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Braves host Mets in doubleheader to determine final two NL playoff teams

Braves host Mets in doubleheader to determine final two NL playoff teams

Vaseline 1 month ago

ATLANTA – The Atlanta Braves hosted the New York Mets on Monday in a doubleheader to determine the final two wild-card spots in the National League, one day after the scheduled end of the regular season.

The unusual double billing was necessary after two games between the NL East rivals were wiped out last week when Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc across the southeastern US.

The Braves could have clinched their seventh straight postseason appearance on Sunday, but a 4-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals left Atlanta at 88-72. The Mets were also 88-72 after a 5-0 win in Milwaukee, while Arizona finished the regular season 89-73 with an 11-2 rout of the Padres.

The Braves and Mets both have leads over the Diamondbacks, so all they had to do was split the doubleheader to advance to the Wild Card Series together. The Diamondbacks are watching from Phoenix, hoping for a sweep that would give them the final wild card.

Rookie Spencer Schwellenbach (8-7, 3.47 ERA) got the start for the Braves in Game 1 against Tylor Megill (4-5, 3.98) of the Mets.

Atlanta’s Chris Sale (18-3, 2.38) and New York’s Luis Severino (11-7, 3.91) tentatively faced off in the second game, but whoever won the opener was expected to push back his projected starter to Game 1 of the Wild Card Series on Tuesday.

NL Central champion Milwaukee and top wild card San Diego have already assumed hosting duties for the best-of-three opening round. Now it’s just a matter of who they’ll play.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

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