The Washington Nationals and the NY Mets are playing live on the spring training schedule on Thursday and the game comes at 12 pm noon from Tradition Field in Florida and the game is streaming from ESPN and the WatchESPN website and the season will begin in days with Opening Day coming next week and teams now are gearing up for the start.
The Mets come into the game after a loss to the Astros and they are looking to get things going early this season, as they usually fade out by the halfway mark and without Matt Harvey that could be even more difficult. The team went out and signed Curtis Granderson and Bartolo Colon and now they will try and compete in the NL East with teams like Washington and Atlanta and while they don't have much hope for this season, the team has some great young pitching and that will be on display.
The Mets play against some former players in Jose Reyes and RA Dickey next with the Blue Jays on the schedule and the team has been playing solid ball so far this spring. The Mets are dealing with Matt Harvey wanting to rehab with the team from his Tommy John and it appears he will get the chance to do that. Harvey said that despite not playing this year, he wants to be around the team and wants to be around his teammates while he is rehabbing so he is not absent all season.
The Mets come into the year after being dreadful on offense last season and they ranked 23rd in the league in runs and 29th in batting average and they also were 29th in slugging and 25th in on base percentage and they are hooping those numbers will improve this season. The Mets pitching was its best area last season and they ranked in the top five in quality starts and the top 15 in ERA and even without Harvey, that is expected to be a strength this season.
The Mets are putting out a lineup with Chris Young and Ike Davis on Thursday along with Granderson, David Wright and Daniel Murphy, while the Nats have a number of starters going as well, including Bryce Harper and Ian Desmond, while Jordan Zimmerman will face a no name for the Mets. The Nationals come into the game after losing to the Cardinals and they next will play against the Detroit Tigers and they are looking to win the division again after missing the playoffs last season.