What will be perhaps the most important series of the 2024 MLB regular season takes place this week at Truist Park. The Atlanta Braves will host the NL East rival New York Mets for three games and there might only be one postseason spot for these two teams. One will play baseball in October, that is a certainty, and the other’s season could end with Game 162 this coming Sunday. And with a potential hurricane bearing down on the region, stakes have never been higher.
Here are the National League wild-card standings:
- San Diego Padres: 90-66 (+3.5 GB)
- New York Mets: 87-69 (+0.5 GB)
- Arizona Diamondbacks: 87-70
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- Atlanta Braves: 85-71 (1.5 GB)
Every NL team behind Atlanta has been eliminated from the wild-card race. It’s a four-team race for three spots with the season winding down. This week’s series with the Mets is the Braves’ best chance — maybe their last chance — to gain meaningful ground in a short period of time. It’s also a chance for the Mets to bury Atlanta and effectively end their season.
“You knew it a couple weeks ago, right? That series is probably gonna help decide this thing,” Braves catcher Sean Murphy said over the weekend (via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). “We know what we’re up against and we know what we gotta do.”…