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.
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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 either the San Diego Padres or Milwaukee Brewers in the best-of-three wild-card series.
The victory prevented the Mets from having a must-win game in the second game of the doubleheader, with the Braves now needing a victory to make the playoffs. A loss by the Braves in Monday's second game will give the Diamondbacks the final NL wild-card spot.
If the Mets win the second game of the doubleheader, they will secure the No. 5 seed and play the Padres. The Diamondbacks would then get the No. 6 seed and play the Brewers.
If the Braves win, they would secure the No. 5 seed over the Mets by winning the season's head-to-head tiebreaker (7-6). They would then play the Padres, and the Mets would play the Brewers.
Both teams scratched their originally scheduled starting pitchers for the second game, with the Mets replacing Luis Severino with Joey Lucchesi, and the Braves replacing an injured Chris Sale with relief pitcher Grant Holmes.
