The New York Mets (13-11) ten game home stand continues with a visit from the Milwaukee Brewers (13-13) for three games. It will be the only time the Brewers visit Citi Field this year in the regular season.

Milwaukee has had its fair share of trouble lately. They are coming off being swept three games by the St. Louis Cardinals and have lost four games in a row overall. Their record has dropped to .500 for the first time since they split their first two games of the seasons also against the Cardinals. After beginning the year with eight victories in their first 10 games, the Brewers have lost 11 of 16.

Any discussion of the Brewers begins and ends with their reigning National League MVP, left-fielder Christian Yelich. Yelich, 27, currently leads the league in home runs with 13 and RBIs with 31. He is hitting .326 with a 1.231 OPS and a 1.7 WAR. But even he has struggled lately going 0-7 in the Cardinal series striking out four times.

The Brewers made news this week after bringing back pitcher Gio Gonzalez. Milwaukee has two of its starters, Freddy Peralta and Jimmy Nelson, out with injuries and they needed to bolster their starting pitching as they are last in the NL with a 5.27 ERA. As an aside, the Mets are second last with a 5.15 ERA as a team. Gonzalez went 3-0 with a 2.13 ERA in five starts with the Brewers last season. He is not scheduled to start any of the three games against the Mets in this weekend series.

The bullpen has been inconsistent and has been used considerably as Milwaukee only has three quality starts. Overall the league has a .260 average against all Milwaukee pitching.

The Brew Crew ranks seventh in the NL in team batting. The unusual statistic here is that over two-thirds of their runs are scored via home runs leading the league by far in terms of percent of runs scored by four-baggers. They have stroked 51 homers so far which also leads the NL.

An area where Milwaukee has excelled so far in 2019 is team defense. They have committed only six errors so far this season (the fewest in the major leagues) and have a corresponding fielding percentage of .993 which is also tops in baseball.

Friday, April 26: RHP Jacob deGrom vs RHP Chase Anderson

2019 Stats: deGrom 2-2 record, 3.68 ERA (3.75 FIP), 1.237 WHIP, 14.7 K/9,BB 2.9/9 ; Anderson 2-0 record, 3.00 ERA (4.51 FIP), 1.133 WHIP, 10.8 K/9, 3.6 BB/9

As of this writing, it is still uncertain if Jacob deGrom will pitch for the Mets. The weather forecast is poor and it is not known if Mets’ manager Mickey Callaway will start his ace in anything but ideal conditions. DeGrom missed his last start due to a “barking” elbow. But after a clean MRI and two bullpen sessions, the 2018 Cy Young Award winner appears ready to go.

Chase Anderson, 31, had been relegated to the bullpen prior to his latest start, a spot start against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Against LA, he pitched well throwing five scoreless innings earning him another start Friday against the Mets. So far in 2019 he has appeared in six games, 15 IP, 18 strike outs and only six walks allowed.

In a limited sample size, current Mets batters have 12 hits off of Anderson. Juan Lagares is 3-5 with one home run while Michael Conforto is 2-9, both hits were home runs. The only other Met to have more than one hit off of Anderson is Yoenis Cespedes with two.

Saturday, April 27: RHP Noah Syndergaard vs RHP Brandon Woodruff

2019 Stats: Syndergaard 1-2 record, 5.90 ERA (2.94 FIP), 1.276 WHIP, 10 K/9, 2 BB/9; Woodruff 2-1 record, 5.81 ERA (3.91 FIP), 1.481 WHIP, 10.0 K/9, 3.1 BB/9

Noah Syndergaard has been, at best, a mystery for the Mets so far this year. He’s pitched well in some spots and terribly in others. He has not had ERA over 5.00 this late in a season since his rookie year. Noah still averages over a strikeout per inning but over his last three starts his ERA is just under seven.

Brandon Woodruff, 26, has been hit hard for most of this season. In 26.1 IP he’s allowed 17 runs, 30 hits while pitching to a near six ERA. He has amassed an impressive 32 strikeouts which is only two behind Syndergaard’s 2019 total.

This will be Woodruff’s first ever appearance against the Mets in his three year career and only catcher Wilson Ramos has ever faced him going 1-3.

Sunday, April 28: LHP Steven Matz LHP vs RHP Zach Davies 

2019 Stats: Matz 2-1 record, 4.03 ERA (4.99 FIP), 1,209 WHIP, 10.1 K/9, 3.2 BB/9; Davies 2-0 record, 1.65 ERA (3.88 FIP),1.354 WHIP, 6.3 K/9, 3.3 BB/9

If one remove the eight-run stinker Matz had against the Philadelphia Phillies where he didn’t retire a batter, Steven Matz would have numbers very similar to this afternoon’s opposing pitcher. He would be 2-0 with a 1.61 ERA. In his last start against the Phils, Matz was dominant going six innings, allowing only one run, three hits while striking out six.

Zach Davies, 26, is the ace of the Milwaukee staff. He is currently fourth in the NL with his 1.65 ERA. In 27.1 IP, Davies has allowed five earned-runs on 27 hits with ten strikeouts and nine walks. He can be a tad wild at times but has, for the most part, pitched out of trouble this season for the Brewers. He is coming off a no-decision against the Cardinals on Tuesday.

The Mets have 55 plate appearances against Davies garnering 18 hits and scoring eight runs. Met center fielder Brandon Nimmo is 3-3 against Davies, while Todd Frazier is 3-5 with 2 home runs. Wilson Ramos has also fared well against the Brewers’ ace going 3-6 and Conforto has 2 doubles and 4 walks in 10 official ABs. Expect to see all four of these Mets in the lineup on Sunday.

Prediction: The Mets are catching the Brewers at a good time. They are a Cold Brew at best. The match-up in game three is concerning as is the fact that they play better defense than New York so let’s say the Mets take two out of three with a sweep not out of the question.