For the New York Mets to exorcise their demons in Atlanta, they will have to play a whole lot better than what they showed on Tuesday night in their series opener against the Braves.
Their two-game lead over the Braves, who are currently outside the National League Wild Card picture, is down to one game following a 5-1 loss, even though they kept their half-game advantage over the Arizona Diamondbacks for the second of three non-division-winning postseason spots.
In what has been an uncharacteristic feature of the Mets over the last three months, miscommunication between starting pitcher Luis Severino and catcher Francisco Alvarez in the third inning led to New York’s demise. The Mets’ duo converged upon a slow roller between the pitcher’s mound and home, with Alvarez getting in the way of Severino and prompting a wild throw that allowed Atlanta’s Orlando Arcia to advance to second.
Michael Harris followed up with an RBI double before weak singles by Ozzie Albies and Ramon Laureano found open holes of the Mets’ infield to make it a 3-0 game.
The Mets bats continued to struggle against Braves starter Spencer Schwellenbach, mustering just four hits and a consolation solo home run by Mark Vientos in the seventh inning.
“We still got a chance to win a series here,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “You’re right, we didn’t play well. We didn’t make a play a couple of times… We gotta turn the page. I know it’s gonna be a story because it’s here in Atlanta. But we have to go out and do it. We’re still in a position to win a series, and that’s what we’ll do.”
It was in Atlanta two years ago that the Mets’ collapse was made complete as they were swept by the Braves in the penultimate series of the regular season to lose out on the NL East Division crown ultimately.
Sound familiar? This three-game set is also the second-to-last series of the 2024 campaign for both clubs, with the Mets then heading to Milwaukee to finish up against the NL Central-winning Brewers.
Veteran outfielder Brandon Nimmo, one of a handful of players left from that squad, does not want to hear much about that correlation. Instead, he pointed toward the bit of luck the Braves had in the third inning.
“We have a few of the same guys but this is a completely different team, completely different people pitching,” Nimmo said. “They’re a good team, that’s a part of it. They played well. Also, when we had [catcher Francisco Alvarez’s throw to third base on a caught-stealing attempt in the ninth inning of Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies], and it bounced straight up in the air, and the [tying] run doesn’t score, sometimes when those things happen, you say, ‘OK, things are bouncing our way.’
“There were a few hit balls [Tuesday] that found their way for them. We hit some balls hard that were caught. That’s going to happen in baseball. It’s why you play 162 games. You hope that the averages or the mean is close at the end. They’re a good team. They’re not just going to roll over and die for you, but we know we’re up for a challenge… For me, it’s just a new challenge.”
The challenge gets trickier for the Mets with David Peterson matching up against the resurgent Atlanta ace, Chris Sale, in the second game of the series before Sean Manaea faces Max Fried.
“Be better. Be better tomorrow,” Severino said. “They have a good team, but we have tomorrow… We need to forget about this and try to win the games.”
When these games will happen, however, remains unknown. Heavy rains from Tropical Storm Helene are bearing down on Atlanta, meaning Wednesday and Thursday’s games are in danger of getting water-logged with no known contingency plan from Major League Baseball as of yet.
Consider it one more massive wrench to throw into the daunting end of the Mets’ season.
