Remember when that one-time NL East favorite lost its MVP contender to injury, looked upon its options and decided to simply risk despair?
Both the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets have been without their best players for more than a month. Their responses to the crises, though, explain how their fortunes have flipped in a way that must feel all too familiar to Mets fans.
In the days following Ronald Acuña Jr.’s season-ending knee injury on July 10, the Braves were at serious risk of fading from the playoff race entirely.