The Mets will maintain their hold on first place at least through this week’s visit to Atlanta, following their 4-1 road win Monday night over the Braves.
The Mets’ precarious lead in the NL East has been nudged back up to 2.5 games after downing a Braves team that still is now 29-9 since June 1, when their deficit stood at 10.5 games behind Buck Showalter’s team.
The defending World Series champions “are not going to clinch the division this week,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said before the series started.
Still, the Mets’ path to the division title – which they’ve won just three times (1988, 2006, 2015) since their 1986 World Series championship year — once again will go through their longtime nemeses and tormentors. The Braves copped 11 consecutive NL East crowns from 1995-2005 and another four in a row entering this season.
