Luis Severino, who has pitched in 162 games over nine major league seasons, looked over the Mets’ upcoming schedule and couldn’t think of a worse stretch.
“This is the longest road trip I’ve ever seen,” Severino said Wednesday. “It’s going to be tough for us, but this is what we get paid for, to go out there and play every day.”
Beginning Friday will be a run of 10 games in 10 days in four different cities across three time zones.
What began as merely a long trip became an especially grueling one when a May 8 game against the Cardinals was rained out and rescheduled for the lone off day on the trip.
So there will be no break from Anaheim to St. Louis, where the Mets will play one game before heading to Colorado for three and finishing the voyage in Seattle for three.
When the Mets finally return home after their Aug. 11 game against the Mariners, they will have logged around 8,000 miles in the air.
Even before a brief visit to Missouri was crammed in, Brandon Nimmo had August circled as a challenging month.
Following this 10-game trip, manager Carlos Mendoza’s group will play nine at home before returning to the West Coast for a 10-game journey through San Diego, Arizona and Chicago (to play the White Sox).
“I saw this in the beginning of the season and thought this was going to be a big test and a tough part of the season,” Nimmo said. “It’s always tough with the travel of going to the West Coast. You do it twice in a month, it makes it difficult.
“You’re here for the challenge. But it is going to be a challenge.”
A silver lining in the upcoming stretch could be found in the quality of opponent.
The single game against the Cardinals will matter in a tight wild-card race. The other nine games will be played against teams that are a combined 144-185, only the Mariners above .500.
Although games in the Denver air can be unpredictable and brutal on pitching staffs.
“I think we’re going to take this in stride,” Nimmo said. “I’ve been really proud of the way guys have battled so far.
“But there’s no question that this month is going to be a battle.”
Francisco Lindor is the Mets’ winner of the Heart and Hustle Award, which goes to the “active players who demonstrate a passion for the game of baseball and best embody the values, spirit and traditions of the game.”
There is one winner per team for the award, which is voted on by former players.
The overall winner is announced in November.