Morning Briefing: For Mets and Braves, It’s Win and In

Good morning, Mets fans!

After a chaotic turn of events on Sunday, the Mets and Braves will square off in a doubleheader at Truist Park this afternoon starting at 1:10 p.m. Tylor Megill (4-5, 3.98 ERA) will face off against rookie right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach (8-7, 3.47 ERA). The Braves are holding Cy Young favorite Chris Sale back for the second game of the doubleheader or the first game of the Wild Card Series, as the Mets are doing with Luis Severino. The Mets have yet to crack Schwellenbach, scoring just one run in 14 innings against him. Meanwhile, Megill has posted a 1.78 ERA since being recalled from Triple-A on August 30. Both games will be televised on SNY and ESPN2.

With a split today, both teams would clinch a postseason berth – Atlanta would head to San Diego to take on the Padres, while the Mets would head back to Milwaukee to face the Brewers. If either team sweeps the doubleheader, the Diamondbacks would claim the final postseason spot, while the loser would be eliminated.

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David Peterson allowed just one hit and struck out eight in seven shutout innings, and Francisco Lindor homered and stole two bases as the Mets finally solved the Brewers, winning 5-0. Lindor is now just one steal shy of his second straight 30-30 season. J.D. Martinez busted out of an 0-for-36 slump with a pair of hits, and Jose Iglesias collected two knocks to extend his hitting streak to 20 games. Peterson finishes the regular season with a 10-3 record and a 2.90 ERA across 121 innings.

Pete Alonso, Mark Vientos, and Sean Manaea are nominees for this year’s All-MLB Teams. Fans can cast their votes on MLB.com once every 24 hours until October 11.

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Ozzie Virgil Sr., the first Dominican-born major leaguer, passed away Sunday at the age of 92. Virgil attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx and served in the United States Marine Corps before he debuted for the New York Giants in 1956. After his nine-year playing career, Virgil spent almost two decades as a major league coach, including for the 1984 NL Champion Padres.

Katie Woo of The Athletic reports that the Cardinals are expected to part ways with seven-time All-Star Paul Goldschmidt, making him a free agent. Goldschmidt won the NL MVP award in 2022 but saw his numbers decline each of the last two years, finishing 2024 with his first below-average season by OPS+.

Rocco Baldelli will return as the manager of the Twins despite their late-season collapse. Baldelli won AL Manager of the Year in 2019 and has won three AL Central titles in his six years as Minnesota’s skipper, but the team failed to make the postseason after going 12-27 from August 18 to the end of the season.

The Marlins announced that they agreed to mutually part ways with manager Skip Schumaker. In his first season at the helm, Schumaker led Miami to the playoffs and won NL Manager of the Year, but he requested his option for the 2025 season be voided after the departure of Kim Ng.

Pirates utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa didn’t play on Sunday despite being four plate appearances shy of triggering a $250,000 bonus. Kiner-Falefa said he was given the option to play, but he decided to give the opportunity to the younger players on the roster.

Longtime Red Sox broadcaster Joe Castiglione called his last game on Sunday afternoon, capping a 42-year career. Several Red Sox legends were on hand at Fenway Park to pay tribute to the Hall of Famer during a pregame ceremony.

After losing a record-breaking 121 games this season, Jerry Reinsdorf wrote a letter to White Sox fans, calling this year’s performance a failure and claiming responsibility for it. Reinsdorf mentioned that general manager Chris Getz has already begun searching for candidates to be the team’s manager in 2025.

Major League Baseball announced start times for the Wild Card round, with the NL series set to begin at 5:32 PM in Milwaukee and 8:38 in San Diego. Game 2 in Milwaukee will begin at 7:38, and Game 3 will begin at 5:32 if necessary. The Tigers and Astros will start all three of their games at 2:32, while the Orioles and Royals will play at 4:08 for games 1 and 3, and Game 2 will start at 4:38. All three games in San Diego will begin at 8:38.

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Johnluke Chaparro recaps the Mets’ win in their series finale against the Brewers.

Christian De Block looks at what went wrong for the Mets’ offense during the first three games of the road trip.

On This Date in Mets History

1988: David Cone scatters nine hits, allowing two runs in a complete game to earn his 20th victory of the season as the Mets down the Cardinals, 4-2.

2006: Endy Chávez, Julio Franco, Shawn Green, Ramón Castro, and David Wright all go deep as the Mets rout the Nationals, 13-0, in the penultimate game of the season. Franco, Green, and Wright’s homers are all three-run shots.

2018: On the last day of the season, Noah Syndergaard outduels Sandy Alcantara by tossing a complete-game shutout to give the Mets 1-0 victory, Syndergaard allows five hits and strikes out six without walking a batter. Jose Reyes plays in the final game of his career, leaving the game in the top of the second inning.

Born On This Date: Dave Magadan (1962), Yorkis Pérez (1967), José Lima (1972).

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