The body blows kept coming. The injured list included Spencer Strider, then Ronald Acuña Jr., Michael Harris II, Ozzie Albies, Max Fried, AJ Minter, Reynaldo López and Austin Riley, some on multiple occasions. The division title fell out of reach. The wildcard race became tighter.

Then came a hurricane, a bonus day of regular-season baseball and a makeup doubleheader to decide the MLB playoff field.

In the end, this chaos didn’t stop the Atlanta Braves from punching their postseason ticket for the seventh straight season.

The Braves secured a playoff spot with a 3-0 victory over the New York Mets in the second game of their doubleheader in Atlanta on Monday. It took until Game No. 162, but they face the Padres in San Diego in the Wild Card Series that begins Tuesday. The result eliminates the Arizona Diamondbacks, who watched the game from Chase Field in Phoenix, from the postseason.

For the Braves, the victory came after two more bloody blows. First, they had to get off the screen after an impressive 8-7 loss in the first game in which they blew leads of 3-0 and 7-6 in the final two innings. Then, after keeping top player Chris Sale in reserve in case of a life-threatening nightcap, he was scratched due to back spasms.

In his place, righty Grant Holmes, who has pitched mostly out of the bullpen, took the mound within 10 minutes. Against a Mets team that had already clinched its postseason berth, Holmes threw four shutout innings and the Braves’ offense mustered enough to cap a long day with a win.

Now the Braves have an opportunity to shake off the bad taste left by consecutive NLDS exits since winning the 2021 World Series. After six straight division titles, they find themselves in an unfamiliar wild-card role, unable to catch the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East, but in a familiar position: still in the title game when the MLB postseason begins.

This season, manager Brian Snitker has had the toughest hand in the game, as the formidable roster built by Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos lost one star after another this spring and summer. But the Braves won’t have an easy game. They feature starters with significant postseason experience, from Sale to Max Fried to Charlie Morton, and a deep bullpen led by closer Raisel Iglesias (1.72 ERA). Without Acuña and Riley, the lineup is far from full strength, but remains dangerous.

The loss of Strider, who finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting last year, to elbow surgery after just two starts was tempered by Sale’s return to dominance. Anthopoulos acquired the 35-year-old left-hander Sale from Boston last winter for infielder Vaughn Grissom, extending Sale’s contract even though he pitched just 298 innings over the last five seasons due to injuries. Sales were at their best this season. He’s on track for his first Cy Young Award and leads all qualified MLB pitchers in wins (18), ERA (2.38), FIP (2.09) and strikeouts per nine innings (11.4). But Sales’ declining velocity in recent starts has raised concerns about his pitch quality in October, although he is expected to be available to start in the Wild Card Series.

Fried hit an error-free pitch Friday, striking out 26 of 27 in a shutout win, and López, who went from reliever to starter, returned from the injured list to start Saturday. The Braves would undoubtedly be better with Strider, but they wouldn’t be here at all without the impactful offseason pickups of Sale and López (2.00 ERA) and newcomer Spencer Wechselbach.

Filling the gaps in the lineup was a more challenging task. After becoming the game’s first 40-70 player to win the NL MVP in 2023, Acuña had a modest OPS of .716 before tearing his left ACL in May. (He tore his right ACL in July 2021.) With Riley, Albies and Matt Olson all performing below their career norms in the first half and Sean Murphy and Harris with long-term injuries, the offense was taken over by Marcell Ozuna. The All-Star DH unexpectedly entered the MVP discussion at times this summer, entering the doubleheader with a .304 batting average, 39 home runs and 102 runs batted in.

According to Fangraphs, the Braves’ playoff odds fell as low as 13.1 percent in late August as the Mets turned up the heat in the wild-card race. The Braves went 15-11 in September as the pitching staff delivered the second-best ERA (2.62) in the majors and included Olson, Harris and Jorge Soler – the 2021 World Series MVP in a trade this July returned to Atlanta – rediscovering her strength comes at just the right time.

(Top photo of Marcell Ozuna after batting in two runs: Todd Kirkland /MLB Photos via Getty Images)