Memorial Day is almost here, which means we have the always treasured three day weekend coming our way before we know it. As we gather with our friends and family for all the festivities and barbecue we can handle, we’ve also got some pretty great baseball to check out as well. With that in mind, here are five of the best Major League Baseball games to check out this weekend, and our predictions for the winner.
new york mets at milwaukee brewers, friday, may 25 @ 8:10 pm est on sny, fswi, and espn+
Pitching matchup: Noah Syndergaard (4-1, 2.91 ERA) vs Junior Guerra (3-3, 2.98 ERA)
After starting out the season as on of the hottest teams in baseball with a 14-5 record through April 20, the Mets have slowed down considerably, going 11-16 since then, including a 6-game losing streak to start May off on the wrong foot. Perhaps the biggest reason for this steep shift is the inconsistency of their offense. Their average runs scored per game since April 20 is only about one less than earlier in the season, but that’s largely due to a few outliers in which their offense caught fire and scored way more runs than needed to win. If you take those games away, their average runs per game would be far lower and more indicative of their skid in quality. They’ll be going up against the NL Central leading Brewers, who also haven’t been spectacular on the offensive end, but have strongly made up for that with their pitching. The Brewers are third in baseball in ERA, trailing only the Astros and Phillies, with both their starting rotation and bullpen pitching well through the first two months of the season. 24-year-old reliever Josh Hader has become one of the elite bullpen arms in baseball and has played a huge role in Milwaukee’s great start to the season, making him out to look like a star in the making. The Mets have Syndergaard taking the mound on Friday, and winning against Thor is never an easy task, so look for a pretty low scoring, evenly matched game in this one.
Predicted winner: Mets
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arizona diamondbacks at oakland athletics, friday, may 25 @ 9:35 pm est on fs-a and nbcsca
Pitching matchup: Patrick Corbin (4-1, 2.80 ERA) vs Sean Manaea (5-4, 2.71 ERA)
If you love low scoring games bolstered by great starting pitching, you’re definitely gonna want to check this one out. Patrick Corbin has started off this season as one of the hottest pitchers in baseball, finally showing us that he’s fully healthy and able to perform at a high level for the first time since his breakout 2013 campaign. However, it’s tough to gauge just how long he’ll be able to keep it up; the average velocity on his fastball has dropped about three miles per hour from the beginning of the season up until now. After a very up-and-down 2017 season, 26-year-old Sean Manaea looks to be on the verge of establishing himself as a true ace. 2018 has been great for him so far, punctuated by an April 21 no-hitter against baseball’s second-highest scoring offense in the Red Sox. This game will ultimately come down to whether Corbin can outshine Manaea or vice versa, so it’s fairly safe to expect another low scoring matchup out of this one.
Predicted winner: Athletics
los angeles angels @ new york yankees, sunday, may 27 @ 1:05 pm est on mlb network (out of market), yes, and fs-w
Pitching matchup: Garrett Richards (4-3, 3.31 ERA) vs Masahiro Tanaka (5-2, 4.92 ERA)
If watching lots of runners cross the plate is more your thing, then this is the game for you, as the Yankees and Angels rank first and seventh in baseball in runs scored respectively. New York has been absolutely obliterating the ball in recent weeks, with Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gary Sanchez all regularly hitting bombs day in and day out. While we all sort of saw that coming, the Yankees have been yet another huge threat with the bat in rookie second baseman Gleyber Torres. Since being called up to the Majors on April 22, Torres has a fantastic .323 batting average with 8 home runs and 22 RBIs. He also became the youngest Yankee since Mickey Mantle to have a multi-homer performance after smacking a pair of bombs against the Rangers on May 21, and would likely be a favorite for AL Rookie of the Year if it weren’t for Shohei Ohtani. Speaking of whom, we’ll likely see Ohtani bat against Tanaka in this one, which is pretty exciting considering Ohtani has expressed admiration for his Japanese countryman in the past. That alone is reason enough to tune in, and being able to see all of those young Yankees and MVP candidate Mike Trout all play at once is just icing on the cake.
Predicted winner: Yankees
houston astros at cleveland indians, sunday, may 25 @ 1:10 pm est on mlb network (out of market), att sportsnet-sw, and sportstime ohio
Pitching matchup: Gerrit Cole (5-1, 1.86 ERA) vs Trevor Bauer (4-3, 2.35 ERA)
The Astros committed a train robbery against the Pirates by acquiring Gerrit Cole, who has been arguably the best pitcher in baseball this year and is a huge reason as to why the Astros lead the Majors in ERA by a mile, nearly a full run per game less than the second place Phillies. Houston’s offense has been almost as impressive as well, ranking fourth in the league in runs scored and looking every bit like the defending world champions that they are, sitting atop the AL West at 33-18. Cleveland, on the other hand, has looked out of sorts through the first two months of the season. Their 24-24 record is still somehow good enough for the top spot in the AL Central, but after setting such high expectations for themselves with the amount of success they’ve had over the past few seasons, one can’t help but be disappointed with their performance this season. However, we definitely can’t be disappointed with starter Trevor Bauer, who has become a fantastic compliment to ace Corey Kluber this season. Cole and Bauer are both having by far the best years of their career, so this showdown is set to be a great one.
Predicted winner: Astros
cincinnati reds at colorado rockies, sunday, may 25 @ 3:10 pm est on fs-o and sportsnet-rm
Pitching matchup: Matt Harvey (1-2, 5.49 ERA) vs German Marquez (3-5, 4.62 ERA)
Here’s one of those games that you’re not necessarily watching because they’re evenly matched considering that the Rockies are leading the NL West and the Reds have the third-worst record in baseball, but rather to check out one player in particular. In this case, that player is pitcher Matt Harvey, who has had one of the most tumultuous careers out of anyone in baseball right now. Throughout the first three years of his career, Harvey established himself as one of the best young pitchers in baseball, never exceeding his rookie ERA of 2.73 from 2012 to 2015 (although he did sit out all of 2014 due to injury). Still, his brilliant 2015 performance showed that he could come back from injury just fine, but it all went downhill from there nonetheless. In his Mets career between 2016 and 2018, Harvey never posted an ERA under 4.86, and his refusal to be demoted to Triple A resulted in his being traded to the Reds. Since his arrival in Cincinnati, though, Harvey has looked to have regained his form, posting a 2.57 ERA over three starts. It’ll be really interesting to see if this sudden resurgence continues against Colorado on Sunday, although it’s really tough to count on the Reds’ offense to back him up.
Predicted winner: Rockies
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