Bartolo Colon is set to make his regular-season debut for the Braves, who would love to see the 43-year-old veteran get the better of his former club. But they need to figure out first how to score some runs, which was something they were unable to do on Monday night’s season-opening loss, 0-6.
Freddie Freeman had a team-leading three hits in four plate appearances, however, the Braves went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, while failing twice with two runners on base and only one out.
Even if Colon, who yielded just two runs or fewer in nine of his final 12 starts last season, pitches magnificently in this second meeting, the Braves should find themselves on the wrong side of the box score once more as long as they don’t provide any answers on offense.
Atlanta is a long shot bet (+2,800) to win the National League East championship this year.
The Mets are expecting to see another dominant performance on the mound, this time from their other ace in Jacob deGrom who is making his first regular-season start since undergoing an elbow surgery last September.
The 2014 National League Rookie of the Year finished with a quality 3.04 ERA in 24 starts in 2016, and has completely owned the Braves with a sizzling 1.90 ERA across eight career starts. deGrom also posted a 2.93 ERA with 17 strikeouts in over 15 Grapefruit League frames, which gives us fewer reasons to doubt his current form.
On offense, watch out for Asdrubal Cabrera and Curtis Granderson to build on their respective efforts during the series opener. The pair went 4-for-8 with two runs-batted-in combined.
New York is priced at +475 to win the National League pennant.
