Technically speaking the 2024 Major League Baseball season was supposed to conclude on Sunday, with an off-day before the playoffs opened on Tuesday.
That plan is out the window with two absolutely massive games on Monday that will determine the remainder of the National League playoff field.
Those two games just so happen to be a doubleheader between the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves, making up two games that were postponed this past week due to hurricane Helene rolling through Georgia.
Those games, which begin at 1 p.m. ET in Atlanta, will break what is a three-way tie with the Mets, Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks for the final two wild-card spots in the National League.
Here are the scenarios that can still play out:
If the Mets and Braves both win one game of the doubleheader, both will make the playoffs and the Diamondbacks will be eliminated.
If one of the Mets or Braves sweeps both games of the doubleheader, that team will make the playoffs, the loser of both games will be out, and the Diamondbacks will get the remaining playoff spot.
That is a lot of drama to conclude the season.
It is going to be especially stressful for the Diamondbacks who can do nothing but sit and watch after they won their regular-season finale to the San Diego Padres on Sunday.
That does not even get into the fallout that could come from the Mets and Braves should they advance.
Not only are they both going to have to burn through two starting pitchers and potentially their bullpens, they are going to have no day off before having to jump right into a playoff series against either the San Diego Padres or Milwaukee Brewers.
It is the result of a wild sequence of events but it certainly sets the stage for one of the craziest endings to a regular season we have ever seen. It would tremendous drama and stress for the teams involved and fans of each team. It will be tremendous theatre for baseball fans that have no rooting interest and just want to see winner-take-all games.
