Thursday night open thread

With the off-day today, the Braves will likely have that annoying half-game taken out of the standings page today as the Mets are set to take on the Pirates at 7:10 pm ET.

The matchup for that fateful game? JT Brubaker for the Pirates, and Carlos Carrasco for the Mets. The Mets just got swept by the Cubs, and haven’t lost four in a row all season... but they lost three fairly easy matchups in their last three games. Stay tuned.

Other relevant games today include:

• Royals @ Twins, Daniel Lynch v. Dylan Bundy, as the Twins try to stay relevant in the AL Central after getting their butts roundly kicked everywhere by the Guardians.
• Phillies @ Marlins, Noah Syndergaard v. Pablo Lopez, as the Phillies try to win their sixth in a row before they come to Atlanta.
• Padres @ Diamondbacks, Sean Manaea v. Drey Jameson, with the Padres trying to hold off the Brewers for the last NL playoff spot as they face yet another Diamondbacks pitcher and decent prospect guy making his MLB debut.