Past defeats fuel Mets for critical series vs. Braves

This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

NEW YORK -- Two series remain in the regular season. The Mets visit Atlanta for the first of them, needing only to avoid a sweep to retain control of their own destiny. Win two of three at Truist Park and they’ll clinch a playoff spot. Lose two of three and they’re still in pretty good shape.

Sound familiar? It’s nearly the exact scenario the Mets faced two years ago, when the Braves swept them to deliver a near-fatal blow to their chances of an NL East title. New York ultimately had to settle for a Wild Card berth and crashed out of the playoffs in the first round -- a round it would have skipped had it won the division.

“What I learned from it is just to not put too much pressure on it,” outfielder Brandon Nimmo said. “I think the experience of going through that, for the guys who were here, is going to help. And the more that you get exposed to it, the better off you’re going to be in those situations.”

• Complete coverage: Mets' clinch scenarios, tiebreakers, key games and more

This is, in many ways, a far different team than the 2022 Mets. Gone is manager Buck Showalter, replaced by Carlos Mendoza. Gone is nearly the entire pitching staff, replaced by Luis Severino (who will start Tuesday’s series opener), Sean Manaea (who will start Thursday’s finale), and many others. But the offensive core of Nimmo, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso does remain, which gives this group some demons to exorcise.

Looking back at 2022, Alonso pointed to earlier series against the less formidable Cubs and Nationals that, had the Mets won them, would have changed their standing heading into Atlanta. Had the Mets played better leading up to their series at Truist Park, they wouldn’t have been in such a vulnerable position against one of the National League’s best teams at the time.

The same can of course be said for this year’s team: If the Mets had won more games in April and May, they would have already clinched a postseason spot. Instead, a worst-case scenario still exists in which the Braves sweep them out of Atlanta and they miss the playoffs altogether.

But unlike two years ago, the 2024 Mets have saved nearly all their best baseball for the second half of the season. They hold the Majors' top record since May 30 (65-36). And they’re playing well enough that there’s little reason to assume anything will change -- even in the snake pit of Atlanta.

“I’ve always said that it’s not really about how your season goes. It’s how well you’re playing in September, leading into the playoffs,” Nimmo said. “We’ve played playoff-caliber baseball, I believe, and been more of a playoff team in September than we were back then.”

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