Mets Open the Season in Philadelphia Following Postponements in Washington

Mon, Apr 5, 2021
By Jim Vassallo (Veri.bet Writer)

The New York Mets (0-0) visit the Philadelphia Phillies (3-0) on Monday, April 5, at 7:05 PM ET at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Mets had their season-opening series against the Washington Nationals in D.C. postponed due to COVID-19 issues. The Nationals had four players and one staff member test positive the day prior to Opening Day last week, which led to the postponement of the entire series.

The Phillies enter tonight's game after a three-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves in Philadelphia to open the season.

Philadelphia is 2-1 against the spread so far in the 2021 season.

The Phillies swept the Braves to begin the 2021 season with scores of 3-2, 4-0, and 2-1. The season-opener went extra innings (10) before the Phillies came away with a walk-off victory.

The Braves entered the year having won three straight National League East titles.

The bullpen for the Phillies in the opening series was stellar, not allowing a run in 7.1 innings pitched after pitching to a 7.06 ERA in 2020.

"Everyone did their job," Phillies manager Joe Girardi said. "The starters came in and did their job. The bullpen did their job. To limit this team to the amount of runs that we did is not easy to do."

Zach Eflin started on the mound for the Phillies and allowed just one run on four hits in seven innings pitched. He struck out eight and walked just one.

"We know that those guys can hit," Eflin said. "It's a huge goal to go into a start and try to limit the amount of pitches they can hit. You stress weak contact against them. It's great to pitch deep into the game for the first start, keep them off-balance, get some double plays when I needed to and kept them guessing." 

The Mets had their season-opening series against the Nationals postponed due to the COVID issues for Washington.

“We’re moving forward in the most safe and professional way that we can,” general manager Mike Rizzo said Friday. “Our No. 1 priority is the safety of our players, their families, our staff, and the fans.”

Along with the four players and one staff member who tested positive, the Nationals needed nine total employees to quarantine, which led to the postponement of the series.

“It’s a little disappointing,” Mets infielder J.D. Davis said on Friday. “It could happen to anybody. We’re fortunate enough to have good protocols in here and have good rules, to track down this kind of a spider web of what’s going on over on the Nationals, to kind of lock it down and get control of this virus. It is unfortunate, but it could happen to anybody.”

Major League Baseball has not yet announced when the series will be rescheduled. The Nationals were planning on playing the Braves Monday night but that game has since been postponed.

New York enters the first game of the season as -1.5-run favorites over Philadelphia. Jacob deGrom takes the hill for the Mets, while the Phillies send lefty Matt Moore to the mound to make his Phillies and season debuts. deGrom is one of the best pitchers in the league, which is why you should take the UNDER 7.5 total runs scored for tonight's game.