How Mets-Braves series could shape MLB playoffs

The fact that there is a division title hanging in the balance as the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves meet this weekend might come as a surprise for anyone who was watching the National League East standings earlier this season. What was once a 10.5-game lead for New York in early June and still as large as seven games on Aug. 10 has turned into a down-to-the-wire battle, with both teams chasing 100 wins in one of the best division races of the wild-card era.

But while Mets fans are likely a tad stressed by this stretch run, especially after dropping the first two games in Atlanta, their star first baseman begs to differ.

«This is fun — this is really, really fun, being in a race like this,» Pete Alonso said Tuesday after a Mets loss and Braves win briefly tied the teams for first place.

Luckily for baseball fans, the two teams square off one final time Sunday night (7 p.m. ET on ESPN) after Atlanta took the first two to grab a one-game lead in the standings.

The series is the biggest of the 2022 regular season, about as big as you can get in this new 12-team postseason world — and, arguably, the most important regular-season series since at least 2012 (more on that in a minute).

Watch: Mets-Braves on Sunday Night Baseball, 7 ET

Yes, both teams have clinched playoff spots, but given the ramifications of winning the division and receiving a first-round bye compared to having to use your best starters out of the gate in a best-of-three wild-card series — where anything can happen — both teams desperately want to win the division, and which one does will shape the shape the entire MLB postseason.

«The hope is to have a good series against New York this weekend,» Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. said Tuesday. «The