The Mets last visited Atlanta in April, winning two of three games against the Braves as they bounced back from an 0-5 start to the season.
A repeat performance over the next three days at Truist Park will see the Mets clinch a playoff berth.
The Mets can still control their destiny by losing two of three games in a final weekend series against the NL Central-leading Brewers, but the road looks increasingly uncertain.
If they get swept, they will likely need help to make the playoffs.
It's been a tough journey for the Mets to get to this point, going from a 24-35 record on June 2 to having the best record in baseball for the next four or so months.
That's one reason the Mets remain confident heading into the final week of the regular season, with series against the Braves and Brewers remaining.
The Mets have already won tiebreakers against the Diamondbacks and Padres and have won six of their seven home games, including a series victory over the first-place Phillies.
All of this combines to leave the Mets with little interest in looking back to two years ago, when they were soundly swept by the Braves in Atlanta in the penultimate series of the regular season, losing the NL East crown and then getting knocked out by San Diego in the wild-card series in early October.
Prior to Sunday night's series-final win at Citi Field, Pete Alonso noted that the ugly series against the 2022 Braves wasn't the only thing that marred their season.
He also mentioned the three-game winning streak in mid-September in Queens against the Cubs, who finished the season 14 games below .500, and the series loss at home to the 107-loss Nationals earlier this month.
“People focus on the Atlanta moment, [were] “There are many other moments during the season,” Alonso said.
All three starting pitchers who underwhelmed in the late 2022 series against the Braves are with other teams, with Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer now with Texas and Chris Bassitt with Toronto.
This time around, the Mets will rely on the trio of Luis Severino, David Peterson and Sean Manaea, while the Braves will counter with Spencer Schwellenbach, Chris Sale and Max Fried.
The Mets' performance since the end of May gives them confidence that they have a chance to win, regardless of the opponent.
“We've done a great job this year of playing very clean baseball,” Alonso said. “It's been the same in years past, but this year is really special.”
And with this win, the team, which was six games out of the final wild-card spot with seven teams remaining on May 29, has now moved two games behind Atlanta for that same spot and is battling Arizona for the second wild-card spot, salvaging their season.
“I think we've been the best team in baseball on record for the last four months, and we needed to do that to get to this position,” Alonso said. “All of our players have been focused and worked on it all year.”
Because of that, Brandon Nimmo said he doesn't expect to have to make many adjustments when it comes to intensity in the final week of the regular season.
“We've been playing playoff games for the last week or so, so I don't think we should treat this any differently,” Nimmo said. [and] It's going to be a high energy game. It's going to have a playoff feel and it's going to be a great game.”
