Mets and Braves Battling It Out for the NL East Lead

The New York Mets took over 1st place in the National League East on April 11th and stayed there until September 6th, when the defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves caught up and tied them for the lead. This comes after New York led by as much a 10 ½ games back on June 1st. After the Mets took four of five from the Braves from August 4th to 7th, the Braves reeled off a 21-5 stretch from August 9th to September 6th.

Much is made, and rightfully so, about the New York Mets starting rotation, of Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Carlos Carrasco, Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker. But the Braves starters, led by Kyle Wright who is having a career year at 17-5, Max Fried, Charlie Morton, Spencer Strider, and Ian Anderson are a formidable bunch as well. The Mets will now have to deal with the absence of Scherzer; the three time Cy Young Award winner went on the 15 day injured list as of September 3rd. Scherzer missed about half of May and all of June after landing on the injured list earlier this season. This is not a good time for another stint on the IL, but Scherzer is convinced he’ll only miss a couple of starts.

New York took over 1st place again on September 7th after sweeping a double header from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Atlanta beat Oakland 7-3 on the 7th, but the Mets’ pair of wins put New York back in the lead by half a game.

Highlights of the Braves win over Oakland: