NL Wild Card Standings Update: Braves fall two games behind Mets

With just 11 games remaining in the 2024 campaign, it’s looking more and more likely that the Braves will miss the postseason for the first time since 2017.

Last night, the Braves kicked off a series in Cincinnati, a team that isn’t battling for a playoff spot, and the series couldn’t have started off better. Michael Harris II led off the game with a home run, and then Matt Olson added two more runs with a homer of his own. By the fourth inning, the Braves had burst out to a four-run lead. The offense was awake, and Grant Holmes was doing a serviceable job in a spot start in place of Reynaldo Lopez.

Then, all hell broke loose.

The Braves offense went dormant for the final five frames, once again failing over and over with runners in scoring position, and their typically reliable bullpen faltered. Grant Holmes exited the game with a 5-2 lead after four innings, paving the way for Jesse Chavez, who pitched a scoreless fifth. However, Chavez would find trouble in the sixth, and his outing ended with a double to center that scored two runs, cutting the lead to just one.

A lead that wouldn’t last for long. Pierce Johnson cleaned up the rest of Chavez’s mess to end the sixth, but in the seventh, a two-run homer would give the Reds the lead, one that might just turn out to be the proverbial nail in the Braves’ coffin.

It was yet another grueling loss in a season full of grueling losses, both on the field and in the injury department. The result, along with the Mets win, puts the Braves two games behind their NL East divisional foes for the final Wild Card spot. However, with the Arizona Diamondbacks also scuffling, the Braves are just two games behind them as well.

NL Wild Card Standings

1. San Diego Padres (86-66)
2. New York Mets (83-68)
3. Arizona Diamondbacks (83-68)
4. Atlanta Braves (81-70) — 2.0 GB
5. Chicago Cubs (77-74) — 6.0 GB

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Three straight losses this time of the year, especially with the way the Braves lost, is backbreaking. However, this isn’t necessarily unfamiliar territory. Every time it feels like Atlanta is out of it, they find a way to suck the fans of Braves Country back in. The hope is that can still happen over the final five games of this week before the Braves meet the Mets in the second-to-last series of the season.

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Photo: Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire