The New York Mets are hopeful a new lineup, a new closer and better health to the starting rotation is enough to keep them in contention in what is expected to be a wild NL East race. The results have been favorable early in the season, but they were at the start of last season before things unraveled.
The Mets send ace Jacob deGrom to the hill against the Atlanta Braves on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. The reigning Cy Young Award winner looks to rebound from his worst start since the 2017 season when he faces Julio Teheran in the finale of a four-game set.
This MLB game between the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves will be held at Sun Trust Park in Cumberland, Georgia at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 14, 2019. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN.
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Odds Analysis
It’s going to be hard for the Braves to repeat as NL East champs if they can’t win a game inside the division. Beating the Marlins twice doesn’t really count because everybody is going to beat them this year. Atlanta started the season by getting swept in Philly and lost the opener of a four-game set with the Mets and they are just 2-5 against the division.
The Braves will have to get past the Cy Young winner if they are to beat the Mets on this day. DeGrom got little run support last year, but his mates have struck for 14 runs in his last two starts while cashing the over both times. The over is 8-1-1 in New York’s last 10 games.
Probable Pitchers
Five long days agonizing over his worst start in two seasons will end for Jacob deGrom. Last year’s NL Cy Young winner was touched for eight hits, including three homers, and six runs by the Twins in just 4.0 innings of a 14-8 loss. The righty looked unhittable in his first two outings tossing 13.0 shutout innings with 24 strikeouts and just eight hits.
There were no apparent issues with deGrom and it looks like he just had a bad outing. He made six starts against the Braves last season compiling a microscopic 0.88 ERA over 41 innings, though he went just 1-2 in those starts.
Teheran has been nothing close to the ace he’s expected to be. We can give him a pass on his last start since throwing in Coors Field is always an adventure. He threw shutout ball thru four innings before being tagged with a six-spot in the fifth. He completed the frame and thanks to a seven run cushion entering the frame, he claimed his first win of the year.
Experiencing a slight drop in his velocity since his first start of the year, Teheran has gotten outs with wicked movement on his other pitches. He will be tested by an aggressive Mets offense that has produced over six runs per game so far this season.
Player to Watch
Pete Alonso better enjoy the good times while he can, because in the game of baseball things can change in a hurry. The rookie is enjoying a scorching hot start to the season and the Mets are reaping the benefits. Through 12 games Alonso leads all Mets regulars with a .378 batting average, six homers and 17 RBIs.
In the opening game of the series, Alonso smacked a ball an estimated 454-feet to dead center. The exit velocity on his hit was 118.3 mph making it one of the fastest balls to leave the field of play in the StatCast era.
Free MLB ATS Picks
DeGrom just doesn’t have consecutive bad outings, and because of that the Mets have to be the favorite on the MLB betting lines at offshore sportsbooks. The reigning Cy Young winner was probably wondering where all the offense came from and couldn’t control himself. The Mets scored a total of 19 runs in his last eight starts of 2018. They’ve scored 16 in his three starts this season.
And it’s doubtful Teheran is going to quiet the bats. The righty pitched well in his second start but was rattled in the other two. That has me picking the Mets to win this game with a strong bounce back outing from deGrom.
MLB Betting Odds: Mets 4, Braves 2
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