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Don't look now, but an intriguing Saturday evening National League East matchup will be on tap as the Washington Nationals travel to Queens to take on the New York Mets. Join us for our MLB odds series where our Nationals-Mets prediction and pick will be made.
Despite being one of the worst teams in the MLB up to this point, the Nationals have managed to win five out of their last eight games, although they have cooled off a bit after losing their first two matchups in this series against the Mets. Looking to get his squad back in the win column will be left-handed veteran Patrick Corbin, who is 6-11 with a 5.01 ERA on the season so far.
On the other side of things, the Mets are hovering on the brink of irrelevance, and could completely fall apart if they cannot start stringing together more wins consistently. New York has won three of their last four games, as they attempt to give themselves a reason to buy at the upcoming MLB trade deadline instead of selling. At 49-54, the Mets are a whopping 17 games back of the division lead and are 6.5 games out of the final spot of the NL Wild Card spot. Getting the Saturday start for New York will be another veteran starter in Carlos Carrasco, who has a 3-4 record and a 5.82 ERA on the year.
Here are the Nationals-Mets MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Nationals-Mets Odds
Washington Nationals: +1.5 (-137)
New York Mets: -1.5 (+114)
Over: 9.5 (-106)
Under: 9.5 (-114)
How To Watch Nationals vs. Mets
TV: MASN/SportsNet New York
Stream: MLB.TV
Time: 7:10 ET/4:10 PT
*Watch MLB games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why The Nationals Could Cover The Spread
In order for the Nats to take care of business on the road versus a division rival and cover the spread in doing so, it will end up being vital for Corbin to use his familiarity with the Mets to his advantage. Although Corbin's overall statistics against New York are shakier than most throughout his career (7-10, 4.41 ERA over 25 starts), Washington is hopeful that the once dazzling 34-year old lefty can turn back the clock and put together a vintage performance. Not to mention, but Corbin is more than due for a solid start after he was tormented by the Colorado Rockies in his most recent start, giving up five earned runs on ten hits over 6.1 innings of work.
Without a doubt, a spectacular gem from Corbin could certainly accomplish many things for Washington, because there is no question that the Nationals haven't been capitalizing at the plate when runners reach base. In the two losses combined to the Mets on Thursday and Friday, Washington has stranded a total of 15 baserunners while going an underwhelming 1-9 with runners in scoring position. It is almost impossible to win ballgames and cover the spread if hitters don't come through at the plate when they are needed the most.
Why The Mets Could Cover The Spread
Although the Mets' playoff chances seem like a long shot at this point, they are still right on the brink of getting back into the playoff hunt, especially if they can reel off some wins in the coming weeks. As a whole, New York's entire roster has been in a funk ever since Opening Day, and it is easy to forget that this team won 101 games just last year. Now, the Mets are just struggling to keep their head above the water.
In order to avoid getting pecked at by contending teams looking to bolster their rosters in time for the playoff push, these are the types of games that the Mets need to win if they have any hope of turning their season around. Luckily, in their two wins over Washington, New York has allowed just two total runs.
With Max Scherzer setting the tone in Friday night's triumph, it will be up to Carrasco to carry that momentum over on the bump. Luckily, Washington is only 22nd in the league in total runs scored, so expect Carrasco to use this outing as a bounce-back performance after giving up five-runs in a loss to the Boston Red Sox last weekend.
It also helps to have the best position player on either side in this matchup as well. Despite only batting a measly .220 on the year, it was Pete Alonso who obliterated a pair of baseballs into the bleachers to raise his home-run total to 30 round-trippers on the season. With that, Alonso has hit at least 30 home runs in three consecutive seasons and remains as one of the more feared bats in the game.
Final Nationals-Mets Prediction & Pick
There isn't a whole lot of love found between these two NL East rivals. Even though the Nationals would love to get some wins down the stretch of the season to feel better about themselves for next year, the Mets tend to mash against left-handed pitching which should only benefit them ahead of tonight's east-coast showdown.
Final Nationals-Mets Prediction & Pick: Mets -1.5 (+114)
