On Tuesday night, the New York Mets travel to Truist Park to take on the Atlanta Braves in what is expected to be a high-intensity start to a three-game series.
This is the second meeting of the season between the two National League East rivals, with the Atlanta Braves taking two of three games at Citi Field in a rain-delayed series in late April/early May. Now the scene shifts to Georgia, with Atlanta holding a three-game lead over the Miami Marlins in the NL East, with the New York Mets coming in in third place at 5.5 games back.
With the Mets and Braves having fewer head-to-head meetings this season thanks to MLB's new scheduling rules, every matchup between these two teams with postseason aspirations is critical. With that in mind, let's look into our crystal ball for what could happen in this series.
Mets vs. Braves bold prediction: Pete Alonso continues to rake on the road
When you take the Polar Bear out of the Big Apple in 2023, he's hitting at a much higher rate, and we believe that will continue in Atlanta.
Alonso is slashing just .196/.261/.471 in 111 plate appearances at Citi Field this season while those numbers climb to .260/.372/.594 in 145 plate appearances on the road. However, in 139 career plate appearances at Truist Park, he's slashing just .237/.345/.390.
So what gives this weekend? We think Alonso has a power-packed series, pacing the Mets at the plate by hitting over .500 for the series. Sure, that's a tough act with the Braves expected to roll out Bryce Elder, Charlie Morton and Spencer Strider, but these are supposed to be bold predictions, right? We're going with the Polar Bear to be red-hot for the next three games.
Mets vs. Braves bold prediction: Carlos Carrasco shines
While much of the attention in the pitching matchups on the Mets side of things will focus on Wednesday (Max Scherzer) and Thursday (Justin Verlander), we're predicting that Carlos Carrasco becomes a surprising star of the series.
In his last two starts, he has allowed just two runs over 12.2 innings, scattering 11 hits and striking out eight while walking just three. We believe the hot streak continues for the 36-year-old right-hander in the series opener on Tuesday night. He's matched up against Atlanta's Bryce Elder, and we believe he will come out as the better starter in that duel.
It will be the fifth start of his career against the Braves, and he holds a combined 4.30 ERA/1.174 WHIP in his previous 23.0 innings facing Atlanta batters. However (here comes the bold part, by the way), Carrasco has a career 10.39 ERA when pitching at Truist Park (11 hits and eight runs surrendered in 7.0 innings of work), so he will absolutely need to turn those numbers around on Tuesday night … and we believe he will.
The man with the nickname of "Cookie" will be extra sweet on Tuesday night for the Mets. Mark it down.
Mets vs. Braves bold prediction: Ozzie Albies re-ignites
As I discussed earlier in the week, I believe the day Albies put together at the plate on Sunday in Arizona against the Diamondbacks (4-for-5 with a home run and a pair of RBI) is a sign that he's going to heat up at the plate and do it soon. Plenty of Braves fans were worried about his slow start and lack of production, but it feels like something kicked in in Arizona that will continue over to the Mets series.
Albies hasn't always performed at this best against the Mets, slashing .234/.273/.416 in 337 career plate appearances. He also went 3-for-13 in the three-game set in Queens earlier this season, so New York pitching hasn't always been a favorite of Albies. However, our bold prediction is that Albies not only shakes off the dust of the early season so far, but also pushes past his struggles against the Mets as well.
We're predicting a 5-for-12 series for Albies with a homer and 3 RBI. We're also predicting this is the continuation of what will be a fabulous June for the 26-year-old second baseman.
Oh, let's also make one bonus prediction … Atlanta wins two of the three games against the Mets, with Albies getting a walkoff hit to secure one of the victories.