The New York Mets and Washington Nationals will kick off their 2021 seasons at Nationals Park on April 1. The Mets have a new owner (Steve Cohen) and a new face of the franchise (Francisco Lindor). The Nationals, meanwhile, will play in front of their fans for the first time since winning the 2019 World Series.
This is the second time in three years the Mets and Nationals are meeting on Opening Day. Jacob deGrom outpitched Max Scherzer to earn the win in Washington in the 2019 season opener. You can find the full MLB Opening Day 2021 schedule here. Information on Mets vs. Nationals, including live stream details, are below.
Nationals vs. Mets
Date: Thursday, April 1 | Time: 7:09 p.m. ET
Location: Nationals Park -- Washington, D.C.
Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free) | TV: ESPN
Probable pitchers: RHP Jacob deGrom (NYM) vs. RHP Max Scherzer (WAS)
Odds: NYM -145; WAS +135; O/U: 6.5
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Storylines
Mets: At long last, the Wilpon era is over. The Mets have a fabulously wealthy new owner and will run a payroll commensurate with their market size this season. They did not sign a big free agent despite dabbling in the George Springer and Trevor Bauer markets, though they traded for a legitimate star in Lindor, and greatly improved their depth with Carlos Carrasco, Trevor May, Taijuan Walker, the return of Marcus Stroman, and others. New York has not been to the postseason since 2016. The Mets still have 162 games to play, but they're in position to return to October.
Nationals: The Nationals won the World Series in 2019, then finished in last place in 2020 (tied with the Mets). That was despite getting MVP-caliber years from Juan Soto and Trea Turner. On offense, Washington targeted upside over reliability with Josh Bell and Kyle Schwarber over the winter, and they brought in innings eater Jon Lester to bolster the rotation. Top prospect Carter Kieboom failed to win the third base job in spring training, so the Nationals will begin the season with questions on the infield and a poor team defense on paper. Still, the rotation (Scherzer, Patrick Corbin, Stephen Strasburg) is strong enough that Washington should remain in the race all year, as long as the club stays healthy.
SportsLine data scientist Stephen Oh has crushed MLB picks over the last three seasons, returning $3,178 to $100 bettors. He's shared a huge five-leg parlay for Opening Day featuring his top picks from Thursday, including one nearly 2-to-1 underdog to win outright! Get Oh's Opening Day parlay only at SportsLine.
