The New York Mets made a real statement earlier in the week when they took two out of three on the road against the hated Nationals. The last thing they can afford though, is to cough up winnable games against teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers. If they get beaten on Saturday, they're going to face the prospects of either losing this series or getting swept in it on Sunday when they have to go against Clayton Kershaw. That makes Saturday's game all the more important.
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ODDS ANALYSIS
If you take away what Kershaw has done this season, the Dodgers aren't anywhere near a .500 team. They've lost 7.25 units as it is, and again, if you remove the best pitcher in baseball you've got a team which is down 14.15 units.
The Mets continue to be impressive at home. They're 13-8 this year at Citi Field, including a nice three-game sweep of the Brewers last weekend in a series which the offense just wasn't hitting on all cylinders.
PITCHING MATCHUP
We really would've loved to see Kershaw and Noah Syndergaard duke it out in this series, but that wasn't meant to be. We'll get to see Thor on Saturday a night before Kershaw.
If you squint and look really closely, you'll see a little bit of Kershaw in Syndergaard. He has 76 strikeouts in 60.1 innings, and walks are hard to come by for batters. The righty has allowed just nine free passes this season.
There's a growing concern that Kenta Maeda might need to be shut down for a little bit as he gets used to the life of pitching every five days in the majors. He's pitching on five days of rest this time around, but that didn't seem to help in his last start against San Diego when he allowed four runs in five innings.
That said, allowing 12 runs in his last 14 innings shouldn't be as concerning as it seems. He's conceded those 12 runs with just 20 men reaching base in that span.
LIVE BETTING
Normally speaking, when Kenley Jansen gets into the game for the Dodgers, it's all over. He didn't pitch well against the Padres over the weekend when he allowed the game-tying and game-winning runs on Friday followed by blowing a second save on Sunday, but he's had some time off now after not pitching on Monday or Tuesday night.
Jansen has 20 strikeouts against just one walk this year, and he's one of the best strike-throwers in the game. The Mets do have an offense which can take advantage of Jansen's propensity to hit the deep ball, but if LA's closer has more than a one-run lead, forget about it. The last time Jansen blew a save in a non-one-run game was on June 20, 2014.
QUICK PICK
The Dodgers seem to be over their recent woes from their last road trip, but we wonder if they're set for another swoon now that they're playing against one of the very best teams in the game.
Syndergaard has just been fantastic of late. In his last two starts, he's allowed just one unearned run in 14 frames with 21 strikeouts and nary a single walk. Like we said, it's a lot like Kershaw.
Maeda seems to be allowing far too many extra base hits at the moment, and he isn't pitching well with men on base. The Mets don't hit the ball particularly well at .234 as a team, but they do have 66 homers in their first 46 games. Don't be surprised if Maeda gets himself into a little bit of trouble in the middle innings. Even three or four runs should be enough for Thor to finish the job.
MLB Odds: Mets 4, Dodgers 2
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