San Diego Padres vs New York Mets Prediction: Play at home won’t be an advantage against a strong side

On Saturday, Major League Baseball action will take place at Petco Park, featuring a matchup between the New York Mets and the San Diego Padres. The Mets just finished a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, so they are fresh off that. The New York Mets won the first two games, and then on Thursday, they won an impressive game by a shutout. This past week, San Diego faced off against the Angels and came away with a clean sweep of all three games. 

The San Diego Padres defeated the Los Angeles Angels by scores of 10-3, 8-5, and 5-3 over the course of three games on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, respectively. In the decisive game, Seth Lugo of San Diego was the starting pitcher. He went 6.0 innings, allowing one earned run on five hits while walking one batter. On Saturday, the San Diego Padres will send Yu Darvish to the mound as their starting pitcher. Darvish has made 14 starts so far and has a record of 5-6 with a 4.84 ERA, 85 strikeouts, and 80.0 innings pitched. In 256 career starts, Darvish has compiled a record of 100-81 with an earned run average of 3.57. The San Diego Padres have a record of 25-10 in their previous 35 games played after an off day, including a 6-2 record in their last eight home games. The San Diego Padres have a record of 2-7 in their previous nine games against teams that start a right-handed pitcher.

The New York Mets defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks in both of the first two games of their series, winning 8-5 and 2-1, respectively. The New York Mets were victorious by a score of 9-0 on Thursday thanks to a strong third inning in which they scored five runs. The starting pitcher, Carlos Carrasco, went 8.0 innings, allowing three hits, one walk, and four strikeouts. Justin Verlander will take the mound for the Mets on Saturday as the team's starting pitcher. Verlander has a record of 3-4 on the year with a 3.66 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 64.0 innings pitched over his 11 starts. After 493 career starts, Verlander has compiled a record of 247-137 with a 3.25 earned run average. The New York Mets have a record of 10-22 in their previous 32 games played away from Citi Field, and their record is 3-7 in their last 10 games played in game one of a series. The New York Mets have a record of 1-4 in their most recent five games played on Saturday.

In this matchup, I'm going to stick with the Mets. Verlander has already put together a few solid starts at this point in his career. Verlander has a record of 1-0 in his most recent two starts, with 0 earned runs on 10 hits and 3 walks in 12.0 innings pitched. On Thursday, New York played exceptionally well on both offense and defense. Carrasco turned in a brilliant performance in the starting role while the offense racked up 17 hits. The Mets appear to be in good shape, so my fingers are crossed that they can get off to a strong start in the first game of this series.