Tight NL East race could be decided this weekend in Braves-Mets series: ‘It’s going to be a dogfight’

The most compelling divisional race in baseball will begin Friday at Truist Park in Atlanta with two of the most dominant pitchers in the game squaring off to start. Jacob deGrom will face Max Fried in the opener, Max Scherzer will see Kyle Wright in the second game and Chris Bassitt against Charlie Morton will be the matchup for ESPN’s Sunday night broadcast.

Fried is 1-3 in his last five starts with a 2.33 ERA. The Mets are 2-2 against the left-hander this season. The lineups could still change but it’s probably safe to say Fried will start the opening game since he hasn’t pitched in a week. The Braves skipped his Tuesday start against the Nationals to be able to use him this weekend.

DeGrom is 2-2 in his last five starts with a 3.72 ERA. He’s split the two starts against the Braves this season, totaling six hits and five earned runs in those matchups.

The Mets will go into the Atlanta series with a 9-7 record against their NL East rivals, with the Braves winning the last game on Aug. 18.

The team flew to Atlanta following the conclusion of their Wednesday night walk-off victory against the Marlins in an attempt to avoid any weather delays from Hurricane Ian, which is expected to impact the Atlanta area with heavy rain and wind over the weekend.

MLB is monitoring the situation and the two teams could play a doubleheader on Sunday if conditions are unsafe for Saturday. There is still no official update about any changes to dates and times but there is an obvious excitement for these next three games regardless of when they are played.

“We’ve got our three best pitchers going in this series, so it’s going to be fun,” Taijuan Walker said. “It’s going to be a dogfight.”

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