MLB Baseball Betting: Atlanta Braves at New York Mets
Break up the Braves!! The formerly hapless Bravos have won 3 straight and 5 of their last 10. Playing .500 baseball might not sound like much but the was Atlanta has been swirling down the toilet this season it’s pretty significant. They haven’t won more than two games straight this season since their mid April four game winning streak. They’ve pretty much buried themselves with their horrible start and they’re not going to come within sniffing distance of the postseason but it’s good to see them exerting an effort and not rolling over.
The bigger question–does the Braves winning streak say more about the New York Mets than it does about them? Perhaps. New York has been wildly inconsistent this season and especially at the plate where their offense has completely disappeared for long stretches. They’ve now lost five of their last seven games and the two games that they’ve lost to Atlanta are particularly problematic due not only to how bad the Braves have been this year but because the Mets have scored only two runs in two games against them. The Mets will start Jacob Degrom and his numbers underscore the Mets broader issues this season. He’s got a decent 2.82 ERA overall but the Mets have lost 6 of his 11 starts. Things are better at home where he’s got a 2.19 ERA and the Mets are 4-2 in his assignments. The last three starts are the big issue–Degrom has played his part with a 2.84 ERA but the Mets managed to lose all three of these games scratching out only two runs in the process.
The kneejerk reaction is to play on the Mets here for several reasons. Baseball bettors love to ‘bet against the sweep’ and there’s often sound logic in doing so. In this case, however, I don’t think it’s applicable. The Braves won’t be happy with taking ‘2 out of 3’. Starter Julio Teheran has pitched reasonably well this year but he’s been a victim of his team’s incompetence. He’s got a 2.93 ERA overall but Atlanta is 3-11 when he starts. He’ll likely want to get a win in the books. Some teams would take two wins in this series and be happy with it. If the Mets are indeed down look for the Braves to keep kicking.
BET ATLANTA BRAVES +160 OVER NEW YORK METS
