Division Rival Mets Lose Best Pitcher to Uncommon Shoulder Injury

The Atlanta Braves have to watch their division rival lose one of their best players before the games are even played.

The Atlanta Braves haven't really been worried about the New York Mets recently. 

After chasing them down in 2022 to take the NL East on the final day, Atlanta had no issues with the Mets in 2023, going 10-3 against their division rival and outscoring the Metropolitians by 42 runs in those thirteen games.  

And for 2024, the Mets might be even less of a threat, with the mid-morning news of a potentially significant injury to top starting pitcher Kodai Senga. 

Senga reported shoulder soreness on Wednesday and was shut down from throwing; a subsequent MRI revealed a "moderate" posterior capsule strain in his throwing shoulder. 

The shoulder capsule is a fibrous sheath that surrounds the shoulder joint, providing synovial fluid to reduce friction between surfaces and allow smooth movement. Senga's strain is in the posterior, or rear, of the capsule structure. 

The issue here for the Mets is that shoulder capsule injuries already have more unknowns than a rotator cuff injury, for instance, but that's compounded by the location of Senga's. 

95 to 97% of shoulder dislocations are anterior, with only 2 to 4% being anterior injuries, and so the existing literature for how they heal and time to return to play is even more limited. 

Former Braves starter Kyle Wright, traded this offseason to the Kansas City Royals, missed most of 2023 with a shoulder strain that eventually required October capsule repair surgery. He's currently expected to miss the entire 2024 season while rehabbing from the injury. 

The team's already confirmed that Senga will start the season on the injured list. If he avoids surgery - and that's not a given, with how unknown these types of injuries can be - then there's a possibility that he could return in 2024. But if Senga requires surgical repair to his throwing shoulder, it's possible he's out until sometime in 2025. 

In 2023, Senga started only one game against Atlanta, pitching six innings with four hits and three runs, striking out seven in mid-August. The Braves dropped the game 7-6, with Yonny Chirinos (now with the Miami Marlins) getting victimized for six earned runs in only 4.2 innings.  

Without Senga, New York's rotation (per FanGraphs) projects to be led by returning veteran José Quintana and free agents Luis Severino and Sean Manaea. 

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