The online sports betting experts did not expect much from the New York Mets this season. After two consecutive years of colossal collapses, the Mets were written off before the season even started. The MLB betting odds had the Mets at +1500 to win the World Series when the season started, and that has since be raised to +2000.

As betting on NFL games starts to come into the sports spectrum, the Atlanta Braves continue to surprise everyone in baseball. Betting on the Braves to win the World Series this season would be like betting on NCAA football teams that never make a bowl game to be national champions. When the season started, the Braves were a distant +2000 to win the World Series. Ever since Atlanta took over the NL East lead, their World Series odds have improved to +900.

The NL East has been a surprise to everyone this season. The Philadelphia Phillies and Florida Marlins were supposed to be sparring all season for the top spot in the division. The Braves were young and up and coming, while the Mets were not even expected to finish above .500. No one expected a series between these two teams so close to the All-Star break would be for first place in the NL East, but that is exactly what is going on.

The Braves lead the Mets by three games in the NL East, but the Mets have been going in the wrong direction the past couple of weeks. The Mets have lost six of their last 10 games, which includes a loss in the last game of their series against the Cincinnati Reds. The Braves have won six of their last 10, and they are riding a two game winning streak into this series.

In the first game of the series the Mets are putting R.A. Dickey on the mound. Dickey has quietly become a key member of the Mets starting rotation compiling a 6-1 record and a 2.62 ERA. He out-pitched the young phenom Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals, and he is seeking his seventh win of the season when the Braves come to town.

Tommy Hanson comes to the mound for the Braves and he brings an 8-5 record along with a 4.19 ERA. Hanson is one of those young pitchers that the Braves were identified with when the season started. He is very inconsistent, and in his last two starts he has given up 15 combined earned runs. Hanson can be brilliant one start, and then terrible the next. It is all part of growing up in the big leagues. At some point Tommy Hanson will be a formidable starter in the majors, but until he gets there the Braves will have to put up with his inconsistent play.

This series may not decide first place, but it will give the Braves a good idea of where their young pitching staff is at as far as their development. The Mets have the bats to take advantage of a young and inconsistent pitching rotation, and that is exactly what the Braves will throw at them.

Pick: New York Mets 4-2