The New York Mets’ season will come down to Monday’s rescheduled doubleheader down in Atlanta against the Braves, after all.
Needing a win to keep control of their playoff destiny on what should have been the final day of the 2024 regular season, the Mets defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 5-0 on Sunday afternoon. But while the rest of Major League Baseball puts the bow on the year as it gears up for the start of the Wild Card rounds on Tuesday, the Mets still have two games left to play against their division rival.
At 88-72, the Mets tied the Braves for the No. 2 Wild Card seed in the National League after Atlanta lost to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday. However, they were joined by the Arizona Diamondbacks, who ended their season with a blowout 11-2 victory over the San Diego Padres. At 89-73, they now will be forced to sit idly by and wait for how New York and Atlanta’s doubleheader on Monday pans out.
All the Mets need to do is win one game on Monday to clinch a playoff berth, as they own the tiebreaker over the Diamondbacks. If they win both, they will eliminate the Braves from the playoffs, allowing the Diamondbacks to sneak into the postseason.
If the Mets lose both doubleheader games, their season will end without October baseball.
Francisco Lindor went 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBI, and two stolen bases — further suggesting that he is getting back into a groove after missing a week with a lower back injury.
On the hill, David Peterson answered the call in what was the biggest start of his career to help keep the Mets’ season alive. The southpaw rebounded from a down start last week against the Philadelphia Phillies by allowing just a single hit — an infield single by Jackson Chourio in the bottom of the first — across seven scoreless innings of work with eight strikeouts.
The 29-year-old finished his season as one of the club’s biggest surprises, going 10-3 with a 2.90 ERA.
The Mets offense got to work early to ease some of the anxieties that had mounted over the last week.
After Lindor led off the game with a walk and stole second before coming in to score on a Brandon Nimmo single.
They tacked on a pair of runs in the fourth inning, sparked by JD Martinez’s lead-off double to break a miserable 0-for-35 stretch. The veteran DH got a bit of luck in the process as a bouncer to third base struck the bag and popped straight up and into left field.
Francisco Alvarez singled to drive him home before back-to-back singles brought the catcher home — Lindor providing the RBI knock to right field with one out. He proceeded to steal his second base of the night for his 29th of the season. Alvarez made it 4-0 in the fifth with a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded.
Lindor tacked on his second RBI of the afternoon, leading off the top of the sixth with his 32nd home run of the season when he jumped on a high, 2-1 splitter.
