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With the smell of hot dogs and brats in the air and stadiums opening their doors for the first time since October, America's national pastime is officially back! In one of the first games of Opening Day 2022, the New York Mets will travel to our nation's capital to take on the Washington Nationals. Welcome to our MLB Odds Series, where our Mets-Nationals prediction and pick will be made.
After stalled labor negotiations pushed back the season until the first week of April, both the player union and the owners were finally able to get on the same page and proceed with a regular-season scheduled slate.
The Mets enter 2022 after going a disappointing 77-85 last season. To make matters worse, New York is already experiencing the injury bug. With Jacob deGrom sidelined thanks to a stress fracture in his throwing arm, the Mets will instead send out right-handed pitcher Tylor Megill to the hill against the Nationals.
Since Washington's magical and unexpected 2019 World Series run, the Nats have only gone a combined 91-131 in the two seasons following. Entering 2022, the Nats will send southpaw Patrick Corbin to the mound to try and get started off on the right foot.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Mets-Nationals MLB odds.
MLB Odds: Mets-Nationals Odds
New York Mets: -1.5 (+136)
Washington Nationals: +1.5 (-164)
Over: 9 (-118)
Under: 9 (-104)
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Why the Mets Could Cover the Spread
New York is already experiencing the injury bug, as both their top starting pitchers in Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer are sidelined to start the year. Yes, it is definitely not the start New York had anticipated, as their one-two punch of Cy Young contending flamethrowers won't be at 100% health come first pitch on Thursday. deGrom is on track to miss significant time with his injury, and Scherzer is nursing a tweaked hamstring suffered during Spring Training. With the grueling marathon of a 162-game regular season still to be played, the Mets definitely can't afford to be pestered with injuries this early on into the campaign.
If there is any good news, Scherzer is on track to pitch in the second game of this opening season series on Friday, as the slight hamstring tear has reportedly healed enough to give him the starting nod. Not to mention, New York is responsible for a $300 million dollar payroll that has provided them with as good of a roster as they've had in recent season's memory. The middle infield may be as good as anyone in baseball, as SS Francisco Lindor and 2B Jeff McNeil will look to work their magic up the middle defensively while stringing together hits near the top of the Mets batting order.
New York will cover the spread in their 2022 season premier simply because of RHP Tylor Megill's ability to pitch into the later stages of this one. In 18 starts last year, Megill went 4-6 with a 4.52 ERA. If the Mets can get at least six innings thrown from their 26 year-0ld opening day starter, then that will take some pressure off of the bullpen who would love to stay refreshed in this four-game series.
Why the Nationals Could Cover the Spread
Washington was on top of the baseball world only a few short seasons ago, as the Nationals won their first-ever World Series behind stellar pitching and timely hitting. That seems like a lifetime ago, and with many notable contributors from that squad now absent, the Nats are looking to find new faces to lay the foundation and rattle off some wins in 2022.
While many signs point to this season being a challenging one for Washington, the Nationals still possess one of the league's most feared hitters in OF Juan Soto. Soto slashed an eye-popping .313 while belting 29 home runs and driving in 95 runs batted in. In an even more telling statistic, Soto recorded a .999 OPS, which ranked him third among all MLB hitters in 2021. With pitchers Stephen Strasburg and Joe Ross set to return from injury at some point, Washington will turn to LHP Patrick Corbin, who has proved to the MLB community that he can be effective and even dominant when he is clicking on all cylinders. However, this was unfortunately not the case for Corbin in 2021, as the southpaw got absolutely rocked to the tune of a 5.82 ERA, including allowing a team-record 37 home runs.
If the Nats are going to keep this one close and cover the spread, newcomer DH Nelson Cruz may need to hit a couple of nukes into the bleachers of Nationals Park. With the designated hitter position now universal for both the AL and NL, the recently acquired 41-year old power-hitter will provide a big bat in a rather underwhelming Washington lineup. The elder-statesman Cruz crushed 31 home runs a season ago, and now has a total of 449 for his career.
Final Mets-Nationals Prediction & Pick
While emotions will be running high in this opening day matchup between two division rivals, the Mets are a better team even without their best starting pitcher on the mound. Each team may show some nerves early on with some uncharacteristic mistakes, but they should both settle in as the game progresses. New York will get to Corbin by the third time through the lineup and won't look back after that. The Mets take care of business on the road and get their first victory of the 2022 campaign.
Final Mets-Nationals Prediction & Pick: Mets -1.5 (+136)
