MLB Playoff Field Depends on Doubleheader With Fascinating Dynamic

The 2024 Major League Baseball regular season is going into extra innings, so to speak, as the Mets and Braves will still play Monday to determine the remainder of the National League playoff field. 

After the Braves and Mets had two games in Atlanta postponed last week due to Hurricane Helene, there were a variety of clinching scenarios over the weekend that could have eliminated the need for those games. But after the Diamondbacks salvaged on Sunday the final game of a three-game set with the Padres with an 11-2 win, the Mets and Braves will still play the rescheduled doubleheader. 

That Diamondbacks win—coupled with a victory by the Mets over Milwaukee and a loss by the Braves to the Royals on Sunday—creates a dramatic win-or-else scenario on Monday.

If the Mets and Braves split the doubleheader, both teams will reach the playoffs and Arizona will be eliminated. But if one team sweeps, the loser is out and the Diamondbacks will claim the final postseason slot—in turn heightening the drama for Game 2 as the Game 1 loser fights to secure their slot in what The Athletic’s Jayson Stark described as the “chaos scenario.” 

ESPN2 is set to carry both games nationally. Regardless of the various scenarios, though, the involved teams all face the potential of a tight turnaround with a game at either the Padres or Brewers on Tuesday.

“Before the year, nobody expected us to be in this position and here we are with a chance to do something special, and that’s what we’ll do,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Sunday. “We’ll go back to Atlanta, we’ll get that last one, and we’ll go from there.”

Rest of the Field

The remainder of the MLB postseason field contains a mix of large-market juggernauts, upstart stories, and many of the sport’s biggest stars. 

• AL: The three divisions were won by the Yankees, Guardians, and Astros. Wild-card slots were claimed by the Orioles, Tigers, and Royals. The Tigers have been the league’s best team on the field since mid-August, in turn creating a surge in attendance, and are back in the playoffs for the first time in a decade. The Royals, meanwhile, rebounded from an ugly 106-loss season in 2023, and are still trying to close a deal on a new ballpark, with an 86-win campaign this year.
• NL: The three divisions there were won by the Phillies, Brewers, and Dodgers. The Padres have the top wild card slot clinched, regardless of the outcome of the Mets-Braves games on Monday. On this side of the postseason bracket, continuity is much more the story as the Dodgers won their 11th division title in 12 years, while the Brewers are in the playoffs for the sixth time in seven seasons, and the Phillies for the third straight year. 

The wild-card series begin Tuesday, while the division series round starts Saturday. 

All Eyes on Ohtani

Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani fell short on Sunday in his bid to win the Triple Crown, finishing second in batting average to Padres first baseman Luis Arraez. But Ohtani did complete a historic campaign with 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases, in turn becoming MLB’s first 50/50 player. 

Ohtani will be a focal point of MLB’s postseason, joining other major talents including the Yankees’ Aaron Judge, Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr., and Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson. 

MLB did not have either Ohtani or Judge in last year’s playoffs, and combined with the long decline of the Angels, the team of star outfielder Mike Trout, the league had gone the last decade without its unofficial “best player in the game” competing in the postseason.