It’s finally time for the 2020 Major League Baseball regular season, as the league and the players have at last figured out how to share the money. This year’s season will last only 60 games before the playoffs, and teams will play within their own divisions and within their geographical counterpart in the other league. So, the National League East teams will play each other and the teams in the American League East. The Atlanta Braves start their defense of the NL East in New York against the Mets on Friday. Don’t miss our sports betting preview and get the best MLB Odds for this MLB game on Opening Day matchup.
MLB: Atlanta Braves at N.Y. Mets (July 24)
- When: Friday, July 24, 2020, 4:10 pm ET
- Where: Citi Field, New York City
- TV: ESPN / FSSO
- Radio: WCNN 680 AM Atlanta / WOR 710 AM New York City
- Live Stream: WatchESPN
- MLS Odds: N.Y. Mets -145 / Total 7
Projected Pitching Matchup: Mike Soroka (ATL) vs Jacob deGrom (NY)
Why should you bet on Atlanta?
The Braves won 97 games in 2019 as well as their second National League East title in as many seasons. The scariest part for the rest of their division is that they are still extremely young and on the rise. Their core includes Freddie Freeman, Ronald Acuna Jr, Max Fried, Ozzie Albies and Friday’s starter, Mike Soroka — and there is more youth in the pipeline. Kyle Wright will probably join the big club as the fifth starter. Cristian Pache, Drew Waters and Austin Riley are all looking to contribute.
The front office paid attention, as they went out and spent money in free agency. They added Marcell Ozuna’s bat to the lineup, and they brought in All-Star fireman Will Smith to close games. They also added Cole Hamels to come in and start games on the mound, although this writer believes that Hamels pitched his last great games as a Texas Ranger and has slowly been declining since. We will see if the long off-season gave him some time to recharge. This is a young team coming into 2020 with plenty of confidence.
Why should you put your money on the Mets?
The Mets did bring in Marcus Stroman to join the rotation, and that should compensate for the departure of Zack Wheeler. However, Noah Syndergaard will miss the shortened season thanks to Tommy John surgery. So, after deGrom and Stroman, things get interesting. Michael Wacha and Rick Porcello are both expected to contribute to the rotation, and the enigmatic Stephen Matz will finish out the five starting hurlers.
The Mets’ offense didn’t get any help, and they only ranked 13th in MLB in runs in 2019. Amed Rosario may have finally had his breakout season in 2019, and Yoenis Cespedes is healthy, so fans have some reason for optimism. However, one lesson we are learning is that, in this sport, if you don’t move forward, you fall backward in a hurry. Some of the sabermetricians like the Mets a lot, though. PECOTA sees them finishing right behind the Nationals, while ZiPS projects that they will finish in a three-way logjam atop the division. One thing that will help this team is the change to MLB rules for this year that will have National League teams also use the designated hitter at home. That means fewer at-bats with pitchers up at the plate looking like they are trapped in a car with their bat and a bee, and it means more offense. However, the same advantage applies to the Mets’ opponents when they are playing in their division. As this rotation goes, so will the team.
Final Score Prediction
Opening Day is always an overrated experience. Players come out swinging for the moon. Starting pitchers overthrow their fastballs, leave them up in the zone, and get shelled. However, there are only 60 regular season games this year, which means that every game has the importance of a three-game series in an ordinary season. Jacob deGrom is a more seasoned veteran than Sokora, and so I see him coming out a bit more grounded than Sokora. I see the Mets jumping on some early mistakes and winning, 5-3.
