NL Wild Card Standings: Mets guaranteed important placement before Braves series

Which one is worse? Would you rather get dunked on by the Philadelphia Phillies who are tied for the best record in the National League or lose a one-run game to the worst team? Those are the two scenarios the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves faced on Friday.

The Mets were paid back by the Phillies who did the same exact thing to them in their ballpark on the previous Friday night. Fortunately, the Braves couldn’t muster up a victory against the lowly Miami Marlins down in South Florida.

While the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks were busy winning and pulling further ahead in the NL Wild Card standings, the Mets and Brave lost some distance but remained as far apart from each other as they were at the start of the day. The Mets did gain something important.

The Mets are guaranteed to face the Braves in a tie within the NL Wild Card standings next week

The worst case scenario for the Mets is to head to Atlanta with a Wild Card spot on the line in a tie with the Braves. If Atlanta can figure it out and take the last two against Miami and the Mets do nothing against the Phillies on Saturday and Sunday, we’ll have a deadlock for the third Wild Card spot.

This isn’t the situation we’re hoping for. In fact, just keeping things where they are right now or holding a one game lead over the Braves is far more satisfying.

Those three games against the Braves in the penultimate series of the year have been on our minds for months. The reality of those three games possibly deciding where both teams finish is becoming more real. In fact, just winning the series might be enough to determine who stays and who goes home.

Heading into this series, the Mets and Braves have split the season series. The Amazins already hold the tie-breaker over the Diamondbacks and Padres which could very well play a factor as well. Securing one more bonus over the Braves is essential. After all, in 2022, it’s what made the Braves NL East Champions and the Mets the top Wild Card seed.

Destined to lose some games in this final gauntlet of their schedule, Atlanta rolling over against Miami was a much-needed event. The Marlins went into that game after allowing 20 runs to the Los Angeles Dodgers the day prior. Baseball is often a game of trends but it can also be one where any team can win on any given day.

Thanks to the friendly Fish of Florida, the bludgeoning the Mets took on Friday was a lot less harmful.