New York Mets vs. Washington Nationals: 5 Bold Predictions

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Jul 31, 2015; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy (28) has Washington Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond (20) out during the fifth inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Mets have a disappointing weekend in Florida, losing two of three games to the lowly Miami Marlins. They will not have any time to reflect on the series loss though, as they will be continuing on their road trip back up north for the biggest series of the season thus far against the Washington Nationals.

The Mets will be traveling to take on the Nationals, entering the series with a solid four game lead. But, off-field distractions and poor execution on it has the Mets a little nervous right now. Not to mention also, that the Nationals will be entering this series on fire, while the Mets will be limping in a little bit.

The Nationals, who are winners of five consecutive games, are playing about as well as they have at any point this season. They pounded the Braves all weekend in a four-game series before taking the series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals. While the Nationals may have lost the first two games of that series, they were in position to win both games late and if for some better decision making could be entering this series much closer to the Mets in the standings.

The Mets are glad that they weren’t able to do that, as this four game lead is nerve racking enough. Here are the pitching matchups in what is a huge series for both teams.

Game 1: Jon Niese (8-10, 4.17 ERA) vs. Max Scherzer (11-11, 2.89 ERA)
Game 2: Matt Harvey (12-7, 2.60 ERA) vs. Jordan Zimmermann (12-8, 3.38 ERA)
Game 3: Jacob deGrom (12-7, 2.40 ERA) vs. Stephen Strasburg (8-6, 4.35 ERA)