The Atlanta Braves are just a hair away from their fifth consecutive league title. Atlanta defeated their closest companions, the New York Mets, in a 5-3 victory on Sunday.
With this victory, Atlanta wins the regular season series between the two teams with a performance of 10 wins and 9 losses. Based on this record, the Braves therefore count on a tiebreaker if the two teams show the same record at the end of the season. That means the Braves (100-59) need only win or the Mets (98-61) don’t avoid the matchup to secure the division title. New York plays its final games of the season against Washington, which is in last place in the league. Atlanta will go to Miami.
The Braves won five of the last six games in the series, outscoring the Mets 42-19 during that streak. New York had a 10½-game lead on June 1.
It was a wasted weekend for New York, which came to Atlanta hoping to win its first major league title since 2015. Instead, aces Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer lost Friday and Saturday before 15-game winner Chris Bassitt lasted only two and two-thirds innings on Sunday.
The Braves trailed by two runs in their third inning at bat when Matt Olson orchestrated a three-run inning push with a walk that sent Orlando Arcia to the plate. A Travis d’Arnaud single then drove in two runs to give Atlanta the lead in the game. Olson added the finishing touch with a solo homer in the sixth inning.
Dansby Swanson and Daniel Vogelbach traded homers in the first and second innings. Before the Braves came around to score their three runs in the third, the Mets scored two runs of their own in the top of the inning. Jeff McNeil hit a long ball for the infield and Vogelbach singled it.