Mets, Braves meet in critical series with wild-card implications

Mets, Braves meet in critical series with wild-card implications

Over the next three days, the visiting New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves will most likely clarify the National League’s wild-card playoff scenario.

With six games left, the Mets (87-69) entered Monday tied with Arizona for the second wild-card spot. New York holds a two-game lead over the NL East rival Braves (85-71), who are trying to make the playoffs for the seventh straight season. Their series opener is Tuesday.

“These are big that we’re going to play,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. “We’ve got six more and they’re all going to be big. We’ll just come up Tuesday and try to go 1-0.”

The season series between the two teams is tied at 5-5. They split a four-game series in New York in July. New York can clinch a playoff spot by winning two out of three.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” said New York outfielder Brandon Nimmo, who hit the winning home run to beat Philadelphia on Sunday. “It’s going to be a playoff atmosphere down there and we’ve been playing playoff baseball honestly for a week now. So we’re just going to take the same energy and attack it with everything we have.”

The pitching matchup for the opener features New York right-hander Luis Severino (11-6, 3.79) against Atlanta rookie righty Spencer Schwellenbach (7-7, 3.61).

Severino will make his 31st start and has been one of the staff’s most consistent performers, failing to pitch five innings only twice all season. He has won four straight decisions and beat Philadelphia on Thursday, working six innings and allowing three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out seven.

He has faced the Braves twice this season but has not received a decision. In 10 combined innings he has allowed four runs on 11 hits, five walks and 10 strikeouts. He is 1-1 with a 3.15 ERA in four career starts against Atlanta.

Schwellenbach has emerged as a bright young arm for the Braves, being recalled from Double-A in May — bypassing the Triple-A level — and making 19 major league starts. He has won two straight games and beat Cincinnati in his last outing on Wednesday by allowing one run in six innings.

In his only career appearance against the Mets on July 27, Schwellenbach earned a road win by pitching seven scoreless innings, striking out a career-high 11 and allowing only two hits.

It was thought the Braves might send ace Chris Sale to the mound in the series opener, but the decision was made to give the southpaw an extra day of rest. Sale and fellow left-hander Max Fried will start the final two games.

Atlanta got second baseman Ozzie Albies back from the injured list, but the switch hitter is restricted to batting from the right side. He went 2-for-15 with one homer in the three games against Miami over the weekend.

The Mets may get star shortstop Francisco Lindor back on Tuesday, even though he will need to play through the back pain that has limited him to one inning since Sept. 13. He took limited batting practice on Sunday. Lindor is hitting .271 with 31 homers, 86 RBIs and 27 stolen bases in 148 games.

In Lindor’s absence the Mets have used Luisangel Acuna, younger brother of injured Atlanta star Ronald Acuna Jr. In nine games, the younger Acuna is batting .379 with three home runs and six RBIs since being recalled from Triple-A Syracuse on Sept. 14.