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Atlanta Braves Face Early Season Test Against Division Rival in New York Mets

By Jake Mastroianni

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 28: Freddie Freeman #5 of the Atlanta Braves in action against the New York Mets at Citi Field on September 28, 2019 in New York City. The Mets defeated the Braves 3-0. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 28: Freddie Freeman #5 of the Atlanta Braves in action against the New York Mets at Citi Field on September 28, 2019 in New York City. The Mets defeated the Braves 3-0. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /
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Ozzie Albies #1 of the Atlanta Braves in action against the New York Mets. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Ozzie Albies #1 of the Atlanta Braves in action against the New York Mets. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

We breakdown the opening series of the 2020 season for the Atlanta Braves as they face off against their division rival New York Mets.

It’s no secret that the schedule to start the season for the Atlanta Braves is no walk in the park. Pitching is usually ahead of the hitters early in a season (obviously this is an unusual start to a season) and the Braves will face some of the best pitchers in baseball these first few weeks.

And it all starts on Friday against the New York Mets and the guy who has won the NL Cy Young award the last two seasons.

We’ll get to that matchup more in a minute.

The Braves do catch a bit of a break as the Mets will be without two of their top starting pitchers in Noah Syndergaard who is out for the season and Marcus Stroman who is out with a calf injury.

But, like the Braves, the Mets have a very deep pitching staff and made strides in the offseason to improve the bullpen by signing Dellin Betances, while hoping Edwin Diaz has a bounce-back season.

The Mets starting staff had an ERA of 3.84 last year, which as seventh-best in baseball. But their bullpen ranked 26th in baseball with a 4.99 ERA.

New manager Luis Rojas will have to learn how to navigate that bullpen this year and find out the guys he can depend on in certain spots.

The Braves are hoping those bullpen struggles continue and they can take advantage early in the season when starters aren’t likely to go deep into games — although that doesn’t really apply for someone like deGrom.

Offensively the Mets are much different from last year’s group that was middle of the pack in runs scored, home runs, and average.

However, they may benefit the most from a universal DH in 2020 as they can stick the oft-injured Yoenis Cespedes there to get his bat in the lineup.

This will be a good early-season test for both teams to see where they stand in the division. And in a 60-game sprint, you can’t let these early division games get away from you.

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