The ever-changing forecast involving Hurricane Ian’s landfall and its potential to impact the city of Atlanta doesn’t appear to be a point of much concern for Major League Baseball or the Braves with the Mets set to head down to Georgia for an important three-game set that could very well decide the National League East title.
According to a report from Mike Puma of the New York Post, the Mets offered to move Wednesday night’s game against the Miami Marlins up to a 4 p.m. ET start instead of its usual 7:10 p.m. slot. That would allow them to Atlanta earlier to play on Thursday — a day earlier than the series’ initial start and the expected arrival of inclement weather to the area.
The Braves refused, however, holding fast to a series beginning on Friday when the rain should be prevalent.
Instead, it appears that the three options currently on the table are:
- Moving Friday’s first pitch up from 7:20 p.m. to a day game in hopes of squeezing in the opener before the weather worsens.
- Playing a split doubleheader on Sunday with the likelihood of playing on Saturday looking less and less likely.
- Use Oct. 6, which is the one day off between the end of the regular season and the start of the postseason, to play any games that are impacted by weather.
The final option is the one that all parties will want to avoid at all costs and is the least likely to happen. A final game or even two against the clubs a day before the playoffs starts would put the losing team at a severe disadvantage considering they would then have to host the first game of the NL Wild Card Series on the very next day.
“When they tell us to play, we play,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said on Tuesday. “They say three [games] on Thursday, line them up. Let’s go.”
