For the Atlanta Braves, the easiest way for them to avoid chaos in their chase for a playoff spot on Sunday was to beat the Royals. Yes, there were another scenarios that could go their way and help the cause, but winning against KC would have locked up a NL Wild Card spot and, at minimum, they could play spoiler on Monday in their doubleheader with the Mets.
Unfortunately, basically that everything that could go wrong did. The Diamondbacks routed the Padres after San Diego started a knuckleballer who hadn’t been good in months and never recovered. The Brewers were perfectly content to try as little as possible in their loss to the Mets as a NY win made it far more likely that both doubleheader games get played before whoever gets in travels to Milwaukee.
On top of all of that, what could be the final start of Charlie Morton’s career did not go well and the Braves ultimately fell to the Royals setting the stage for Monday to make or break Atlanta’s season.
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