After an off-day on Monday, the Mets head to Atlanta to face off with the Braves in a three-game set at Truist Park.
The Mets are coming off a frustrating sweep at the hands of the Blue Jays. New York had just swept the Phillies, but their offense couldn’t quite scratch out runs against the Toronto pitching staff.
They now sit in third place in the National League East, 5.5 games behind the Braves, who have a record of 35-24.
Atlanta is coming off a huge comeback to finish off a series win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Eddie Rosario launched a game-winning grand slam with two outs in the top of the ninth.
When these two teams faced off earlier in the year at Citi Field, the Braves took two-out-of-three.
Here are five things to watch in this series…
1. How will Buck Showalter handle the catching situation?
The Mets’ catching situation looks a little bit different heading into this series.
Omar Narvaez, who had been on a rehab assignment, has returned from the Injured List. In a corresponding move, Tomas Nido was designated for assignment.
It will be interesting to see how Buck Showalter handles the playing time, not just in this series, but moving forward, with Narvaez and Francisco Alvarez.
Narvaez was impressive on both sides of the ball before injuring his hamstring, but the youngster Alvarez took advantage of the opportunity in front of him, and showcased that superstar potential.
Even with Alvarez struggling a bit as of late, you would figure the Mets will want to find a way to keep his bat in the lineup almost everyday. Perhaps they’ll be more willing to use him at DH on his days off.
We’ll see starting on Tuesday night.
2. Can the Mets contain Acuna?
After a bit of a down year at the plate, Braves star outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. has gotten off to a flying start.
Acuna’s been a man on a mission with his sights set on the National League MVP. He’s currently sitting in the top-10 in baseball in almost every offensive category.
Acuna’s hitting .331 with 17 doubles, 12 homers, and a .971 OPS through 59 games. He’s also been causing chaos on the bases, stealing a league-leading 25 bases.
He’s been locked in over his last seven games, hitting .387 with a .406 OBP, and 1.019 OPS. Acuna launched a monstrous 464-foot homer in Saturday night’s win over the Diamondbacks.
When these two teams matched up earlier this year, Acuna went 4-for-8 with a homer and a double. He’s gone deep 14 times and has a .948 OPS in 67 career games against the Mets.
We’ll see if they’ll be able to keep him in the park and off the bases this time around.
3. Can New York’s one-two punch set the tone?
The Mets have their aces Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander lined up to start the final two games of this big series. While it didn’t work out the last time they were lined up back-to-back in a series, both are coming off strong starts.
Scherzer helped the Mets secure the series sweep of the Phillies, allowing just two runs (one earned) and striking out nine in a 4-2 win. Verlander tossed six strong innings but received no run support in a loss to the Blue Jays.
Both seem to be finding their footing after a bit of a rough path and this is exactly the type of series the Mets aligned their one-two punch for.
With the offense struggling, Scherzer and Verlander need to go out and set the tone in this series.
4. Will the Mets offense finally break through?
Speaking of the struggling offense, that’s going to have to end if they hope to keep up with the Braves this week.
New York failed to score more than four runs in any game on the recent homestand. Over their last six games, the Mets are averaging just 2.5 runs per game while posting a .554 OPS.
They hit just .133 with runners in scoring position over that span, and were particularly bad in the Toronto series, going a brutal 0-for-19 in such situations.
While the offense as a whole has struggled, the big bats in particular, have been bad of late.
Francisco Lindor recorded just one hit in the three games against Toronto, and he’s currently stuck in a 3-for-30 funk at the plate. The shortstops OPS is down to .688 and he’s hitting just .213 on the season.
Pete Alonso homered in Sunday’s series finale, setting the Mets career record for the most long balls at Citi Field. Prior to that, though, he was in a 3-for-29 funk of his own, and despite the 21 long balls, he’s hitting just .231 on the year.
And after a hot start, the kids have begun to come back down to earth. Brett Baty has struck out 19 times over his last 15 games and Mark Vientos is hitting just .181 with one homer since being called up. Alvarez is just 3-for-23 with a .565 OPS over his last seven games.
New York’s going to need their stars to show up in this series.
5. Power, power, power
As the Mets saw the last time these teams faced off, the Braves are a power-hitting team. They currently rank third in all of baseball with 97 homers on the year.
They have six players who have double-digit home runs so far this season, compared to the Mets’ two (Alonso and Lindor).
New York has been turning it on a bit in the power department lately, though. Prior to the Toronto series, they had homered in 15 straight games, which is a club record.
And even with the struggles, they kept that power stroke going on Sunday with the four solo shots, three of which came from some unlikely sources in Tommy Pham (twice) and Starling Marte.
Power’s the name of the game with Atlanta. The Mets are going to need to bring it against Bryce Elder, Charlie Mortonand Spencer Strider in this big three-game set.