2027 MAY 17th - MAY 30th

[5.17.27] Cardinals 9, Mets 0 – Gabriel Morales (1-7) crafts a gem, allowing five hits (all singles) and Valdes (1-3) 5.1ip 7h 7r 4er 5bb 3k gets beat up again. Anibal Gonzalez comes off the DL and goes 0-4 from the 8-spot, Kato was demoted.


Ricardo Gonzales, 26-yo Mexican centerfielder for the London Kings hits for the cycle.



[5.18.27] Mets 4, Cardinals 1 – Marquez (5-0) returns the favor against the Cardinals, 8ip 4h 1er 8k and Rushton (14) pitches the ninth for the save. Marquez hits his third double of the season to drive two and Scalfaro (7) hits a 2-run shot in the second.



[5.19.27] Mets 5, Cardinals 0 – Gardner (4-5) 9ip 7h 4bb 6k throws his second complete game shutout of the season and Scalfaro (8) hits a 2-run homer in the first to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. Smith (15) would hit one in the fifth.
The remained three behind the Phillies, tied with the Braves.



[5.20.27] Montes Scalfaro signed a 3-year extension for $58.78 million that will keep him in a Mets uniform until his 39^th birthday.

I'm pretty much going to pay him whatever he wants to stay in a Mets uniform until he retires. He is my George Brett, my Tony Gwynn, my Cal Ripken. He has been the franchise player the Mets deserve. 
When he finally does retire, it's going to be a different team. These kind of guys don't grow on trees. I know I have the best player in the game on my team (Ralph Smith), but I signed him as a free agent from the Cubs in 2024, so he'll never be a true franchise player. He was better as a Cub, winning the Triple Crown twice in a Cubs uniform, but he got his WS ring in NY (2024) and will hit major milestones in a Mets uniform.



[5.21.27] Cubs 2, Mets 0 – A good start is wasted. Williamson (4-2) 8ip 5h 2er 2bb 6k, he takes the loss in a complete game. Ju-long Hsieh (5-5) threw 2-hit ball for 8 innings, striking out eight and the Mets could do nothing against the Cubs pitcher.



[5.22.27] Cubs 4, Mets 3 – Fisher (2-4) gets the start and throws a complete game, but did not get enough offense. All three runs came on a Smith (16) home run. The Mets demote Spence to the minors to make room for outfielder Hayes back on the bench. He wasn't pitching bad, its just he was the only one with options.



[5.23.27] Cubs 8, Mets 6 – Marquez (5-1) 5ip 9h 4er 0bb 1k 2hr loses the first game of his career and the Mets get only one extra base hits (and 12 singles). Scalfaro and Gomez each get three hits. Dickerson strains a rib cage muscle and will be out four weeks, this is second centerfielder the Mets lose to the DL. Kato is brought back from New Orleans.
The Mets fall four games behind the Phillies and two games behind the Braves.



[5.24.27] Mets 13, Giants 3 – Gardner (5-5) 9ip 10h 3er 4bb 8k throws another complete game and the offense explodes for seven runs in the fifth. After opening the inning with two singles and two walks, the Mets hit for the cycle. A Scalfaro double drives home two, Finley (6) hits a three run shot, Short singles, Gonzalez triples and they go up 11-3. Hayes (2) put the Mets up 2-0 in the third.


Mike Cooper, the Milwaukee second baseman, hit three home runs in a game. The former Rookie Supreme (2024) and NL HR Champ of 2025 (48) collects his second 3-home run game in less than a year.


The Texas Rangers defeated the Baltimore Orioles 23-5. They score in every inning but the 7^th and pound out 13 extra base hits. The top two hitters in the order [Carlos Hernandez and Jesus Molina, the 2023 AL MVP] each have two home runs and drive in six a piece. For each of them, its their first home runs of the season.



[5.25.27] Mets 3, Giants 0 – Fulton (5-2) strikes out 11 in seven innings and allows just two hits. Three relievers pitch the final two innings striking out every batter. Rushton (15) gets the final three strikeouts and the save. The Giants strike out 17 times. Finley (7) tacks on the final run in the 8^th with a solo shot.


