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Matt Harvey to pitch in postseason

The right-hander will pitch for the Mets despite controversy about an imposed innings limit.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

After days of controversy and speculation, Mets' right-hander Matt Harvey announced that he will in fact pitch in the playoffs if the team makes it. Harvey's announcement came via The Player's Tribune.

As an athlete, when your surgeon explains to you the risks of exceeding a certain number of innings, it can be alarming. You listen. I love to play baseball and I love winning even more. I would not give that up for anything. I also know I want to be able to play and win for a long time. But there has never been a doubt in my mind: I will pitch in the playoffs. I will be healthy, active and ready to go.

I am communicating with my agent, my doctor, Sandy and the entire Mets organization. I can assure everyone that we’re all on the same page.

Together, we are coming up with a plan to reach an innings limit during the season. It will be a compromise between the doctors and the Mets organization to get me, and the team, to where we need to be for our postseason run.

Harvey had not previously committed to pitching in the playoffs due to an imposed 180-inning limit as he works his way back to full strength after Tommy John surgery, but will lead his team into the postseason if they are able to keep their four-game lead on the second-place Nationals. The 26-year old has posted a 2.60 ERA with 158 strikeouts in 166.1 innings so far this season.

It is currently unclear how the Mets intend to proceed with Harvey for the rest of the season, but he may need to pitch important innings just to get the team into the postseason after some recent struggles. Harvey will be joined by Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, Bartolo Colon, Jon Niese and Steven Matz in the team's rotation going forward.