It is an NL East showdown as the New York Mets visit the Atlanta Braves. It is time to continue our MLB odds series with a Mets-Braves prediction, pick, and how-to watch.

The Mets come into this game after taking three of four from the Cardinals over the weekend. They have been playing well as of late too, winning six of their last eight games overall. This season has not gone as planned for the Mets though. At the trade deadline, they sent a lot of their prized players away, as they have completely fallen out of playoff contention. On the season, the Mets are 58-67, sitting 23 games out in the division, and seven out of the Wild Card chase.

Meanwhile, the Braves have the best record in baseball. They are now 80-43 on the season and have a 13.5-game lead in the division. The Braves took two of three from the Giants but lost yesterday as Max Fried struggled again.  Still, they have won eight of their last ten games, including sweeping the Yankees and three of four over the Mets.

Here are the Mets-Braves MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

MLB Odds: Mets-Braves Odds

New York Mets: +1.5 (-110)

Atlanta Braves: -1.5 (-110)

Over: 10.5 (-112)

Under: 10.5 (-108)

How To Watch Mets vs. Braves

TV: SNY/BSSO

Stream: MLB.TV

Time: 7:20 PM ET/ 4:30 PM PT

*Watch MLB games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why The Mets Could Cover The Spread

If the Mets are going to win, they will need their offense to produce like it has in the last five games. In the last five games, the Mets have scored 35 runs, while winning four games. On the year, they are 17th in runs scored, 25th in batting average, 18th in on-base percentage, and 19th in slugging. Pete Alonso continues to lead the team in home runs and RBIs this year. He is third in the majors with 39 home runs this year while sitting second with 92 RBIs. This month, he has continued to crush the ball. While hitting .254 on the month, with a .376 OBP, he has nine home runs. This, with the help of four doubles, has led to 19 RBIs this month while he has scored 13 times.

While Alonso has four home runs in the last week, DJ Stewart does as well. While hitting .353 in the last week, he has four home runs and seven RBIs. He has also scored five times in the last week. Brandon Nimmo is also crushing the ball. He is hitting .393 in the last week with a .469 on-base percentage. Nimmo has three home runs and four RBIs in the last week. He has also scored six times. Francisco Lindor is scoring a lot in the last week. He has seven runs scored in the last seven games while hitting .400 with a .419 on-base percentage. Lindor also has a home run and seven RBIs in the last week.

David Peterson is going to the mound today for the Mets. He is 3-7 on the year with a 5.45 ERA. He normally does not go deep into starts. In his last three starts, he has pitched under four innings in each one. Still, he has struck out 11 batters in 10.1 innings of work, giving up just three runs. That is good for a 2.61 ERA, but all of his runs have come from home runs, which could be an issue against the Braves.

Why The Braves Could Cover The Spread

The Braves offense continues to be the best in baseball. They are first in runs scored, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging. Matt Olson has been a big reason why they are so good. He leads the majors in RBIs with 108 while being tied for first with 43 home runs. This month the bombs have continued. While hitting .309 in August, with a .448 on-base percentage, Olson has hit seven home runs. With the help of those big homers and two doubles, he has 19 RBIs this month while scoring 17 times. He is not the only one who can hit home runs though.

Eddie Rosario has three home runs in the last week while hitting .524. Rosario also has a .583 on-base percentage in the last week, while driving in ten runs. He has also hit two doubles and scored six times. Meanwhile, Ronald Acuna Jr is not hitting great, but still providing some good production. He is hitting just .217 in the last week, but he has two home runs and three RBIs. He is hitting on base at a .333 clip, and with a stolen base, Acuna has scored five times. One the of hottest bats in the lineup belongs to Marcell Ozuna. He is hitting .474 in the last week with a .583 on-base percentage. He has scored six times in the last week as well.

It will be Allan Winans making his third start of his major league career today. In his first two starts, he has gone 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA. Last time out he was great. He went seven innings giving up just four hits and striking out nine. That was against the Mets, as the Mets could not score on him, and the Braves won the game 21-3. Winans strikes out over one batter per inning this year while limiting extra-base hits.

Final Mets-Braves Prediction & Pick

Since the All-Star break, the Braves have the second best run differential in the majors at +65. They are scoring the most runs per game with 6.35 runs per game since the break. Meanwhile, the Mets are at -31 in run differential since the break, good for 23rd in the majors. They are in the bottom ten in runs scored at just 4.23 runs per game, and they are also giving up over five runs per game since the break. While Peterson has pitched well as of late, he is giving up home runs. That is not something that can be done against the Braves. The Braves lead the majors in home runs by 41 over the second-ranked Dodgers. They have five players in the top 20 in home runs and four with over 25 this year. The Braves will hit a few early ones off Peterson today and they will take an easy win over the struggling Mets.

Final Mets-Braves Prediction & Pick: Braves -1.5 (-110)