring issues. When they are on the field, they can easily produce a 90+ win ball club. They hope health is on their side and they can distance themselves by taking advantage when they can against the already beaten up Mets.