3 takeaways from the Braves' demoralizing sweep of the Mets

"Watch the Mets game," they said. "It'll be fun," they said. News alert: it was not fun. In a season that has already been full of disappointments, the New York Mets reached a new nadir last night in Atlanta, giving up a three-run lead for the third straight night. I've been staring at the computer for an hour, searching for the words to put this loss in perspective, but this is not a time for perspective. This is a time to be angry, and sad, and to question our existence and what it all means. To paraphrase Taylor Swift, the Mets are the reason for the teardrops on my keyboard.

At a time when New York looks like a post-apocalyptic hellscape, the Mets are doing their part to add to the sense of doom. Now three games under .500 and 8.5 games back of the Braves, the season is quickly spiraling out of control. Buck Showalter's boys have lost six straight, and now have to travel to Pittsburgh for a three-game set with the shockingly competent Pirates.

How is that series going to go? As someone who predicted a pitcher's duel between Justin Verlander and Spencer Strider, I may be the wrong person to ask. In my defense, only 20 of the game's 23 runs were scored in the first nine innings. I was close. Still, I'm definitely better suited to wallowing in misery at the moment. With that in mind, let's look at three takeaways from a nightmare series against the Braves.

1) Steve Cohen may have purchased the New York Mets, but the Atlanta Braves still have the ownership papers

Mets fans everywhere rejoiced when Steve Cohen dug around in his couch cushions to find the $2.4 billion needed to pry the Mets from the cursed grip of the Wilpons. For all the money Uncle Stevie has thrown around, though, possession is nine tenths of the law, and the Braves aren't ready to give up the title deed to the occupants of Citi Field just yet.

The Braves have owned the Mets for the better part of three decades. The sooner we admit that, the sooner we can begin the healing process. Like an older brother that lets his younger sibling get an early lead only to crush his dreams right before the finish line, the Braves seem to delight in making this especially painful for Mets fans.

In all three games of the series, the Braves created a microcosm of the entire 2022 season, falling far behind the Mets before storming back and winning in the end. The answer for how to put an end to the constant string of tomahawk chop noogies remains elusive, and until the Mets come up with a real solution, the Braves will keep their ownership papers tucked safely away in Truist Park.

2) The Mets need more from their pricey pitchers

Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander entered this Braves series looking good. Scherzer had gone four straight starts without allowing more than one run, and Verlander allowed only one run in six innings in his last start against a quality Blue Jays lineup.

The Mets came to Atlanta knowing that they were about to play in the biggest series of the season thus far. It's especially frustrating, then, that their $40M+ workhorses failed to step up when their team needed them most.

The Mets staked Scherzer to a 4-1 lead, only for the veteran righty to get battered for eleven hits and five runs. Verlander continued his baffling trend of getting roasted in the first inning, but was bailed out by Brandon Nimmo's grand slam in the top of the second. Verlander and the Mets led 6-3 after the top of the third, but again the Braves came back, chasing last year's AL Cy Young Award winner in the third inning.

Unlike the NFL, where mistakes on two big contracts is a guaranteed way to derail the season, there is no salary cap in Major League Baseball. Even if Scherzer and Verlander weren't making nearly the GDP of the Marshall Islands, the Mets would still have a top five payroll. With apologies to John Feinstein, the Mets' season is on the brink, and Scherzer and Verlander need to bring it every night, especially if the bullpen continues to get hammered.