Over the course of the next week, the Mets will play five games against the last place Pirates and three games against the last place Nationals.  I expect nothing less than a 6-2 roadtrip against these two teams, with their anemic offenses and awful starting pitching. This is a great chance for the Mets to fatten up. As we saw last year though, the Mets have to come ready to play and can’t play to the level of the competition. Let’s take a look at who the Mets main competition will face over the course of the next week

Phillies- Dodgers, Padres. The Phillies open a big four game set against the Dodgers tonight in LA. Although they don’t face Chad Billingsley, the Dodgers most dominating starter, in my opinion, they do face a quad of pretty good pitchers. Derek Lowe, phenom Clayton Kershaw, Brad Penny, and Hiroki Kuroda will all take the mound against the Phils and can all deliver a gem on any given night. Not an easy task for the Phils.

Now, the Marlins…

Marlins- Cardinals, Cubs. The Cardinals open a big four game set of their own tonight against the Cards. Again, the Marlins don’t face the Cards ace Chris Carpenter, but face four solid starters. Joel Pineiro, Todd Wellemeyer, Kyle Lohse, and Braden Looper. After which they face the Cubs, the best team in the NL…

Clearly, the Mets have a great opportunity to gain some ground in the standings as they don’t face a team with a winning record again until August 26th, when we head up CBP to face the Phillies…