We often make the mistake of prematurely crowning a division winner or declaring a team dead in the water, only to sit back and watch as things change dramatically in the second half of the season. We have seen teams blow major division leads in the second half, while a team that made a couple of savvy moves at the trade deadline suddenly spring to life and take a run at the postseason. All of that is still a long way off, though, with the goal for many teams simply being to stay as close to the playoff race as possible for as long as possible.

As it stands at the moment, the New York Mets are still somewhat in the hunt in the NL East, although you do question their ability to stay there. Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals are heading in the wrong direction and are falling off the pace quite dramatically. These two will play the 3rd of a 4-game series on Wednesday, with the Mets having already taken the first 2. The Mets are favored by 1 ½ here, with the run total set at 6 ½.

Nationals vs Mets MLB Week 8 Betting Lines & Game Preview

Fired up for tonight. #LGM pic.twitter.com/oyBdYxXHHA

— New York Mets (@Mets) 22 de mayo de 2019

• When: Wednesday, May 22 at 7:10 PM EST
• Where: Citi Field, NYC
• Starting Pitchers: Scherzer vs. deGrom
• TV: MLB Extra Innings
• Radio: 104.5 ESPN
• Live Stream: MLB.tv
• MLB Week 8 Betting Lines: Washington Nationals -115 (Total 6.5)

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Why bet on the Washington Nationals?

The Nationals dropped the opening 2 games in this series, taking their current losing streak to 3 games in a row. Washington have now picked up just 4 wins in their last 10 games, a run that has seen them fall to 10 games below .500 at 19-29. That means that they are now 9 games out of the lead in the NL East, a gap that is already starting to look insurmountable, even with a lot of baseball still to be played.

Playing on the road has been especially problematic for the Nationals, as they are just 9-15 away from home, although they have played the Mets quite tough this season, going 5-6 in their 11 games in that match-up. On the road, the Nationals are 8-7 as the underdog. The Nats will send Max Scherzer (2-5, 3.72 ERA) to the mound for this one.

Team Stats

• Runs: 4.46
• Hits: 8.21
• Walks: 3.23
• Strike Outs: 9.48

Defense

• Runs: 5.15
• Hits: 8.67
• Walks: 3.50
• Strike Outs: 9.69

Why bet on the New York Mets?

We mentioned earlier that the Mets are still within reach of the lead in the NL East, but the reality is that it has more to do with the inconsistency of the Phillies and Braves than it does with their own play. Yes, the Methave won back to back games ahead of this one, but they are also just 5-5 in their last 10.

New York are currently sitting 3 games below .500 at 22-25, which has them 5 ½ games out of the top spot in the division. The Mets have been a decent pick at home, going 11-8 SU, but not so much as a favorite ATS, where they are 5-8. It will be Jacob deGrom (3-5, 3.98 ERA) who the Mets send to the mound on Wednesday night.

Team Stats

• Runs: 4.47
• Hits: 8.38
• Walks: 3.55
• Strike Outs: 9.60

Defense

• Runs: 4.89
• Hits: 8.51
• Walks: 3.45
• Strike Outs: 9.23

Nationals vs Mets MLB Week 8 Betting Trends

• Nationals are 2-8 SU in their last 10 games on the road
• The total has gone OVER in 4 of Washington’s last 6 games when playing on the road against NY Mets
• Mets are 5-0 SU in their last 5 games at home
• The total has gone UNDER in 14 of NY Mets’ last 20 games played in May
• Nationals are 41-40 against the money line when playing against a team with a losing record over the last 2 seasons
• Mets are 16-29 against the money line in May games over the last 2 seasons
• Scherzer is 10-5 when starting against NY METS with an ERA of 2.63 and a WHIP of 0.886
• DeGrom is 8-4 when starting against WASHINGTON with an ERA of 2.50 and a WHIP of 1.020

Expert Pick & Final Score Prediction for Nationals vs Mets

While neither of the starting pitchers have been at their best this season, it still looks like an intriguing duel. That said, I think that the run total has been set a little too low, so I am taking the Mets to win and the OVER.

Score: Washington Nationals 3 – New York Mets 5