Major League Baseball is considering contingency plans for this weekend’s crucial series in Atlanta between the Mets and Braves as Hurricane Ian batters Florida’s Gulf Coast.
The rapidly intensifying hurricane was expected to make landfall Wednesday morning in Florida, while parts of Georgia are expected to experience torrential rains and coastal thrust Saturday. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp preemptively declared an emergency, ordering 500 National Guard troops to stand by as needed.
With the pivotal three-game series set to begin Friday at Truist Park, the National League East rivals and MLB discussed several options, according to multiple reports, including a split head-to-head double on Sunday.
The teams have a mutual day off Thursday, but MLB isn’t planning on starting the series a day earlier, according to MLB.com. Moving the games to a neutral site was also not a serious consideration Wednesday morning, according to MLB.com.
Mets manager Buck Showalter joked he was on “double secret probation” when asked to divulge details of the talks, but told reporters that “we know what’s going on. “, and noted that general manager Billy Eppler was leading the Mets’ involvement in the talks.
“I don’t get involved in that,” Showalter said. “[Eppler] is great at keeping me up to date on what I need to know and what I don’t need to know. I’m perfectly comfortable that he wired everything up. I’m tired of turning my head.”
The hurricane gained strength off the southwest Florida coast Wednesday morning with winds of 155 mph, just short of the most dangerous Category 5 status. Devastating winds and rain swept across the heavily populated Gulf Coast, with the region from Naples to Sarasota at the “highest risk” of a devastating storm surge.
“It’s going to be a really bad day, two days,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Wednesday. “It’s going to be a tough time.”
The Mets and Braves enter Wednesday tied for the top of the NL East with identical records of 97-58. The division winner will get a bye to the NL Division Series while the runner-up will begin a best-of-three wild card streak on Oct. 7, further complicating MLB’s attempts to reschedule all postponed games. by the hurricane.
A decision could come as early as Wednesday or as late as Friday morning, as MLB and teams plan to wait as long as possible to monitor the hurricane’s path. The Mets play a home game Wednesday against the Marlins while the Braves complete their series in Washington against the Nationals before the teams’ mutual day off.
The Mets, who led the NL East by 10.5 games on June 1, found themselves tied for the top of the division with the 6-4 loss to the Marlins on Tuesday. The surging Braves had beaten the Nationals 8-2 earlier on Tuesday, setting the stage for what should now be a weather-impacted final week to decide the division champion.
“It’s fun — it’s really, really fun to be in a run like this,” Mets star first baseman Pete Alonso said. “Tomorrow is another chance for us to be great and we just want to keep playing the good baseball we’ve been playing all year.”
After their scheduled Sunday Night Baseball game (ESPN, 7 ET), the clubs will wrap up their regular season schedule with a three-game series that ends Oct. 5, leaving Oct. 6 as another possible date to catch up on games. postponed. Showalter joked that the Mets would be ready to play for a triple title this Thursday.
“When they tell us to play, we play,” he told reporters. “This is what we do.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.