OMG!
Those three letters that have been the rallying cry of the New York Mets all season, and they are the perfect way to describe the team's thrilling 8-7 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Monday in the first game of a doubleheader to clinch a playoff spot.
The Mets regained the lead on a two-run home run by Francisco Lindor in the top of the ninth inning that capped a back-and-forth affair in what was an instant classic.
"It felt like slow motion," Lindor said of the home run after the win.
The Mets and Braves were the only teams playing on what became the final day of the regular season to make up a pair of games rained out last week during Hurricane Helene. The outcome of the doubleheader would determine which two teams -- the Mets, Braves or Arizona Diamondbacks -- would get the final wild-card berths in the National League.
New York was held scoreless over the first seven innings, with the Braves taking a 3-0 lead on three solo home runs. The Mets then exploded for six runs in the top of the eighth, capped on a two-run home run by Brandon Nimmo for a 6-3 lead.
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Mets closer Edwin Diaz entered in the bottom of the eighth and -- after failing to cover first base on a diving stop by Pete Alonso for an out that would have ended the inning -- allowed a go-ahead, bases-clearing double to Ozzie Albies that put the Braves back in front with a 7-6 lead.
Lindor then saved Diaz with his blast in the ninth inning. Diaz returned to close out the game in the bottom of the ninth and, after allowing a one-out single, got Travis d'Arnaud to ground out to shortstop to seal the win and send the Mets to the postseason.
The Mets will play the Milwaukee Brewers in a best-of-three wild-card series.
The victory prevented the Mets from having a must-win game in the second game of the doubleheader, instead putting that pressure on the Braves. Atlanta, despite scratching injured starting pitcher Chris Sale and replacing him with relief pitcher Grant Holmes, went on to win the second game 3-0 to secure a playoff spot and eliminate the Diamondbacks.
The Braves, who finish as the No. 5 seed over the Mets by winning the season's head-to-head tiebreaker (7-6), will play the San Diego Padres in the wild-card series beginning Tuesday.
That meant the final game of MLB's regular season ended with champagne celebrations in both clubhouses.
