Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Diaz lift Mets to series win over Phillies ahead of Braves showdown

The idea of arriving in Atlanta for the penultimate series of the regular season with just a mathematical chance for the playoffs likely would have been palatable to the Mets when they last departed that city in April.Now the Mets get the bonus package.They are in the driver’s seat.The last piece of business before the much-anticipated series was handled Sunday night, when the Mets got a shutdown bullpen performance in a 2-1 victory over the Phillies before a sellout crowd of 43,139 at Citi Field in the regular-season home finale.Next stop is Atlanta, with a National League wild card there for the taking.As Edwin Diaz completed the final out of his two-inning save, the two-game lead over the Braves for the NL’s third wild card was secure.Two victories in three games at Truist Park (since the Mets would hold the tiebreaker based on head-to-head with the Braves) will guarantee the Mets their second postseason appearance in three years.Still in play for the Mets is the NL’s second wild card (for which they are tied with Arizona).

And if winning three of four against the Phillies wasn’t big enough, there was the satisfaction of letting a hated rival take its NL East-title celebration elsewhere (Philadelphia needs one victory or a Mets loss to clinch).Phil Maton, Jose Butto and Diaz combined for four scoreless innings of relief on this night — Brandon Nimmo launched a go-ahead homer against Zack Wheeler in the sixth — as the Mets completed a 6-1 homestand.Pete Alonso, in potentially his final home game with the Mets — he is set to hit free agency after the season — received a standing ovation upon coming to the plate in the first inning.The Mets slugger raised his helmet to acknowledge the crowd before taking a called third strike.

Alonso went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.Tylor Megill ran into pitch-count trouble and was removed after only four innings in which he allowed one run on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts.It was the second time in...