Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Raisel Iglesias (26) and catcher Travis d'Arnaud (16) celebrate after a victory Tuesday over the New York Mets at Truist Park in Atlanta [Brett Davis-Imagn Images]

NL Wild-Card Race Down To Final Days

Eitan Ohana September 25, 2024 Atlanta Braves, Baseball, MLB, MLB Playoffs 193 Views

The Major League Baseball playoffs start Tuesday, which means teams still on the outside only have a few more games to clinch a berth, while those in playoff position need to fine-tune their game.

The National League, in particular, has one tight race to keep an eye on.

The Locks

These teams don’t have much to worry about – at least for the duration of the regular season. They’ve clinched either their division or a playoff spot.

Two teams, specifically, have clinched their division. For the Philadelphia Phillies, who sit at 93-65 (six ahead of the second-place New York Mets), the NL East is wrapped. The Milwaukee Brewers (90-67) can say the same about the NL Central.

Battle Of Their Lives

In the NL West, two teams know they’re headed to the postseason, but not which one will be there as division champs. In the tightest division race remaining in the MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers (93-64) sit just two games ahead of the San Diego Padres (91-66). The best part – the two teams are in the midst of a regular-season series.

For the Padres, the first game of the series was monumental – a 4-2 win that clinched a playoff berth Tuesday. They even got style points for how they locked it up.

In the ninth, Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas hit a ground ball toward third base, where Padres baseman Manny Machado stood waiting. As they say, around and around he went as the ball hit all three bases for the triple play.

https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1838806064680096169

It was the Padres’ fourth consecutive win. Fortunately for the Dodgers, one of the great weapons in the sport is on their team – Shohei Ohtani. Earlier this month, Ohtani became the first member of the 50-home run/50-stolen base club and hasn’t slowed down since he hit the mark. With 14 hits in his last 19 at-bats, Ohtani’s talent will be a major factor in the attempt to hold down the Padres.

Three-Way Race

The final wild card spot is up for grabs with three teams separated by one game. The Arizona Diamondbacks (87-71) are in pole position for the spot, but the Atlanta Braves (86-71) are right there with them. The Mets (87-70) have the most room to breathe, but that isn’t saying much.

The Diamondbacks’ magic number is four, and the Mets’ is five. The Diamondbacks, though, had a disastrous 11-0 loss Tuesday to the San Francisco Giants. They’ll have to take care of their own business to maintain their spot.

The Braves and the Mets, however, are in competition with each other – literally. Like the Padres and Dodgers, the two teams are in the middle of a series, and the Braves took the first game 5-1 on Tuesday.

Here’s the situation. If the Mets win the next two games, they take the series and clinch a wild-card berth. If the Braves win one more, they’ll take the series and, in the event of the two teams having a tied record, would own the tiebreaker.

In Tuesday’s series-opener, competition was essentially over by the end of the fourth inning. Mets’ starter Luis Severino gave up four runs and seven hits in his four innings of action, enough to spell New York’s momentary doom. Marcell Ozuna and Michael Harris II both homered for Atlanta in the win.

Mets fans have seen this story before, as the Braves have crushed their hopes plenty of times, most recently in 2022 when New York blew a 10.5 game division lead to Atlanta.  Something will have to change in the next two games for the story to not repeat itself.

With none of the seeds clinched and multiple spots up for grabs, it should be a fun end to the 2024 MLB regular season.

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