The Braves won four of their last five games to end the week against the Reds and Marlins. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to make up any ground on the New York Mets, who took three out of four in Philadelphia and are in the driver’s seat to secure the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League with one week remaining.
NL Wild Card Standings
- San Diego Padres (90-66)
- Arizona Diamondbacks (87-69)
- New York Mets (87-69)
- Atlanta Braves (85-71) — 2.0 GB
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It’s officially a four-team race with just six games left to play for each team. The Braves are two games back of both the Mets and Diamondbacks, with the Padres all but having clinched a spot in the postseason.
It looks bleak, but the Braves have a golden opportunity to catapult back into playoff positioning to begin the week against the Mets at Truist Park. A three-game set starts Tuesday night, with Spencer Schwellenbach pitching for the Braves against Luis Severino.
One other notable aspect of this series is the potential tiebreaker scenario. There is no longer a winner-take-all Game 163 if two teams are tied after 162 games. The tiebreaker is decided by whoever wins the season series. In the case of the Braves and Mets, the two clubs are 5-5 against each other, meaning whoever wins this series will also own the tiebreaker.
If New York wins the series, they’ll have at least a three-game lead in the Wild Card race with the tiebreaker in hand. They’ll clinch a postseason berth, but if the Braves win, at worst they will only trail the Mets by one game and own the tiebreaker. Everything is on the line in Atlanta starting on Tuesday.
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Photographer: Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire
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