The Atlanta Braves and New York Mets kicked off the most important series of the 2024 MLB regular season on Tuesday night, with Atlanta winning the first game of the three-game series (NYM 5, ATL 1). However, the series will not continue on Wednesday and Thursday as scheduled. MLB announced Wednesday afternoon that those games have been postponed due to the approaching Hurricane Helen. MLB will rematch both games in a doubleheader on Monday, the day before the 2024 postseason begins. Game 1 will start at 1:10 PM ET, with Game 2 starting 40 minutes after the end of Game 1.
Monday is a day off between the end of the regular season and the Wild Card Series, with games scheduled to be played only if necessary to decide the postseason race. According to the New York PostThe Mets enter Wednesday’s game 0.5 games back of a wild-card spot, while the Braves are 0.5 games back of the No. 6 seed Arizona Diamondbacks, and with the wild-card race so tight, at least one of Monday’s games is likely a must-play.
As Helen continued to intensify, the Braves were even more adamant about protecting ticket sales for their high-attendance series and reportedly did not want to deal with the logistics of rescheduling games. The league could have overturned the home team’s decision, but officials reportedly chose not to do so. This was a huge self-sabotaging error on MLB’s part. Now the Braves and Mets face potential scheduling nightmares heading into the postseason.
The Mets, for example, would have to travel from Atlanta (this week’s series) to Milwaukee (this weekend’s series) to Atlanta (Monday’s doubleheader) to the West Coast (Wild Card Series) in six days. The Monday doubleheader would also devastate both teams’ pitching staffs, with one of those teams clinching a postseason berth. They would likely have to go into the Wild Card Series with a depleted bullpen. All of this could have been avoided if MLB had overturned the Braves’ decision and rescheduled the games sooner.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Helene could bring 6 to 12 inches of rain across the Southeast, with localized dumps of up to 18 inches, as well as “potentially catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding and urban flooding.” Heavy rain is expected in Atlanta on both Wednesday and Thursday as Helene approaches the Florida Gulf Coast. Here’s the hourly forecast from First Alert Weather for Wednesday night and Thursday evening:
First Alert Weather
The storm, which was officially upgraded to a hurricane by the NHC on Wednesday, is expected to make landfall in Florida on Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of more than 110 mph.
“Devastating and life-threatening hurricane-force winds, especially gusts, will be felt far inland for parts of northern Florida and southern Georgia, where hurricane warnings are in effect, late Thursday into Thursday night,” the National Hurricane Center said in its 5 p.m. update on Wednesday.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has already declared a state of emergency. See the latest updates from CBS News below, with the storm’s projected path shown below.
CBS News
MLB has some scheduling looming, with the regular season concluding on Sunday and the 12-team postseason beginning on Tuesday, Oct. 1. The Mets are scheduled to close out the regular season with a three-game series against the Brewers in Milwaukee, while the Braves will host the Royals from Friday through Sunday (weather permitting).
Current National League Wild Card Standings
(As of September 25th)
4. Padres
91-66
+4.5
5. Mets
87-70
+0.5
6. Diamondbacks
87-71
—
7. Braves 86-7 10.5
