For the first time this season, the Mets looked mortal at Citi Field, and now they have to hit the road for one of their more important stretches of this young season.
Having lost just seven games out of their first 34 in Queens, the Mets were swept away in a three-game set by the Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend while being outscored 24-9. It is just the second time this year that Carlos Mendoza’s men have lost three straight games.
They now hit the road for their first in-division-intensive part of 2025, traveling to Atlanta to face the Braves, then to Philadelphia for three against the Phillies, and then back home for four against Atlanta.
“You hate to get swept here at home, but you’ve got to move on,” Mendoza said. “You’ve got to turn the page. We’ve got an off day. And then we’ve got a stretch here where we’re playing the Braves, we’re playing the Phillies, we’ve got the Braves again.”
The Mets enter the important 10-game stretch with a 2.5-game lead over the Phillies atop the NL East and a 13-game advantage over the surpisingly sputtering Braves, who were picked by many to legitimately challenge for the division crown. Atlanta is also coming off an embarrassingly poor showing in a 10-1 loss on Sunday against the historically bad Colorado Rockies.
New York will be getting the heart of the Braves’ rotation, though, as rising star Spencer Schwellenback gets Game 1 on Tuesday, followed by reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale, and then Spencer Strider.
“We know, when you look at that team on paper, that’s a really good team,” Mendoza said. “Obviously, they have some struggles. And then the three guys that we’re facing, they’re elite pitchers. And then you look at their lineup, they’re healthy.”
A strong showing in Atlanta can lay a solid foundation toward bucking a recent trend of regular-season struggles against the rival Braves. The Mets have not taken a season series from them since 2017.
“The Braves are a very good team,” veteran outfielder Brandon Nimmo said. “I don’t care what their record says, a very good team that can play very good baseball, pitch very well, hit very well, especially in their home ballpark, so we’re going to be going in there expecting a bulldog fight, be ready for Game 1.
“Same thing with Philadelphia. We know they’re an extremely talented team, very, very good, very dangerous at home, great pitching staff. So, tough stretch coming up and we’re just going to have to take it one game at a time.”
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