Thor, Scherzer square off with game’s best fastballs

The Mets and Nationals are the two most recent winners of the National League East, and in MLB.com’s preseason poll of writers, they combined to collect 100 percent of the votes to win it again in 2016. So as the first-place Nationals head to Queens for the first head-to-head matchup between the two clubs this year, all eyes are on what’s become one of the sport’s most highly regarded rivalries. (All due respect, Phillies. Keep up the good work.)

That alone would make for an interesting evening no matter what, but through luck, design, or both, each team is going to kick off this series with 2016’s best fastball on the mound. That’s not a typo or a mistake, even though it sounds impossible, by definition. Noah Syndergaard has baseball’s most elite heater. So does Max Scherzer. You get to see them both on the same mound on Tuesday night. Baseball is great.

 NOAH SYNDERGAARD

There’s no secret as far as what fuels Syndergaard’s success: Pure, undistilled velocity. So far this season, 233 pitchers have thrown at least 100 four-seam fastballs. (Sorry, Aroldis Chapman. You’ll get there soon.) Syndergaard’s average fastballs tops everyone’s:

Top average four-seam fastball velocity, 2016 (minimum 100 pitches)

1) Syndergaard — 97.9 mph 2) Craig Kimbrel — 97.8 mph 3) Nathan Eovaldi — 97.6 mph 4) Arquimedes Caminero — 97.5 mph 5) Dellin Betances — 97.4 …

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