2020-09-11 18:37:00 EDT
The New York Mets and the Toronto Blue Jays meet Friday in MLB action from Sahlen Field.
This will be the first installment of a three-game weekend set between these teams. The Mets are coming off a pair versus the Orioles this week. New York split those, falling 11-2 Tuesday and winning 7-6 Wednesday. As for the Blue Jays, they played the Yankees this week. Toronto won the first two 12-7 and 2-1 but failed to take the sweep with a 7-2 loss Wednesday. Check back all season long for free MLB picks and MLB predictions at Sports Chat Place.
The Mets have found some pretty good offense this year from a few bats in the lineup. Michael Conforto is doing well on a .340 batting average, 30 runs, eight homers and 27 RBI. Pete Alonso is hitting a tepid .234 but leads the team with 11 home runs, while Dominic Smith has posted 32 RBI with 19 runs and a .328 BA thus far.
For the Friday starting pitcher role, the Mets are sending out Jacob deGrom. In his eight starts this season, deGrom is 3-1 with a 1.69 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 48.0 innings of work. On his MLB career, deGrom is 69-50 with a 2.58 ERA and 1325 Ks in 1149.2 innings total.
Over on the Blue Jays’ side, a few opportunistic hitters have emerged in their ranks this season. Teoscar Hernandez leads the team with 14 homers and 27 RBI, compiling 27 runs with a .308 batting average so far. Lourdes Gurriel is hitting well also with a .299 BA, 15 runs, 44 hits, six homers and 23 RBI to his credit in 2020.
In the Friday starting pitcher role, the Blue Jays are sending out Chase Anderson. In six starts without a decision this year, Anderson has a 4.94 ERA with 21 strikeouts in 23.2 innings of work. On his career, Anderson is 53-40 with a 3.97 ERA and 742 Ks in 880.2 innings total.
The Mets are 12-4 in their last 16 interleague road games and 5-2 in their last seven games as a favorite. New York is 2-5 in their last seven games versus the American League East and 1-4 in their last five during game one of a series.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jays are 4-1 in their last five Friday games and 4-1 in their last five games after an off day. Toronto is 15-6 in their last 21 games on grass and 5-2 in their last seven home games versus a right-handed starter.
Pick: I’m going with the Mets, but this one is close. New York moved deGrom up a day to get as many starts out of him as they can for the rest of the season. He’ll be on regular rest however, and should be plenty effective as usual. Anderson had a tough outing versus the Red Sox his last time up and should have a rested bullpen behind him. That said, I like deGrom to put the Mets in a good position here. We’ll see if they can take advantage.
