Most fantasy baseball leagues play out over the course of an entire season, but Draftstreet.com has helped take things to a new level, setting it up so that you can choose your fantasy team and get immediate rewards in one-day or multi-day events.   To help introduce their way of doing fantasy baseball Draftstreet has created a Free Fantasy Baseball Challenge for our readers with $300 in cash prizes this Friday, April 26!  You read that right, $300 up for grabs today, with the deadline for picking your squad ~ 7 p.m.

To participate you simply need to enter by clicking here or the banner ad below and start picking your team.  The top 15 positions in the contest get paid (check out the breakdown below for the specifics).

1) Enter the Metszilla/Draftstreet.com freeroll through this link and sign up with a username and password.

2) Fill your roster by choosing one player from each tier (there are 8 tiers total).

3) The contest is today and is a one day event.  You can build your team at any time between now and then and adjust your roster up until the games start Friday.

4) Sit back once the games start, check out the scoreboard and watch to see if you finish in the money!

This afternoon the Metszilla staff will be posting our squads for everyone to view and we can’t wait to see what kind of teams all of you put together.  After all, we all know Mets fans are the most knowledgeable baseball fans around, but let’s see if it translates to success on the fantasy baseball stage.  Winner will also get a free Metszilla.com t-shirt, so long as you wear large or extra large (sorry, we’re not CafePress).  Good luck to everyone!

MetsZilla’s Draftstreet Squad:

Tier 1 selection- Miguel Cabrera (couldn’t bring myself to take Justin Upton)

Tier 2 selection- Bryce Harper (after watching him destroy the Mets, I figured why not get some enjoyment out of his ridiculous season)

Tier 3 selection- Jacoby Ellsbury

Tier 4 selection- Joe Mauer

Tier 5 selection- Dustin Pedroia

Tier 6 selection- Josh Hamilton

Tier 7 selection- Nelson Cruz

Tier 8 selection- Desmond Jennings

However, I advise you to be careful my friends.  I want to remind you not to put too much into what you see in the games and in the box scores.  While spring training games give us a glimpse into what cards we have been dealt, you have to keep in mind what the players are focusing on.  Scouting takes a back seat in the spring as players focus on themselves.  Pitchers focus on specific pitches or locations regardless of the scoreboard and who they are facing.  Hitters spend little time in the video room watching the opposing pitcher as they work on their own timing, vision, and set up.

Putting it simply, they are getting ready.  The fact that none of them being game ready is also something we need to consider when penciling in our ideal line ups.  Stephen Strasburg will be a bit more sharp in the regular season and the Mets will have to face him for more than two innings.  Managers will also be substituting for improved match-ups rather than rotating guys in each game little league style.

Don’t cry in your pina coladas yet.  We will be able to glean some things as it is inevitable the actual game will dictate how a player approaches a certain situation.  Yesterday’s game provided us an opportunity to see how Zach Wheeler would potentially handle situations in which he needs a strikeout.  He didn’t disappoint. That’s the beauty of baseball.  No matter what players are working on, they will be forced to ditch the pre-game development plan occasionally and be placed in a situation where they will have to display how they will perform when faced with a true test.

Enjoy the action and the debate, but don’t get too high or too low on a particular player or situation. Personally, I will be keeping an eye on the outfield as I am absolutely fascinated by the mix of guys vying for playing time.  They have been given an outstanding opportunity to make it that doesn’t come around very often.  They can thank Omar Minaya, Jason Bay, Johan Santana, and of course Fred and Jeffy Willpon.

So throw your feet up and enjoy the optimism.  Take pleasure in soaking up the relaxed atmosphere as number 88 steps into the box to face number 76 in the eighth inning.  Because no matter what happens this spring, the Mets will still be tied for first place on April 1st.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen the New York Mets play this well and at the end of the day, it might turn out that this doesn’t mean very much, but it’s still nice to see them at least appear to be heading in the right direction.

The Mets have had a very lousy season overall but they’ve won six of their last seven games and have a real chance to head into the offseason with some momentum. This comes on the heels of a stretch where the Mets dropped 13 of 15, leaving their fans down in the dumps. Now the team has made a u-turn and is at least presenting some glimmers of hope for the future. The Mets have only won six of seven one other time this season (in early May) and haven’t done better than that.

They’ll have a chance to top that streak on Friday when they visit the Atlanta Braves. They’ll be there over the weekend before heading to Miami to wrap up their regular season.

The men on the mound will be Jonathon Niese, Chris Young and Jenrry Mejia. Niese should give the Mets an excellent chance to win as he’s pitched well against the Braves this season. In three starts, he’s 2-1 with a 2.25 ERA, a WHIP of 1.00 and the Braves are battling .181 against them.

Atlanta will counter with Tim Hudson, Mike Minor and Kris Medlen.

One thing MLB odds makers will have to figure out is just how much effort the Braves will be putting into these contests. They’ve already clinched a playoff spot, so there’s no need for them to over exert themselves. The Mets have really struggled with the Braves this season, so having the Braves take their foot off the gas might help the Mets finally get an edge and keep their momentum going.

We’ll find out on Friday night as first pitch is at 7:35 p.m. Eastern.

Now that they’ve fallen out of the National League playoff picture the New York Mets have been reduced to the role of spoilers for the rest of this baseball season. They’ll try to live up to that role this weekend when they host the NL Wild-Card leading Atlanta Braves for three games at Citi Field starting Friday night.

