Braves-Mets gets heated after gnarly collision on botched suicide squeeze

If there is any love lost between bitter NL East rivals, the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets, you'd need a high-powered microscope to find it. These two organizations, teams, and fan bases have nothing but ill will for the other, which was only further amplified coming into this weekend's four-game series on Thursday with New York closing in on Atlanta in the standings.

So when the series opener went to extra innings, we should've expected fireworks. And oh boy, did we get them -- though not nearly as explosively as it could've been had cooler heads not prevailed.

Braves outfielder Ramon Laureano was the ghost runner to start the top of the 10th inning and advanced to third base. That brought leadoff man Jarred Kelenic to the plate to try and bring him in. For whatever reason, however, Kelenic showed bunt in what looked like a suicide squeeze. But when Kelenic came up empty on the bunt attempt, Laureano was hung out to dry.

Then came the bad blood boiling to the surface. Caught in a pickle, Laureano lowered his shoulder as he collided with Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez, sending him flying (while still holding onto the ball). Alvarez got up and ripped his mask off with something to say but was held back before anything escalated.

Brawl nearly breaks out after Braves-Mets collision

For starters, this near brawl should've never happened because it truly makes no sense for Kelenic to have the suicide squeeze on -- or even fake it -- in that situation, namely in extra innings. Let the top of the order hit. But if you are going to do it, Kelenic has to make contact and, contrarily, Laureano shouldn't be making that type of contact.

Whether you want to call it karma, fortune, or anything in that vein, however, the Mets got the last laugh in the bottom of the 10th with Laureano at the center of it. On what should've been the final out of the game as Jeff McNeil hit a fly ball to right field, Laureano overran a routine catch and the ball fell to the turf behind him, allowing Jose Iglesias to easily score the winning run.

Kerfuffle aside, though, this is how these teams have been trending. The Braves are now losers of five-straight games and the Mets have stayed hot, now trailing Atlanta by just 0.5 games in the standings for the top wild card spot in the National League.

Talk about a brutal way for that to happen for the Braves, though. But maybe that's what they deserve after an unnecessarily gnarly collision resulting from a more unnecessary decision from the leadoff hitter.