Series Preview: Can Mets Find Life vs. the Braves?

The Mets should not be playing this poorly. Their lineup should not be scuffling as much as it is. The pitching rotation is built with players seen as at least slightly above average in the majors. However, the majority of the rotation has seen their production completely nosedive out of the blue.

The team’s schedule starts to tighten up in August before becoming one of the hardest in the league in September. The time is now for the fixes to be made.

That point is only emphasized with the Atlanta Braves coming to town. The Mets could easily sweep or win two of three this series. But they could also get their doors blown off and sink even further in the standings.

What will happen, though? I have as much of an idea as you, dear reader, but I am still here to preview these games! Let us dive into another New York Mets series preview, this time against the Atlanta Braves.

Pitching Matchups

Tuesday: Clay Holmes (9-6, 3.46 ERA) vs. Spencer Strider (5-9, 4.04 ERA)

• Holmes, outside of David Peterson, has been the Mets’ best pitcher as of late. After seemingly running into a wall as a starter, the former reliever only gave up two runs over five innings while striking out six batters, his best total in well over a month. The command and velocity are still a concern with Holmes, as are the pitch counts for him in his first year of starting. But compared to other pitchers for New York, Holmes has still been solid, and New York will need another “solid” performance to start this series against the Braves. 
• Spencer Strider will start this game for the Braves. Strider, while still generating strikeouts, has been seeing his fastball and overall pitch mix get rocked this year. The fastball, specifically, has resulted in a .284 batting average and a .462 slugging percentage for opposing batters. Add in a pulled fly ball rate of 22.5%, and the Mets should have the chance to do some real damage. Strider has a 4.97 career ERA in 41 2/3 innings against the Mets.

Wednesday: David Peterson (7-5, 2.98 ERA) vs. Carlos Carrasco (2-2, 6.18 ERA) 

• David Peterson, despite his recent outing, is the Mets’ best pitcher. He will, hell or high water, give New York at least six solid innings. He will keep them in the game and could win it by himself if things break correctly. The Braves are a sneaky tough matchup for the lefty, but as always, I expect Peterson and his pitching run value of 12 to give the Mets a great chance to win.
• Carlos Carrasco is a great human being and did some very good things while in a Mets uniform. He was also awesome as a member of Cleveland for a very long time. Mr. Cookie himself has been very, very bad in 2025, whether it is the counting statistics or the very bad underlying numbers. The Mets have no excuse not to light up the scoreboard in this game.

Thursday: Kodai Senga (7-4, 2.30 ERA) vs. Bryce Elder (4-9, 6.12 ERA)

• The Mets need better length, command, and overall production out of Senga going forward. Despite great overall season numbers, the supposed ace of the staff has been abysmal in his last four of his past five starts, not even making it to the fifth inning in four of them. The walks are up, the home runs are up, and the strikeouts are down. For the Mets to go anywhere this year, Senga has to rediscover a semi-productive side of himself once again in 2025.
• Somehow worse than Carrasco, Elder has a -22 pitching run value, among other very bad statistics. The analysis is simple, then, for the Mets: look to do damage off one of the worst pitchers in baseball, and do it early.

The Main Headline

Let us keep this simple, ok?

At the risk of sounding like WFAN Brandyn or Brandyn from Massapequa, I just want this team to show some more heart and energy. New York needs to play like their season is on the line this week, even with there being a month left in the season. I need the leaders of the team, whether it is Nimmo, Lindor, Alonso, or Soto, to set the tone. Play with your hair on fire, punch the Braves in the mouth, and start a run to at least finish the regular season strong.

This carries over to the pitching side of things, too. Instead of playing tentative and tight, New York needs to go right after their opposition in every single at-bat.

The Mets have been a tight baseball team since Clay Holmes was yanked early against the Tampa Bay Rays. And while they weathered the storm for a long period of time, the rain finally caught up to them.

This is the overarching main headline for this series, and likely the rest of the season, because it is the only headline that really matters right now.

Prediction

In their series against the Braves, I see the Mets getting back on track by winning two of three. Quite frankly, this is mainly due to the abysmal starting pitching they will be facing this week.

Francisco Lindor will hit a home run in the series, while Juan Soto will have two extra-base hits. Ronny Mauricio will go yard in this series, while Ryan Helsley will throw two scoreless appearances.

After this series, I have the Mets at 65-56 heading into a big series with the Seattle Mariners.