This series also marks the last appearance by Mets-killer Chipper Jones in New York, before he heads off into retirement.

But first, Chipper’s Braves are trying to ice down a playoff berth.

Mets-Braves Series Set-Up

New York just salvaged the final game of a three-game series in St. Louis, taking Wednesday’s series finale 6-2 to complete a 6-3 road trip. So the Mets, at 65-72, have 25 games to get back to the .500 mark.

Atlanta, meanwhile, just took three of four games from the Colorado Rockies, winning the last two games by identical scores of 1-0. But that was the Braves first series victory since taking three of four from San Diego three weeks ago.

Still, at 78-60 Atlanta leads the NL Wild-Card race by 3.5 games over second-place St. Louis and by five games over both Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.

Santana Shelved

In what the Mets hope is the final bit of bad news for this season SP Johan Santana, bothered by a bad back, joined fellow starters Mike Pelfrey and Dillon Gee on the disabled list this week, and is expected to miss the rest of the season.

So just two guys, Jon Niese and RA Dickey, who started this season in the Mets rotation are still there.

The Season Series

The Braves have taken seven of 12 games from the Mets so far this season. And seven of those games have played ‘over’ on the totals.

On the Mound

New York will send Jon Niese (10-8, 3.55) to the mound Friday, rookie Jeremy Hefner (2-5, 4.52) Saturday and Chris Young (4-7, 4.48) Sunday, while Atlanta will go with Paul Maholm (11-9, 3.79), Kris Medlen (7-1, 1.56) and Tommy Hanson (12-8, 4.40).

The Mets are 5-4 in Hefner’s starts this season, and up $200 based on $100 wagers vs. the MLB odds on each of his outings. But New York is 12-14 for Niese and just 5-11 for Young.

The Braves, meanwhile, are a perfect 7-0 in Medlens’s starts this season, and plus $700 on the MLB money chart. Atlanta is also 17-9 and plus $620 for Hanson, but only 3-3 for Maholm since he came over in that trade with the Cubs.

Place Yer Bets

As of Friday morning Bovada is listing Atlanta as a -160 favorite to win this series, with New York getting +130 as a home dog.

Photo by Michael G. Baron

So as the struggles continue for the Mets (losers of 6 out of the last 9 and 12 of the last 17) most fans are left with little reason to clear time in their schedule and watch a game or take money out of their wallets and go to the ballpark.  That’s understandable, it doesn’t make a fan less of a ‘die-hard’ and it’s not like the Mets brass is jumping ship and starting to pull for the Braves.  Baseball provides us with entertainment and when the team we root for is no longer entertaining, well then it’s reasonable to expect us to shift our attention elsewhere.

If ownership wants to lay out a plan that points to a ‘consistent’ quality product come 2014, well then guess what, I’ll see ya at the ballpark when those games kick off.  In the meantime, I’ll pick and choose my spots because I’m simply not a glutton for punishment.  Taking time to relax and watch a game or go the ballpark is an indulgence, much like going out to eat a nice restaurant.  When the food is good and the owners continually do their best to bring in high quality items, nobody minds paying up for a good meal.  But when you see the quality of your food go down and owners who are doing little to fix the problem, you go eat elsewhere or find another way to enjoy your night out.

Photo by Michael G. Baron

For me, I’m sorry to say it but R.A. Dickey, Jonathon Niese, and Matt Harvey are the specials on an otherwise less than appetizing menu.  When those three pitchers take the mound I’m making my reservation to watch a game.  Beyond that, I find it hard to come up with a good reason to watch an offense that has scored the third fewest runs in all of baseball since the All-Star break (ahead of only Cleveland and Houston) anchored by a pitching staff that boasts the third worst ERA in the NL during that time span.  David Wright is great and while Ruben Tejada, Daniel Murphy, and Ike Davis have had their moments and proven to be ‘nice’ players, the offense as a whole doesn’t exactly make for ‘must see television’.

Photo by Michael G. Baron

The New York Mets will always be my favorite baseball team, win or lose, but with poor performance in a big market comes low attendance, social media tirades, and general apathy.  Fans don’t seem to be making Mets baseball a priority, myself included, and it’s up to the front office to change that.  I hope the first step in doing just that is to sign R.A. Dickey and David Wright to extensions this offseason, but at this point, I’m just not confident ownership is willing to commit to a high quality menu.

Stephen Strausburg looked dominant today in the Nationals 5-2 win over the Mets, their second consecutive 5-2 victory over the Mets.  In a nod to consistency, this is the third straight game against the Nationals that the Mets have scored two runs.  At least we know what kind of offensive output to expect on a nightly basis.  Unfortunately for the team, the pitching staff has given up more than one run in each of the last three games, which just won’t cut it.

Oh, and speaking of consistency, Adam LaRoche decided to hit another homer today to expand the Nationals lead.  For a second I thought I was watching last night’s game being replayed with some insane lighting effects, but alas, I was watching the Mets lose again and go WINLESS on their current home stand. Inexcusable.

The only real saving grace I see here, is that it can’t get worse…right? They’re hitting the West Coast with a chance to win some games away from CitiField, and in the past, have gotten hot out West.  Also, positive is that Matt Harvey will be making his major league debut tomorrow night, and will hope to light a fire under the ass of the team.

So, if this is the low point of the season, I think I can survive.  But if this is the beginning of the slippery slope, which seemingly happens later and later every season, I don’t know that I can handle it.

Here’s to getting hot out west…