Major League Baseball released the New York Mets 2020 regular schedule on Monday evening and while the schedule may be shorter it doesnt mean it is any easier. In the Mets 60-game regular season slate, they will do battle with both the National League East and the American League East. In total the Mets will face the NL East for 40 games and the AL East for 20 games.

The Mets will open up on ESPN on Friday July 24th against the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field with first pitch scheduled for 4:10pm et.  We can fully expect Jacob Degrom to toe the rubber for the Mets, and he has already targeted around 100 pitches for his Opening Day start, as he begins his chase for his third Cy Young Award in as many years. The Mets will also face the Braves again on national television that same weekend on Sunday July 24th, in ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball feature game. With the NL East being one of the most toughest divisions on paper, the Mets will have a national platform in a big opening weekend series against the Braves.

The Mets will follow that series up against the Boston Red Sox with two at historic Fenway Park and two more at Citi Field. To say the Mets get any breaks in their schedule would be few and far between in this abbreviated season. The Mets early portion of their schedule is the toughest in baseball. Based on their oppenents winning percentage from last season, (.571), the Mets are rewarded wtth statstically the hardest schedule in the Majors through August 6th. Just to throw salt in the wound, if the Mets are in the midst of a playoff race, they will have to earn every win as they will play their final 10 games against three 2019 playoff teams. Those three series shape up as three games against the Braves, three against the Rays, and they close out the season in a potentially huge four game series against the Nationals in Washington. If you are looking for any “soft spots” the Mets will play ten games against the Marlins, two games against the Orioles, and three games against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The road to a National League East crown won’t be easy by any stretch, and it may very likely will only take 31 to 33 wins to win the division with the amount of competition  each team is facing. However despite the loss of Noah Syndergaard the Mets have positioned themselves this offseason to make a run at the division, and during this abbreviated season all it may take is a couple of weeks of the Mets getting hot to position themselves for October baseball.

Check out below the Mets full season schedule for the 2020 season.