How the planned Mets-Braves doubleheader could negatively impact the entire NL wild-card field
The collateral damage from the Great Rainout Debacle could extend to the Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres, two teams that hardly deserve to be hurt.
If the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves have to play a doubleheader on Monday to determine one or two of the final postseason berths in the National League, it will put them in serious jeopardy in the wild-card series, leaving one or both clubs being forced to play eight games in seven games. to dawn.
Rain drenched Truist Park on Wednesday, forcing the postponement of the final two games of the Mets-Braves series. (Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images)
But what if the doubleheader is only necessary for seeding, and commissioner Rob Manfred uses his discretion to cancel it entirely? The Mets and Braves would ultimately play 160 games instead of the 162 required of every other club. That doesn’t seem fair to the Brewers and Padres, both of whom are on the cusp of home field advantage for the best-of-three wild-card round.
Sowing is not as unimportant as some may think. If one or both NL East teams receive wildcards, it could have major implications for both travel and home field advantage in the subsequent rounds.
For starters, the flight from Atlanta to Milwaukee is shorter than the flight from Atlanta to San Diego. And remember two years ago, when the fifth-seeded Padres met the sixth-seeded Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series? Seeding determined home field advantage, although the Phillies won the series anyway.
Manfred should consider the whole picture and strive for the fairest outcome. If the Mets and Braves play two fewer games, that’s 18 fewer innings their pitchers have to throw, and 18 fewer innings their hitters have to play. A little thing? Maybe. But one Brewers person, granted anonymity for his candor, put it this way: “It wouldn’t be fair. We have to forfeit the last game and not use any pitchers in game 162.”
Brewers general manager Matt Arnold was more diplomatic, saying: “We are focused on controlling what we can control and not worried about who we will play or how they will get there.”
Padres general manager AJ Preller did not respond to a request for comment.
Nothing has been decided. The situation is unique and perhaps unavoidable. If The AthleticsAs Britt Ghiroli wrote, the Mets and Braves acted out of self-interest with their scheduling choices. However, neither club could have imagined that it would end up in this position. And while Major League Baseball could have been more proactive and forced teams to play earlier in the week, it was, not unreasonably, hopeful that the forecast could improve.
The Arizona Diamondbacks may face more immediate consequences than the Brewers and Padres. If just one of the Mets or Braves lands a wild card this weekend, that team could use most of its reserves and low-leverage pitching in the one or two games that would take place Monday (it could be one if the outcome of the opener would decide the race). The other team, if still competing with the Diamondbacks, would have an easier path to last place.
The Mets, Braves and Diamondbacks deserve only a limited amount of sympathy; all three teams could have avoided this predicament by winning more games. The same can be said to some extent for the Brewers and Padres, who were stuck in the wild-card round after failing to earn a first-round bye.
However, the Brewers and Padres played well enough to gain home field advantage in the wild card series. And that advantage will be mitigated if the Mets and Braves don’t play two games on Monday.
– The athletics‘s Jayson Stark contributed to this story.
(Top photo of Pete Alonso, left, and Matt Olson: David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
