Braves vs Mets Series Preview: The Braves Look to Continue to Get Healthy at the Mets’ Expense

National League East Rivals Braves and Mets Set for Four Games in Three Days

When the season began, an August series between the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets figured to have a significant impact on the National League playoff race. The Braves have done their part as they are five games ahead of the rest of the league, but the Mets have been a disaster and that is evident when it comes to the Braves vs Mets series preview.

The Braves lead all National League teams with 35 road wins while only the Colorado Rockies have fewer home wins than the Mets.

The Braves have won 11 of the last 14 meetings with the Mets and that includes five of the six games played so far this season. The Mets are 20.5 games in back of Atlanta in the NL East standings.

The Braves are priced at -168 to win Friday’s series opener. Keep an eye on who starts in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

Atlanta (+350) has the best odds to win the World Series with the Mets well back at +50000.

Probable Starting Pitchers

• Friday: Charlie Morton (Braves); Tylor Megill (Mets)
• Saturday (Game 1): Spencer Strider (Braves); Jose Quintana (Mets)
• Saturday (Game 2): To Be Announced (Braves); To Be Announced (Braves)
• Sunday: Yonny Chirinos (Braves); Kodai Senga (Mets)

Dialing Long Distance

The Braves are the only team with more than 200 home runs this season and keep that in mind when it comes to the Braves vs Mets series preview.

Five players have already hit more than 20 home runs with catcher Sean Murphy having 18 homers and Eddie Rosario at 16.

Leading the way is first baseman Matt Olson. He has flirted with 40 home runs before hitting 36 and 39 when he was with the Oakland Athletics and finishing with 34 in his first season with the Braves. He hit his 40th home run in Thursday’s loss to Pittsburgh and when it comes to the MLB stats, he has the most home runs in the National League and most RBIs in the majors.

Mets Are Coming Up Empty

The pitching figured to suffer when the Mets traded away veterans David Robertson, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. However, the hitting has been an issue as well. In nine games in August, the Mets are batting .216 with four more strikeouts than hits.

The numbers are even more frightening when the production of Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor are removed as the rest of the team has a .177 batting average. That lack of production throughout the lineup will factor into the Braves vs Mets series preview. Alonso has five of the team’s 10 home runs during the month.

Who’s Hot

• Pete Alonso, New York Mets 1B: Alonso is 5-for-10 with four runs, four home runs and 10 RBIs over his last three games.
• Trevor Gott, New York Mets P: Gott hasn’t given up a run in his last over his last eight appearances. He has allowed five hits with eight strikeouts in 7.1 innings during that span.
• Michael Harris II, Atlanta Braves OF: Harris has at least two hits in five of his last eight games. He is batting .483 with 10 runs and a .515 on-base percentage in August.
• Raisel Iglesias, Atlanta Braves P: Iglesias hasn’t allowed a run in his last eight appearances. He has given up four hits and struck out 12 in eight innings during that stretch.

Who’s Not

• Yonny Chirinos, Atlanta Braves P: Chirinos has allowed 19 hits and 13 runs in 13.2 innings in the three starts since being acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays.
• Tylor Megill, New York Mets P: Megill surrendered nine hits, two home runs and five runs in 4.2 innings in his lone game in August.
• Eddie Rosario, Atlanta Braves OF: Rosario is 3-for-17 with six strikeouts in his last seven games. He has gone 10 games in a row without an extra-base hit.
• Mark Vientos, New York Mets 3B: Vientos is 4-for-30 with nine strikeouts in eight games in August.

Braves vs Mets Injury Update

Outfielder Sam Hilliard is on the injured list for the Braves. Relief pitchers Jesse Chavez and  Dylan Lee could be activated off the injured list at some point in August.

For the Mets, outfielder DJ Stewart is questionable while outfielder Starling Marte is on the injured list. Sam Coonrod and Edwin Aceta could be close to returning to action

Braves vs Mets Betting Preview

The Braves are coming off a split of a four-game series with Pittsburgh and if not for some strong work out of the bullpen, could easily have been swept. They will look to bounce back during the third series of the season against the Mets.

A quick look at the MLB team stats will show that the Mets actually have a better team ERA since the MLB All-Star break than the Braves. Atlanta has gone 12-12 over the last 24 games but the NL East front-runners still have the largest lead of all the division leaders.

The Braves are favored in the series opener and have been favored in six of the last seven meetings.

The Braves have covered in 29 of their first 56 road games with the Mets 22-30 against the spread at home.

When it comes to the MLB betting news, Atlanta is 64-36 when listed as the favorite with the Mets 10-30 as the underdog.

Braves vs Mets Betting Odds

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