Baseball Betting Picks: Atlanta Braves at New York Mets

Added on Aug 12, 2012 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

The Atlanta Braves continue to play great baseball and have taken the first two games of this weekend series against the New York Mets. They haven’t been able to gain any ground on the first place Washington Nationals despite an exceptional run over the past few weeks. Washington has been playing even better baseball winning 9 of their last 10 games and eight straight games while amassing a 4.5 game lead atop the NL East. The Braves thought they had a good chance to pick up a game or two with the Nats playing on the road against a tough Arizona team but now they’ll be looking just to keep pace.

Atlanta Braves at New York Mets
August 12, 2012 5:05 PM Pacific

Sometimes baseball handicapping can be very simple. This shouldn’t be confused with saying it’s ‘easy’ or that it’s always this way, but there are times and situations where plays are almost obvious. This matchup at New York’s CitiField is such an example. It’s a matchup between two teams heading in different directions, with the Braves playing their best ball of the year as they make a run for the divisional title and the Mets just ‘playing out the string’. It’s also a matchup between two pitchers in dramatically different form. Atlanta’s Ben Sheets has revived his career since joining the Braves’ rotation. Atlanta has won 4 of his 5 starts and Sheets has put up an overall ERA of 1.41 and has an even better road ERA of 0.68 in two starts. Jon Niese has been fair to middling all season with a 3.62 ERA overall and a 4.16 ERA at home. In his last three starts he’s got an ERA of 5.11 with the Mets losing 2 of those three assignments.

The Braves have been taking care of business against teams with losing records–they’ve won 18 of 22 against sub .500 teams since the All Star Break. Atlanta has posted a record of 25-11 since July 1st and show no signs of the late season slump that doomed their postseason chances in 2011. The Braves haven’t been at their best against left handed pitching but given their current form and the fact that they’re facing a rather ‘garden variety’ southpaw in Niese we’re not going to let that dissuade us from what is otherwise a great play at a great price.

Bet Atlanta Braves (Sheets) -110 over New York Mets (Niese)