Two aces on the mound in the battle for the AL East is a pitchers’ duel in the making 

Mets at Braves 

Truist Park – Atlanta, GA 

7:20 PM ET 

SuperBook Line: Atlanta -116 | New York +106 

On May 31, the Braves sat at 23-27. The defending champs were sputtering, sitting 10.5 games back in the National League East. 

At the time, the Mets were 34-17. They were running away with the division, seemingly on cruise control. 

Tonight, the two teams start a series with the AL East lead on the line. Currently, New York sits at 53-33, just 1.5 games ahead of Atlanta. The Mets have gone just 19-16 in June and July, while the Braves have caught fire, going 30-6 in the summer months. 

It’d be difficult to get a better pitching matchup in the series opener. It’s Max vs. Max, as each team rolls out an ace. 

Max Fried is 9-2 on the season for Atlanta, boasting a 2.52 ERA. The lefty has reached at least the sixth inning in each of his last four starts, while giving up just three total earned runs in his last three outings. He’s currently fifth in Cy Young odds, sitting at +1300 to take home the award in the National League. 

Max Scherzer is every bit his equal, however. The righthander is 5-1 on the season, with a 2.26 ERA. He returned from the Injured List last week to pitch a gem, going 6.0 innings, giving up just two hits and zero runs, in a 1-0 win over the Reds. He’s currently ninth in the Cy Young rankings. 

Overall record and starting pitchers aren’t the only things that make this a nearly dead-even matchup. The teams are separated by the narrowest of margins in terms of batting average (.004), total runs scored (seven) and team ERA (0.19). They’re neck and neck in almost every category. 

That makes picking a winner difficult. So, look for this one to go the direction of a lot of big games. 

Both teams will be a little tight. The pitchers will dominate, especially with Fried and Scherzer on the mound. It’ll be a low-scoring affair. 

Who wins? Not sure. But it’ll be in a low-scoring game. 

Richard DeMala’s pick: Atlanta-New York under 7.0 (-110) 

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