The New York Mets will host the San Diego Padres to begin the National League Wild Card Series. Mets manager Buck Showalter is reportedly floating the idea of not running his aces out for Games 1 and 2.

According to New York Post writer Joel Sherman, the Mets might push Jacob deGrom back to Game 3, if they use him at all.

The plan currently is to start Max Scherzer in Game 1. If the Mets win that game, Showalter might use Chris Bassitt in Game 2 with the hope they can advance and have deGrom ready for Game 1 of the NLDS. However, if New York loses Game 1, deGrom will be there ready for Game 2 to save the season in New York.

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Under the new playoff format, the newly created wild card series is a best-of-three series. The two division winners with the best records in each league receive a first-round bye. The Mets blew the NL East as the Atlanta Braves blew past them to steal that bye. That pushes the Mets into a tough situation against a dangerous Padres team.

San Diego had a very good season that was made better at the trade deadline. They added Juan Soto, Josh Bell, Brandon Drury and Josh Hader in three separate trades. After initially blowing up, Hader quietly has pitched extremely well of late.

Meanwhile, Soto, Bell and Drury have added depth to an otherwise empty lineup. That's forced pitchers to give Manny Machado better pitches to hit. He was having a resurgent year but had slowed a bit until the deadline.

Game 1 is set for Friday with Yu Darvish likely facing Scherzer.