First pitch: Monday, 4:05 p.m. ET
Line: Washington -185, New York +175, Total: 7

A new season begins when NL East rivals, the New York Mets and Washington Nationals, face-off this Monday afternoon.

The Mets have been putting together this ballclub for a few years now and they are starting to look competitive after the pickups from the past two seasons and the development of their youngsters. The biggest name that they were able to nab in this past offseason was OF Michael Cuddyer, who has batted over .330 over 179 games in the past two seasons. Last year they had a solid showing, ending at third in their division behind a solid combined ERA of 3.49, good enough for ninth in baseball. They will be going up against an early frontrunner for the World Series and last year’s team with the best record in the Nationals. They made a splash in the offseason when they added former Cy Young award winner Max Scherzer to their already top rotation and have a lineup of high-ceiling youngsters mixed with established veterans who hope to build on the 686 runs they scored in 2014 (9th in MLB). The starting pitching matchup for this season opener will peg 41-year-old RHP Bartolo Colon (15-13, 4.09 ERA in 2014) for New York and newly minted Washington native RHP Max Scherzer (18-5, 3.15 ERA in 2014) for the Nationals. The Mets nearly split their contests played on the road last season, going 39-42 (.481) in away games as they face this Washington group which was a tremendous 51-30 (.630) when in front of its hometown fans. The Nationals absolutely dominated this series against New York last year when they compiled a 15-4 record (.789) when facing their division foes and were 6-3 when playing at home. Overall in the past two years, they are 27-11 in the series (11-7 at home) with the average score being Washington five and the Mets three. Some trends to keep an eye on in this one include that Colon’s teams are 27-12 (.692) on the road when the total is 7.5 or less since 1997 while Scherzers’ teams have gone 43-15 (.741) when the total is seven to 8.5 over the past three seasons. The injury report has 2B Daniel Murphy (Hamstring) listed as questionable for New York while 3B Anthony Rendon (Knee) and OF Denard Span are out as OF Jayson Werth (Shoulder) is listed as questionable for the host team.

There is no debating the effectiveness of Colon’s play over his long career and he has compiled 204 wins in his 17 years with a solid 3.95 ERA. In his first season with the Mets in 2014, he was able to eclipse 200 innings pitched for the first time since 2005 and raised his strikeouts to over six per nine (6.7 K/9) for the first time since 2011. Despite his 2-5 career record when facing the Nationals, Colon owns a solid 3.45 ERA as he’s posted a WHIP of 1.23. He lost in all but one meeting out of five last year and gave up a total of nine runs on 12 hits over two September matchups. The middle infield for Washington has pounded Colon in their career with SS Ian Desmond and SS Yunel Escobar going a combined 10-for-26 (.385) with two homers and four RBIs. Some have played very poorly against the veteran though, with OF Bryce Harper (1-for-10, 4 Ks) and C Wilson Ramos (2-for-11) struggling. New York’s bullpen was impressive last year, going 22-28 (.440) with a 3.14 ERA (8th in league) and saved 42-of-64 games (66%). Jeurys Familia (2.21 ERA, 5 saves in 2014) will start off the year as the closer and has successfully saved 5-of-6 chances in his short career, but has struggled with 4.5 BB/9 over 100.1 IP in three seasons

Max Scherzer has been one of the most impressive pitchers in baseball over the past three seasons with the Tigers and has an ERA of 3.74 or better in each of those campaigns. He has struck out at least 10 batters per nine innings in each of those years as well and posted an amazing 55-15 record (.786). He has totaled just three career starts against this Mets team with a 2-0 record (2-1 team record) behind a 3.24 ERA (1.38 WHIP). He hasn’t seen them since 2013 when he went six shutout innings, striking out 11 and allowing just three hits in the winning effort. OF Curtis Granderson (4-for-12, 1 HR, 2 RBIs) has had the most success of anyone on this team against Scherzer and despite OF Michael Cuddyer having the most experience (17 AB) against him, he has a mere four hits with a double and a HR. The Nationals’ bullpen was another strong piece of their solid 2014 season, ranking fourth in the league with a 3.00 ERA as they put up a record of 26-17 (.605) and saved 45-of-62 games (73%). Drew Storen (1.12 ERA, 11 saves in 2014) will begin the year closing out games and has successfully saved 66-of-82 games (80%) in his career.