Hurricane Ian could impact Atlanta Braves series with New York Mets

The Atlanta Braves and New York Mets are set for a key showdown this coming weekend.

The Braves are just 1.5 games behind the Mets entering Monday. With a three game set against the Braves scheduled to begin on Friday, the NL East, and a first round bye, could hang in the balance. This may be the biggest series left on the MLB calendar.

Atlanta Braves, New York Mets could have Hurricane Ian to contend with

As it turns out, the biggest story that weekend may not be on the diamond. Hurricane Ian is strengthening in the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to hit Florida, making landfall anywhere from the Tampa Bay area to the Panhandle, either late Wednesday or early Thursday morning. From there, it would slowly move north, hammering Georgia by Friday.

This leaves Major League Baseball with a nightmare scenario. As this series is important to the playoff hunt, they have to find a way to play those three games. However, it may not be feasible to play in Atlanta as it is an open air stadium and, with the storm expected to be overhead, it would not have been safe to play anyway.

The league also cannot just move the series to New York and just hand the revenue to the Braves. Giving the Mets what would be an extra home series, even if they would be the “road” team, would not sit well with the Braves at all. Even if it was played in an empty stadium, the Mets would still have the advantage.

There are possible options. Both teams are off on Thursday, so the league could look to have the series begin that day, take the next two days off for the storm, and play a doubleheader on Sunday. The Rangers are also on the road this coming weekend, allowing for the possibility of a neutral site series with a dome in case of rain. There are options, even if neither is perfect.

What is clear is that the league is rapidly running out of time to decide how to handle this series. Unless the storm continues to track further west, sparring Georgia but hitting the Gulf Coast instead, they will need to find another venue for this series. Unless they play with the schedule, but even then, there is no guarantee that Truist Park will be in any shape to host a game on Sunday.

Major League Baseball has a major problem on its hands. They need to figure out how to handle the New York Mets series with the Atlanta Braves due to Hurricane Ian.