The NL East race looks like it’ll come down to the end but it’s way more important for the Mets to win the division than the Braves.
The Mets have collapsed before. The last thing in the world they’ll want to do now is to let the Braves take the NL East after giving up their once-comfortable lead in the division.
It’s not just about pride though. It would be costly on the field if New York were to fall into one of the NL Wild Card spots.
Bob Nightengale pointed that out in his notes column on Monday:
“If the Mets don’t win the division, they’re going to have to use Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom in the first two games of the wild-card round, meaning they would have just one start apiece on regular rest in the best-of-five Division Series.”
NL East race: Winning division is imperative to Mets, not Braves
Having Scherzer and deGrom available for the tail end of the Division Series could be make-or-break for the Mets. They’re the key arms and every time they’re on the mound the chance of NY winning is that much higher.
It’ll be annoying enough to have to play in the wild-card round in the first place. For it to potentially impact the pitching rotation in the next round of the playoffs makes it an unbearable thought.
The Mets could make it through each of those series either way. They’ll have just made it that much harder on themselves if they don’t take care of business and lock in the division lead.
It’ll likely come down to the penultimate series of the season when New York travels to Atlanta to face their division rivals. Before then, the Mets have series with the Cubs, Pirates, Brewers, A’s and Marlins. They end the campaign with the Nationals.