With a win yesterday in Milwaukee, the Mets (88-72) are back in Atlanta today to decide whether one or both of them and the Braves (88-72) make the playoffs. The Diamondbacks (89-73) finished their regular season with a win, but both the Mets and Braves have a tiebreaker against Arizona. A doubleheader split ends the Diamondbacks’ season, while a doubleheader win for both teams today would secure one spot for this team and one for Arizona.

Since there is no day off between this doubleheader and the first game of the Wild Card round, both teams plan to save their best available starting players for the second game in case they lose the first game and need to win the second to move forward. With a win in Game 1, each team would likely move its seed into Game 1 of the playoff series tomorrow night.

Match 1: Tylor Megill vs. Spencer Schwanzenbach at 1:10 p.m. EDT on SNY

Megill (2024): 72.1 IP, 83 K, 30 BB, 6 HR, 3.98 ERA, 3.36 FIP, 100 ERA-

Just a few months ago, the idea of ​​Megill starting in a game of major importance would have sounded truly crazy, as he struggled early in the season and deserved the demotion he received to Triple-A Syracuse. However, he has been fantastic since returning to the big leagues. In his last seven appearances, Megill has thrown 33.1 innings with a 2.70 ERA and a 3.38 FIP. If you’re expecting something bad to happen at this stage, well, in his first start in the big leagues he gave up four runs in six innings against the Braves. However, in his six subsequent appearances, he posted a 1.98 ERA.

threshold stream (2024): 116.2 IP, 122 K, 23 BB, 14 HR, 3.47 ERA, 3.38 FIP, 83 ERA-

In the only game the Mets and Braves played last week, before those two games were rained out and postponed until today, Wechselbach gave up just one run in seven innings. In his last start against the Mets in late July, in which he also faced Megill, he went seven innings and didn’t give up a run. The Mets’ lineup will be hoping the third time is the charm, and as far as seeing a pitcher recently can help, it’s not much more recent than it was six days ago.

Game 2: Luis Severino* vs. Chris Sale* following Game 1 on SNY

Severino (2024): 182.0 IP, 161 K, 60 BB, 23 HR, 3.91 ERA, 4.21 FIP, 99 ERA-

If the Mets need to win Game 2 to keep their season alive, Severino isn’t a bad option. Despite a relatively quiet ERA this season, he has been one of the Mets’ most reliable pitchers this year. He was really stuck with a 1.95 ERA over a five-start stretch from mid-August to early September, but in the three starts between that stretch and now, he’s had a 5.63 ERA while striking out twice against the Phillies and faced the Braves once.

Sellout (2024): 177.2 IP, 225 K, 39 BB, 9 HR, 2.38 ERA, 2.09 FIP, 57 ERA-

When Sale enters today, he will be looking to both secure a playoff spot for his team and complete his Cy Young case in the National League. He heads into a potential start today and is 0.19 ahead of Zack Wheeler in ERA and also 0.2 bWAR ahead of Wheeler. Unless he gets off to a start that gets him excited, he is the likely winner of the prize. If there’s any cause for concern from the Braves’ perspective, it would be the fact that Sales’ fastball velocity has dropped in three of his last four appearances. As for the Mets, if they see Sale, that means they’re in the postseason, which would be quite a relief.