Mets News: Matt Harvey is without limits in the playoffs

Recent New York Mets news has been about the availability of pitcher Matt Harvey come the postseason.

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There was a lot of anger and chaos surrounding the innings of Harvey not too long ago, but in the midst of the Mets winning the National League East, most of that has been forgotten. With the NL East crown back in New York, all focus has turned to the postseason.

The Mets already know that they will be facing the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first round of the playoffs, but the two teams are still battling for home-field advantage.

With home-field advantage in the first round still on the line, Harvey will be making his next scheduled start on Saturday against the Washington Nationals. After shocking many by going deep into the game against the Cincinnati Reds to clinch the division, Harvey will be limited to 70-80 pitches in his final regular season start.

Despite being limited in his upcoming start, there will be no limitations for Harvey when the playoffs being in October according to his manager.

“When he goes out and pitch, however, many times that is, yeah the reigns will be off,” manager Terry Collins said to Mike Vorkunov of NJ.com. “We haven’t picked the necessary game yet when he should start, we don’t know when it’s going to be, what it’s going to be, but I certainly think we’ve got to take into consideration, we can’t pitch him six times.”

The one thing that the Mets aren’t sure about yet is when they will utilize Harvey in the first round. If the Mets get home-field, we very well may see Noah Syndergaard starting in Game 2 at Citi Field with his struggles on the road being well-documented this season.

“If he were to start the first game he’d probably come back for Game 5,” Alderson said to Vorkunov. “If he’d pitch the second game he’d be available in Game 5. Game 3 is an important game, it doesn’t matter if you’re up 2-0 or down 0-2 or 1-1, and it’s a big game. But we certainly have to recognize where he is over the course of the season. Basically, he’s right where we hoped he would be. I know we’re pleased about that. Obviously we’ll take into account his situation as we talk about the rotation for the division series.”

It is great news for the Mets’ chances in the playoffs that Harvey doesn’t seem to have any strict limitations, as their chances of making some noise in October just rose greatly.

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