It was widely believed that the National League East would be a 2-horse race involving the Washington Nationals and the New York Mets, just as it was last season. While the Miami Marlins are doing a good job of hanging with those two teams at the moment, you still get the sense that the second half will see the two favorites start to pull away and slug it out coming down the stretch. The Mets are actually having a similar type of season to last year, which may actually be a good sign given that they went all the way to the World Series. The Nationals appear to be better, and are getting the sort of pitching from them that we expected. With just 4 games separating these two teams right now, every game is crucial, which is why we are so looking forward to this 4-game series that starts on Thursday in the Big Apple. Keep up to date with all the MLB live odds at MyBookie.ag.

Washington Nationals Vs New York Mets MLB Betting Odds

When: Thursday, July 7 at 7:10 PM EST Where: Citi Field, New York Starting Pitchers: Lucas Giolito Vs Bartolo Colon TV: MLBN and SNY Radio: WJFK and WOR MLB Odds: TBA

Why bet on the Washington Nationals

The Washington Nationals (50-35) looked to have sent a message when they swept the Mets in their last series meeting, but they have since gone on a little bit of a skid that has allowed the New York ball club to peg them back a little, once again. The lead is now at 4 games, and while the Nationals look like a healthy 7-3 in their last 10 games, they head into Wednesday afternoon with a legitimate shot at being swept by the Milwaukee Brewers. That is not how you want to prepare for a series that could see the division race tighten up dramatically over the space of 4 days. Lucas Giolito (0-0, 0.00 ERA) made his first career start recently against the Mets, and looked solid in 4 innings before the game was cut short by rain.

Why bet on the New York Mets

The Mets (45-38) could very easily have crumbled after being swept by the Nationals, but they did the complete opposite by turning around and sweeping the Chicago Cubs in a 4-game series. They will play the Marlins on Wednesday night with a shot at winning that series before they welcome in the Nationals. The Mets know that there is a long way to go in the season, and they proved last year that they might just be a second half team. That said, they don’t want the deficit to expand too far heading into the second half, which is why winning this series is so crucial. Bartolo Colon (7-4, 2.87 ERA) will get the start.

Expert Pick and Final Score Prediction

I expect this series to be close, and would not be surprised to see the 4 games evenly split. I like the Nationals to get things off to a winning start with a tight victory in this one.