3 reasons to believe in the NY Mets after winning the series vs. the Braves

Taking two out of three from the Atlanta Braves this weekend should have fans feeling, well, not completely buried in 2026. The NL East is a near-impossibility and yet every win for the New York Mets counts and those intradivisional victories will help out with tie breakers.Just ahead of another series versus the Cincinnati Reds, a team the Mets lost the tie breaker against for a playoff spot in 2026, we can’t help but check in on tie breaker scenarios even if they’re incredibly premature.

The last few weeks for the Mets have been a tug-of-war with teases of competence followed by hopeless losses. Whether we want to admit it or not, this weekend’s series vs. the Braves was going to affect our mood. Take the series and there’s hope. Lose it and the Mets are probably done.

Bookended victories have the Mets at least looking capable of staying alive. For these three reasons, you might want to join the bandwagon.

Three reasons to do your best Steve Perry and start believing

1) The Mets won two games despite their starting pitcher weakness showing

Only 4 innings from Nolan McLean on Friday and another 5 from Freddy Peralta on Sunday didn’t stop the Mets from winning. Oddly, it was the 6-inning start from Sean Manaea in between that had the lone loss of the series charged to them. You can take it in either direction. On one hand, the Mets overcame two lesser performances, McLean’s being bad and Peralta’s being more average. On the other, they blew an opportunity to take a win they could have found with Manaea on the mound.

Maybe it’s time to stop loading up the lineup with righties and trust in a player like Jared Young instead of returning to the Mark Vientos well over and over again.

2) Everyone wants to wear the Spider-Man mask, apparently

Friday introduced us to the new home run celebration. Instead of awkwardly putting on an orange construction vest, the Mets put on a Spider-Man mask. Bo Bichette was the first to wear it and loved the smell so much he decided to put it on again later in the same game with a grand slam.

Home runs were a big part of the weekend’s success with A.J. Ewing and Marcus Semien taking on the role of Peter Parker on Sunday with back-to-back homers. Power hasn’t been a trait of this year’s Mets team. However, with players like Bichette and Semien improving at the plate lately with some scattered home runs, we can buy into the idea that maybe they aren’t going to slog through the entirety of 2026.

3) The Mets showed us they’re able to stand up tall against tougher opponents

What’ll hurt the Mets most this year? You can cite a couple of losses earlier this year as to why they are where they are. Swept by the A’s, Miami Marlins, and Colorado Rockies earlier this year, just take one of those three straight losses and an NL Wild Card spot is far closer.

There might not have been a more satisfying win in recent Mets memory than the one against the Braves on Sunday. Taking down Bryce Elder, a pitcher who seemed to right his ship under the guidance of former Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, felt extra rewarding. The Mets went into Sunday with a season record of only 18-30 against teams at .500 or better. They had no business beating the Braves and yet they did.

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