The second game of the series between the Mets and Braves gets underway on Tuesday night at Citi Field.
Frankie Montas is scheduled to pitch for New York, while Spencer Strider will take the mound for Atlanta.
Mets vs. Braves prediction, preview
Frankie Montas is making his season and Mets debut on Tuesday night. The Mets signed Montas to be in their rotation this offseason, but Montas suffered an injury before the season started that has kept him out for the first couple of months of the season. Montas has been a solid starter for multiple teams over the past few years, most recently the Brewers. He has always had a bit of an issue with games that get away from him and giving up too many runs. However, he can chew up innings and throw a lot of strikeouts, which is something the Mets need at the moment with Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea, arguably their two best starting pitchers, both injured. It will be a tough task for Montas to make his debut against this dangerous Braves lineup.
Spencer Strider is in a familiar position against his division rivals. In his young career, he has faced the Phillies and Mets more than any other team. It has been a tale of two Striders against those two teams. Against the Phillies, he has been nails, with a 2.05 ERA in nine starts. However, in seven starts against the Mets, Strider has a 4.91 ERA. His 2025 season has generally been up and down. He has a 3.89 ERA in 2025 heading into tonight’s game. That being said, Strider has been much better over his past three starts, going at least six innings in all three starts with a 2.00 ERA. That includes a start against the Mets in Atlanta, where he gave up one run over six innings. Strider will hope to have a start that looks more like that than the rest of his history against the Mets.
Mets vs. Braves pick, best bet
Both offenses should find success in this game. Frankie Montas posted a horrific 12.05 ERA across six rehab starts as he worked his way back to full health. Montas and the Mets both seem not to be concerned about that, but Montas will likely be shaky in his first MLB start of the season. On the Mets’ side, they need to get their bats going. Juan Soto hit a big home run in last night’s game and they have been getting runners on base but have been unable to drive them in. Strider has not been the same pitcher on the road as he has been at home this season, and the Mets should take advantage of that. In four road starts, he has a 4.50 ERA and the Braves have lost all four of those games. This could be the perfect chance for the Mets to get back on track.
Several Mets with great career numbers against Strider could spark the offense on Tuesday night. Brandon Nimmo is slashing .474/.546/1.000 in 22 career plate appearances against Strider. The Mets’ lead-off man, Francisco Lindor, is batting .333 in 18 career at-bats against Strider. With Soto finding a groove last night and those batters’ great history against Strider, this could be the time for the Mets’ bats to get hot again. Meanwhile, the Braves have won seven of their past 10 games, mainly due to their offense finding a spark. Alex Verdugo should be an important bat on Tuesday night because of his great numbers against Frankie Montas. He is 6-of-11 with three doubles in his career against Montas and should get on base in this game. My best bet for this game is for Verdugo, Lindor and Nimmo to all register a hit, with the game also going over the total of nine runs.
