Wild Mets roster manipulation is out of play for Monday’s doubleheader against the Braves

The Mets and Braves won't be allowed to get funny with their roster for Monday's doubleheader.

New York Mets v Los Angeles Angels
New York Mets v Los Angeles Angels | Brandon Sloter/GettyImages

If you’re going to be one thing, you should be efficient. If you get to be two things, choose creativity. New York Mets fans weren’t shy about coming up with creative ways to Mickey Mouse the scheduled doubleheader for Monday if it doesn’t matter. Credit Laura Albanese for venturing into a dark place to find some unique, clever, and crazy ways fans hoped the Mets could manipulate the roster.

Unfortunately, it’s all moot. As David Stearns clarified, there are no extra players allowed for a doubleheader in September. Furthermore, if a player is sent down, they’ll need to stay in the minors for 10-15 days.

Monday may matter more for the Mets than the Braves anyway

Friday’s results seem to make Monday’s doubleheader more likely to happen. The Mets lost. The Braves won. The Arizona Diamondbacks lost. New York and Atlanta share an 87-71 record with the Diamondbacks one win better and one loss worse. Matching their win total is a must for the Braves and Mets in order to scratch out any games on Monday.

It won’t be the worst thing in the world to force the Mets to travel to Atlanta to play in need of a win. Two wins might be asking a little too much before the Wild Card round if for no other reason than to save the pitching. Since roster funny business is out of the question, they’ll need to handle the pitching staff incredibly carefully in both games to at least allow themselves to have available arms in the Wild Card round.

The best case scenario for the Mets remains the same. They need to win one more game this weekend than the Diamondbacks do. Disgustingly, they should root for the Braves to finish with at least the same number of wins on the year as Arizona to avoid having to return there to give them their chance to clinch on Monday.

At least one of the teams will be playing a game on Monday that matters to them. Unfortunately for both clubs, they won’t be able to get silly with who they actually have playing. Given this set of circumstances, we should expect as close to the best from even the ball club who might not have anything on the line.

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