ATLANTA — They say that history always repeats itself, and that appears to be the case this week in Atlanta with Hurricane Helene threatening to derail the Mets‘ series against the Braves.
Two years ago, the Mets came to Atlanta with the NL East on the line and a hurricane barreling toward Georgia. Lucky for baseball, it missed and the two teams got all three games in at Truist Park. The Mets might have been better off with the rain considering the Braves swept them out of the division title, but now, the Mets have a chance to clinch an NL Wild Card spot with two wins in Atlanta.
The Amazins enter the series holding the second spot, 0.5 games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks and 2.0 games ahead of the Braves. Atlanta is 1.5 games behind Arizona. The Philadelphia Phillies clinched the division title Monday night. The Braves can’t clinch a playoff spot with a series win, but their home series against the Kansas City Royals slated for the weekend is also in jeopardy with the storm, and that series could potentially have playoff implications for both teams.
The Mets have done well creating some of their own luck this season, especially over the last month by going 15-5. But this isn’t luck — this is an act of God. It’s left fans wondering, does God hate the Mets?
Several scenarios are being discussed by the Mets, Braves and MLB, but none of them are ideal. As of Tuesday afternoon, a decision had not yet been made. MLB is tracking the storm and holding ongoing discussions with the two teams, hoping the worst part of the storm misses the area over Truist Park and that all three games can be played as scheduled.
“I haven’t heard anything,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Tuesday before the first game of the series. “We’ll play today’s game, we have to do whatever we need to do today to get the job done, and then we’ll see what happens. We all know what’s coming, but as far as, like from MLB or anything, I haven’t heard anything.”
The two teams could play a doubleheader Wednesday at Truist Park, but rain is forecasted to start around noon and last through the night, with the potential for thunderstorms. The league could move two games to a neutral site, though the Braves would obviously protest that decision. Packed crowds are expected for the series this week and the club no doubt wants to collect parking, concession and ticket revenue.
The league has not moved a series to a neutral site since 2017, when the Houston Astros were forced to play in Arlington in late August because of Hurricane Harvey, and the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees called Citi Field home for three days in September when Hurricane Irma hit Florida.
If the second game is played, the Thursday game could be rescheduled for Monday. The Mets would have to go from Milwaukee back to Atlanta on Sunday night to play one game, then turn around and either head back to Milwaukee for the start of the Wild Card series or go to San Diego.
San Diego and Milwaukee aren’t exactly close to Georgia.
Currently, Helene is a tropical storm that’s expected to become a hurricane by the time it makes landfall on the Gulf Coast Thursday morning, and while Atlanta is only forecast to receive remnants of the storm this week, wind and rain will precede the storm’s landfall. Georgia gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency Tuesday afternoon with heavy flooding predicted.
The league moved the Detroit Tigers series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays at Comerica Park to Tuesday afternoon, getting ahead of a separate storm system. That kind of foresight has not been applied to this series. All three parties involved are hoping the forecast changes, or that the storm takes a different path, as it did last two years ago.
But banking on a change in weather seems like a foolish tempt of fate. MLB learned long ago that they can’t control the weather. They can build domed stadiums to prevent this kind of chaos, but it’s already too late for that in the Peach State.
The clubhouse wasn’t shocked to hear that there haven’t been any contingency plans made yet. There seems to be little expectation that the league will do the right thing.
Atlanta has long haunted the Mets going all the way back to the 1969 NLCS. Whether it’s Bobby Cox, Chipper Jones or a storm named Helene, all the Mets can do is prepare as if they will play as normal.
“It’s a different group, different personnel and we’ve got to go out and do it,” Mendoza said. “There’s no other way around it.”
