The Miami Marlins have been in contention for most of the season, but have dropped below .500 and 5.5 games out of first in the lackluster NL East. The New York Mets have been out of contention pretty much all season. But at 42-50 they are only eight games out of the division lead thanks to taking three of four from the Atlanta Braves. More shockingly, the Mets record is even with a +4 run differential that ranks them right in line with the Braves. Now the Marlins are on the NY Mets schedule, giving both teams a chance to climb a little further to the top of the division. Mets tickets are averaging $65.77 for the series on the secondary market, a 20 percent drop from the season average at Citi Field.
7/11 MIA Henderson Alvarez vs. NYM Zack Wheeler | Avg. Price: $68.68 | Get-in Price: $18
Zack Wheeler gets the first start of the series for the Mets, and he modestly leads the team with a 1.1 WAR. While his 4.07 ERA isn’t great, his 3.49 FIP is second on the team, and he leads the staff in strikeouts. The average price of the game is the highest of the series at $68.68 and the get-in price is $18.
7/12 MIA Tom Koehler vs. NYM Daisuke Matsuzaka | Avg. Price: $62.72 | Get-in Price: $20
The second start of the series goes to Daisuke Matsuzaka who has had a much better season as a reliever. As a starter Dice-K hasn’t been bad, with a 3.98 ERA and 3.86 FIP in 40.2 innings, but as a reliever he has a 2.22 ERA in 24.1 innings. The game is averaging $62.72 per ticket with a get-in price of $20. To Koehler starts for the Marlins and he’s improved from his rookie season. His strikeout numbers are up and he has put up a sub-4.00 ERA so far at 3.98.
7/13 MIA Brad Hand vs. NYM Jacob deGrom | Avg. Price: $65.90 | Get-in Price: $17
The final game of the series has the lowest get-in price at $17, and the average price is $65.90. Jacob deGrom starts for the Mets, and he has been much better than anticipated. The rookie has a 3.38 ERA in 11 starts, and is only second to Wheeler in strikeout rate. With a WAR of 0.8 it’s likely he would be leading the team if he had the same amount of starts as the three pitchers ahead of him on the staff. The only knock on deGrom is a relatively high walk rate, but he didn’t offer any free passes when he was shutting the Braves out over seven innings in his last start.
MLB All-Star Game tickets are still available to join Daniel Murphy in Minnesota next week.
