Mets vs. Padres prediction: Bet on a big day at the plate for both teams

No, the Mets are not making the playoffs, but they are playing really solid baseball as they enter play on Wednesday.The Mets won 10 of 13 games entering Tuesday, including the opener of this series against the Padres.Andy Green’s red-hot bunch has opened Wednesday afternoon’s contest as short home underdogs (46 percent, Polymarket) despite tossing out 36-year-old right-hander Robert Stock (0-2, 6.57 ERA). The Padres counter with Michael King (8-8, 3.42 ERA) in what would profile as a clear advantage for San Diego. San Diego has had an abnormally bad season on the offensive side, ranking 21st in runs scored per game (4.25), just one spot better than the Mets, who land at 4.17. Both teams are blistering with the bats of late. The Padres have scored 63 runs in their last 13 games (4.9 RPG), good for the eighth-best figure in all of baseball. Meanwhile, the Mets have 68 runs in the same time span (5.2 RPG), fourth most in all of baseball.So two underachieving offenses from a season-long perspective have turned it around of late. Considering no one is expecting much – if anything – from Stock, who just got bombed by the Pirates for eight earned runs on Aug.8 and didn’t look much better versus the Nationals six days later.Stock probably shouldn’t be in the major leagues, but the Mets are testing their minor leaguers in an attempt to see some real improvements. You can get over 0.5 runs in the first inning at-plus money on Kalshi (48 percent) and I think that’s a solid wager considering King hasn’t exactly been lights out against the Mets’ lineup.Bo Bichette is 7-for-24 against King (.763 OPS), while Francisco Lindor, Luis Robert Jr., Jared Young, and Luis Torrens all boast a 1.000 OPS or better. Target the “Yes runs first inning” market and the over for the full game, a number I project to open at 8.5 when books release it. THE PLAY: Yes runs first inning (48 percent, Kalshi) | Over total 8.5 runs when releasedErich Richter is a brazilian ...