How the Braves’ decision to play the Mets series brought about the nightmare scenario with Hurricane Helene

ATLANTA — For business, logistical and perhaps even playing reasons, the Braves did not want to change the start time, day or location of their series against the Mets, even though weather forecasts made a Wednesday night game questionable and a final three-game series game on Thursday night even more unlikely.

The MLB could have overridden all wishes of the two teams and forced different logistics for the games, but did not do so.

So the teams and MLB now face a storm of a very different kind that will raise questions about fairness, logistics and more – and could potentially create a number of disturbing and embarrassing scenarios on Monday.

As Tropical Storm Helene barrels toward Georgia, MLB had hoped that enough storm pressure would clear on Wednesday to play.

But the weather forecast and conditions worsened and late Wednesday afternoon, Wednesday and Thursday’s games were postponed.

A doubleheader is now scheduled for Monday at 1:10 p.m. at Truist Park.

This is the day after the scheduled end of the regular season and the day before the wildcard round of the playoffs.

There are many unpleasant permutations, including:

— The Mets and Braves play 18 innings in Atlanta on Monday and would require flying to Los Angeles, San Diego or Milwaukee to start a best-of-three game scheduled on consecutive days — it seemed unlikely that Game 1 would be moved to Wednesday to accommodate a team that advances to the tournament after Monday’s game.

For example, it would be possible for the Mets to play in Milwaukee on Sunday, 18 innings in Atlanta on Monday and in San Diego on Tuesday.

— The Mets or Braves end the weekend knowing they are in the playoffs, but the others are not, and neither are the Diamondbacks. Now the Mets and Braves would have to come back for a game or two on Monday, and the team that has already clinched a playoff spot would have no incentive to use its best players or play its best in games – while the Diamondbacks watch helplessly from afar.

The final decision lies with the Commissioner, but for now:

1. If both the Mets and Braves know their fate by Sunday, MLB will likely cancel the doubleheader.
2. The games will probably also be canceled if it is only a question of placement and both teams know that they are in the playoffs – the Braves are leading the season series so far and would receive the higher placement.
3. If everything is clear after the opening game, the nightcap will probably be cancelled.

Teams are not allowed to add to September’s 28-man roster, and an option player is subject to regular-season rules. For example, if the Mets wanted to option Tylor Megill to get a fresh arm, Megill would be ineligible for 15 days unless he were to get injured again.

Keep in mind that all of these problems began, in a sense, on April 10, when a game at Truist Park was canceled due to rain and the Mets felt a postponement was not necessary.

However, the Mets did not want to return for a single game on their shared off day during the season and asked to add it to their next series in Atlanta.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, this coincided with Helene.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency on Tuesday to prepare for the storm.

Spokespeople for MLB, the Braves and the Mets declined to comment on how this point came about.

But background discussions with personnel involved suggested that the Braves were generally expecting a high attendance for the three games (40,103 attended the series opener on Tuesday, which Atlanta won 5-1, at Truist Park) and did not want to forego the tickets or deal with the logistics of relocating personnel such as security personnel, concessionaires, etc. to other dates or start times.

The two teams had a day off together on Monday.

The weather was such that a doubleheader could have taken place on Tuesday.

The Mets floated the idea of ​​moving up the start time on Wednesday before the weather forecast worsened.

The most drastic step would have been to move the series to an empty park that is not threatened by the storm, for example in Texas.

But the MLB has not forced any changes.

It felt like it was a huge disadvantage to force the Braves into a doubleheader when they were two games behind the Mets at the start of the series and weren’t expected to make it.

In addition, the league was struggling with forecasts that it believed were more promising, at least for Wednesday through Monday, but as the forecasts worsened, there was not enough time to order a significant change to the schedule.

For the league, the decision to move the start of Tuesday’s Rays-Tigers game from 6:40 p.m. to 1:10 p.m. in light of the looming storm was much easier because both teams agreed to the change.

It helps that the Rays are out of the running and the two teams are not in the same division.

The Mets and Braves are in the NL East, battling for a playoff spot (one of them may miss out entirely), and aren’t exactly on friendly terms with each other.

So the Mets certainly thought about whether there was any tactics involved here.

At least the Braves don’t have to leave Atlanta on the weekend when the Royals are in town, nor on Monday when the doubleheader is required.

The Mets, who were scheduled to fly to Milwaukee on Thursday, may face four games in three days in three cities in a row.