ATLANTA — Of course, it all came down to the last game of the regular season between division rivals.
The Mets are racing to a big lead in the National League East to start the 2022 season. And as they cooled off, they still won 59 percent of their games from June 1 through Monday — a rate good enough to win the Central Divisions in both leagues.
The problem, of course, is that the Mets play in NL East and just haven’t done enough. Beginning in June, defending World Series champions Atlanta Braves awoke from their slumber to win 70 percent of their games, including all three during the crucial final weekend of the regular season.
Atlanta tied the Mets in the division race with a win Friday. On Saturday it prevailed with another win. And on Sunday, Atlanta ended the sweep in a 5-3 win, earning the right to control its own destiny and almost ensuring the Mets will play in the wildcard round of the playoffs, very likely against the San Diego Padres.
After Atlanta’s loss to Miami and the Mets’ knockdown on Monday, Atlanta has a 1 1/2 game lead over the Mets and its magic number is one. In other words, the Braves only need one win or one Mets loss to win their fifth straight title. Atlanta’s win on Sunday guaranteed him the season series against the Mets, 10-9, and the advantage in the tiebreak should the teams match the record on Wednesday, the final day of the regular season.
Should Atlanta (100-60) fulfill its mission, it would cap a stunning turnaround and head-scratching collapse from the Mets (98-61), who led the division on June 1 with a season-high 10½ games.
“They just beat us this weekend,” said Mets first baseman Pete Alonso. “They played well. Good for you. Hats off.”
After the weekend, the Mets returned home to take on the Washington Nationals, baseball’s worst team. Their game on Monday was rained out and teams will play a doubleheader on Tuesday, leaving the Mets to root hard for another division rival, the lowly Marlins, to beat Atlanta so they can stay in contention.
Miami (68-92) signed: Jesús Luzardo batted 12, Bryan De La Cruz went 3 for 4 with three RBI and Jon Berti stole his 40th base of the season with a 4-0 win.
The reason why the division title was so important: The prize is a first-round bye. Atlanta and the Mets had already secured a spot in the postseason, but the difference is getting five days off and going straight to a best-of-five divisional series versus getting a day off before getting into the best -of-three-wild plays -card round. Up for the wildcard route in the Division Series are the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball’s 110-win record-breaking team starting Monday and holders of the other NL first-rounders.
“It’s not like they don’t get a chance,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said of his players. “You still deserve something.”
He later added: “I’m proud of everything they’ve done. This is not conditional. It is unconditional, the support. And if I know these guys, they’ll recover and try to make someone feel their pain.”
The Mets had every reason to be confident going into the series against Atlanta. They had fielded their top three starting pitchers: Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, and Chris Bassitt — with the first two being among the best pitchers in baseball. Instead, both failed on the third-best offense in baseball. In 14⅓ combined innings, deGrom, Scherzer and Bassitt hit 11 runs and six homers.
Most of the damage came from Atlanta’s all-star shortstop Dansby Swanson and his batting first baseman Matt Olson. Swanson homered against every starting pitcher while Olson homered in every game.
“Everyone understood what was at stake during the series,” Swanson said, “and we definitely rose to the occasion.”
On Sunday, Swanson gave Atlanta a 1-0 lead with a batting effort at Bassitt in the first inning. The Mets rebounded quickly and took a 3-1 lead in the third game after right fielder Jeff McNeil hit a home run and hitter designated Daniel Vogelbach, who also hit a homer in the previous frame, a run-scoring single scored
But Atlanta’s hitting and throwing was just too much. In the third inning, Olson pulled a base-heavy walk on Bassitt, and then catcher Travis d’Arnaud put Atlanta to a 4-3 lead with a two-run single. Three innings later, Olson hit his fifth home run in his last six games, adding further misery to Mets fans.
On the mound, Atlanta’s bullpen gave up just one run spanning 13⅔ innings in the series. Nearer Kenley Jansen made a save in every win.
“When you looked at the spring training schedule, you had us here against the Phillies for three and here against the Mets for three,” d’Arnaud said, referring to another NL East rival, the Philadelphia Phillies, who the third and final NL wildcard spot is about to be secured. “They knew all three of us were going to be great teams and it was going to hit the spot. It’s pretty cool how it’s been the last three days.”
Given the high stakes of the matchup, Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said he joked with his wife on Friday that the playoffs would start that day rather than Oct. 7.
“It was the most exciting and emotional series I’ve ever been a part of, even all the playoff series and everything,” he said, later adding, “This has been a very long and stressful series to say the least. ”
After catching McNeil’s flyball for Sunday’s final, Atlanta right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. clenched his fist and screamed as the crowd roared. It was Atlanta’s 100th win of the season and first 100-win season since 2003. The Mets, who have 98 wins and their first postseason trip since 2016, have almost marginalized Atlanta.
“They’ve been a great team all year,” Olson said. “We knew we couldn’t take them lightly. They are about to win 100 games too.”
But like Alonso said, the Mets played well, but the Braves played better.