The idea of arriving to Atlanta for the penultimate series of the regular season with just a mathematical chance for the playoffs likely would have been palatable to the Mets when they last departed that city in April.
Now the Mets get the bonus package.
They are in the driver’s seat.
The last piece of business before the much-anticipated series was handled Sunday night, when the Mets got a shutdown bullpen performance in a 2-1 victory over the Phillies before a sellout crowd of 43,139 at Citi Field in the regular-season home finale.
Next stop is Atlanta, with a National League wild card berth there for the taking.
As Edwin Diaz completed the final out of his two-inning save, the Mets’ two-game lead over the Braves for the NL’s third wild card was secure. Two victories in three games at Truist Park (since the Mets would hold the tiebreaker based on head-to-head with the Braves) will guarantee the Mets their second postseason appearance in three years.
“It’s a beautiful thing,” Brandon Nimmo said. “But we’ve worked really hard to get into this position [and] the job is not done. There’s just as much pressure on the next game as there was in this one. … You just have to enjoy the moment. It’s going to be a lot of fun in Atlanta.”
Still in play for the Mets is the NL’s second wild card (for which they are tied with Arizona). And if winning three of four against the Phillies wasn’t big enough, there was the satisfaction of letting a hated rival take its NL East-title celebration elsewhere (Philadelphia needs one victory or a Mets loss to clinch).
Phil Maton, Jose Butto and Diaz combined for five scoreless innings of relief on this night and Nimmo launched a go-ahead homer against Zack Wheeler in the sixth as the Mets completed a 6-1 homestand.
“We just have to go [to Atlanta] and win the series,” Diaz said. “If we win the series we will be fine.”
Manager Carlos Mendoza said he was unsure if he would use Diaz for the ninth until after the star closer had gotten three outs in only 11 pitches in the eighth. Diaz also pitched 1 ¹/₃ innings on Saturday.
“We’ve been protecting him the whole year, but now it’s big boy time and he’s our guy,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza was asked how it felt to know if the Mets win the next series they will be in the playoffs.
“I don’t want to get too far ahead,” Mendoza said. “We have to enjoy the fact we won this series against a really good team. Enjoy the [off] day and then we’ll be ready.”
Pete Alonso, in potentially his final home game with the Mets — he is set to hit free agency after the season — received a standing ovation upon coming to the plate in the first inning.
The Mets slugger raised his helmet to acknowledge the crowd before taking a called third strike. Alonso went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
Tylor Megill ran into pitch-count trouble and was removed after only four innings in which he allowed one run on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts. It was the second time in his last four starts that Megill (who threw 83 pitches) lasted only four innings.
Megill needed 35 pitches through a first inning in which he allowed one run and left the bases loaded. Alec Bohm delivered an RBI single to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead after Trea Turner had singled and reached second on a wild pitch.
Nick Castellanos singled following Bohm’s hit and Bryson Stott walked to load the bases before J.T. Realmuto was retired.
Tyrone Taylor stroked an RBI single in the second to tie it 1-1. Mark Vientos stroked a two-out double against Wheeler before Taylor delivered. Luisangel Acuna’s swinging bunt put runners on the corners with two outs but Wheeler rallied to strike out Jose Iglesias (whose single in the first inning extended his hitting streak to 16 games).
Megill escaped trouble in the fourth by retiring Johan Rojas after surrendering a two-out single to Castellanos and walking Brandon Marsh with two outs.
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Nimmo jumped on Wheeler’s first pitch in the sixth inning and cleared the right-field fence to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. The homer was Nimmo’s 22nd of the season and third in his last six games.
“We are having a lot of fun,” Megill said. “We’re hungry, and keep going.”