After allowing 20 runs the game before, the Orioles return the favor and defeat the Texas Rangers 21-7. Down 3-0 in the second the Orioles score 15 in the next three innings. Paul Simpson, the 40yo, goes 4-for-4 with five runs scored, four rbis and hits a pair of home runs. The two time All-Star (2020,21) he started his career at shortstop and played there until 2021 (1107 games), since then he's split time between first and second. Winning a GG in 2023 at first base. A borderline HOFer at best. He's got no Top 10 mvp votes.

Paul Simpson compares to Gary Gaetti, whom I met once in Cary

The reason I list how many times he was an All Star or Gold Glove or how many top 10 MVP finishes a player has is to give you an idea of how good a player he is.
The sim has no favorites, there's no fan voting, so All-Star games are based completely who has the best stats. Same as the MVP voting. One All Star game could be a fluke, multiple appearances means they're a good player, five or more and he's a potential HOFer.



[5.26.27] Mets 11, Giants 4 – Williamson (5-2) 7.1ip 8h 4er 5bb 5k, the Mets bats go crazy again, Short has four hits, four other Mets get two hits each. Finley (8) drives in three as the Mets complete the sweep.
The Mets (33-22) climb back into a tie with the Braves, but are still three games behind the Phillies and they travel to Philadelphia for three games. The Phillies are looking to get some revenge from being swept earlier in the season.


Luis Torrez, 31- year old Houston Astros pitcher strikes out 16 Brewers. It is his third 15+ strikeout game in the past calendar year. In six seasons he is averaging a strikeout/inning.



[5.27.27] Phillies 12, Mets 4 – Fisher (2-5) 4ip 8h 5er 4k 1hr gets hammered as do three other relievers for eight extra base hits. Scalfaro (9) also doubles.



[5.28.27] Phillies 12, Mets 1 – Marquez (5-2) 2.2ip 7h 6er 1bb 4k 1hr doesn't make it out of the 3^rd as the Phillies put up seven in that inning. Sheppard allows four runs in an inning for the second straight game and the Phillies get five more extra base hits. The road woes continues as they drop to 12-17 on the road.



[5.29.27] Mets 12, Phillies 3 – The Mets get a little revenge as Gardner (6-5) strikes out 12 in 7.2 innings. Scalfaro (10) and Finley (9) go back-to-back in the 4^th as the Mets go up 8-1. Hayes gets his fourth hit of the day (and second double) to drive in the final two in the 7^th and the Mets get a season high 19 hits.
The Mets 33-24 close the gap behind the Phillies back to 4 and are two behind the Braves.



[5.30.27] Lobos 3, Mets 2 – Fulton pitches a gem 8ip 2h 1er 3bb 9k, but Rushton blows his third save of the season. The Mets only get five hits of their own, including two more extra bases from Scalfaro (11) who raised his average to 277.


Robby 'Riverboat' Holt, 32yo Tampa Rays catcher drove in run 1000 for his career. 3-time All Star (2019, 20, 23).

Zack Greinke, 20th member of the 3000k club

The San Diego Padres defeat the Washington Nationals 4-2 in 20 innings. Each team only gets a runner as far as third once until Dorian Boyer, 27yo first baseman hits a 2-run shot in the top of the 20^th off Antonio Vazquez.



[5.31.27] Mets 7, Lobos 1 – Williamson (6-2) turns back time allowing just 3 hits while striking out 12 in a complete game. Smith (17) drove in three and Scalfaro (12) hits a home run in his third straight games.

Javier Vazquez,
19th member of the 3000k club

In the top of the 8^th Williamson struck out Kevin Leighton for his 3000^th career strikeout, he becomes the 23rd member of the 3000 strikeout club. He is the 7th pitcher to hit 3000 career strikeouts since the sim era started.
The other seven are John Smoltz (2008), Mike Mussina (2010), Javier Vazquez (2015), Zack Greinke (2021), Dave Gilmore (2026), Diego Franco (2026).
Some of the names are familiar, but only Smoltz hit 3000 irl. Mussina retired in 2008, Vazquez in 2011 without getting to 3000. Greinke just passed 1700 irl and is six 200-strikeout seasons from 3000, so he's actually on track.

The other three guys Gilmore, Franco and Williamson have been among the best pitchers in the sim era and at least two of them are Hall of Famers