Mar 31, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga (34) pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals during the fourth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Kodai Senga had been the ultimate wild card of the Mets’ starting rotation entering the 2026 season.
When healthy and clicking, he is one of the best pitchers in the National League. But two injury-riddled years in 2024 and 2025 completely neutralized the Japanese right-hander to the point where his mechanics were so entirely out of whack that he accepted a demotion to Triple-A to end last season in Syracuse rather than Queens.
Trade rumors swirled in the winter, president of baseball operations David Stearns said that it would be foolish to pencil Senga in for 30 starts this season, and his place in New York’s rotation was anything but a given entering spring training.
But he did enough to get that No. 5 role, then went out on Tuesday night in St. Louis and showed that he still has the stuff that can make him an ace.
Senga yielded two runs on four hits with nine strikeouts and three walks. His fastball reached 99.2 mph, he threw seven different pitches that generated 17 swings and misses, and his ghost fork looked as mystifying as ever to generate four strikeouts.
“It was a great start to the year,” Senga told reporters through his translator, Hiro Fujiwara. “It makes me excited for this year. Being out there, I could start to deduce, ‘What is this hitter thinking? What are they looking for? What’s something that they’re not looking for?’ Being out there and able to do that, it’s a good feeling. I’m excited. It really felt like I’m a starting pitcher again.”
Suddenly, the dream of having three frontline starters can dance through the heads of Mets brass. Freddy Peralta and Nolan McLean are the unquestioned 1-2 punch of the rotation, but Senga providing even a shred of his superb 2023 rookie season in which he posted a 2.98 ERA and 202 strikeouts would be a huge win for the organization.
Tuesday night was a significant first step in making that happen.
“He was really good,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “From the very first pitch, we saw the velo. For him to be able to maintain the velocity throughout the outing, that’s exciting.”
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