Travis d’Arnaud hit the biggest home run of the season for the Atlanta Braves. New York Mets fans are panicking. Paul Skenes delivered two more scoreless innings to finish his stunning rookie season with a 1.96 ERA. Saturday is in the books. We still have one full day of the regular season left – plus the Braves-Mets doubleheader Monday.

Here’s what to see, starting with the National League wild-card race, with the Braves now holding a one-game lead over the Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks as the three teams battle for two spots.

New York Mets at Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers shutout the Mets 6-0 on Saturday to give the Mets their first three-game losing streak since August 11. When the Braves later defeated the Royals 2-1, the Mets fell behind the Braves in the standings for the first time since September 4.

The Mets will start David Peterson on Sunday. The southpaw has allowed five runs in two of his past three starts, though he has generally been effective since July, with a 2.90 ERA over his past fifteen starts. The Brewers are locked into the third seed and will be sure to rest all of their top relievers as they prepare for Tuesday’s wild-card series. Colin Rea will get the start for Milwaukee, but expect a tough bullpen matchup with the secondary relievers in action.

The Mets used their top three starters in this series: Sean Manaea on Friday, Jose Quintana on Saturday and now Peterson. That means Luis Severino and Tylor Megill are the likely starters for Monday’s doubleheader. The Braves have a right-handed lineup and have an OPS nearly 70 points higher against lefties, so the Mets will have their two right-handed starters at least on Monday.

Kansas City Royals at Atlanta Braves

The Braves defeated the Royals on d’Arnaud’s walk-off home run. Reynaldo Lopez returned from the injured list to make his first start for Atlanta since September 10, allowing just two hits and one run in six innings. The 2024 All-Star finishes the season with a 2.00 ERA in 25 starts (though he didn’t pitch enough innings to qualify for the ERA title).

The Braves’ gamble to delay the start of likely Cy Young winner Chris Sale until absolutely necessary has paid off. The sale could have started Friday, but the Braves said they would hold him until he was potentially eliminated. With a one-game lead in the wild-card race, the earliest that could come is the second game of the doubleheader against the Mets. Of course, the best-case scenario is that they settle before using Sale and have him ready for Game 1 of the wild-card series.

Saturday night, manager Brian Snitker said the team had not yet decided on a Sunday starter. Charlie Morton would be the most rested starter, but the Braves may want to save him for the Mets. That could leave Grant Holmes facing a collapsing offense in Kansas City.

Also remember: the Braves lead the season series 6-5 over the Mets, meaning the tiebreaker between the two teams is still up for grabs.

San Diego Padres at Arizona Diamondbacks

The Padres beat the Diamondbacks 5-0 on Saturday – the second shutout in four games for the high-powered Arizona offense and their fifth loss in six games as a wild-card spot that seemed relatively safe a week ago is suddenly in jeopardy. The key to remember is that the Diamondbacks lose the tiebreaker to both the Mets and the Braves.

Sunday now feels like a must-win for Arizona. If they lose again, a Mets win on Sunday or in Monday’s doubleheader would eliminate the Diamondbacks.

With Zac Gallen in line to start the wild-card opener after pitching Wednesday, Brandon Pfaadt will start Sunday against Martin Perez. Pfaadt has been all over the place lately, getting blown out in the third inning of his last start and in the second inning two starts ago, but he’s been stuck around a 12-strikeout game.

American League wild card

Much of this was taken care of Friday night: First, before a raucous crowd of 44,435 fans at Comerica Park, the Tigers defeated the White Sox 4-1 to win their sixth straight game and clinch their first playoff berth since 2014 . the Angels for the longest active playoff drought in the majors.

The Royals entered their first postseason since 2015, when the Twins lost.

The Orioles clinched the fourth seed by beating Minnesota. The Tigers are one game ahead of the Royals for the fifth seed, but the Royals hold the tiebreaker in case they finish with the same record. The fifth seed plays in Baltimore, while the sixth seed plays in Houston in the wild card bracket (the higher seed gets all the home games). The good news for both the Tigers and Royals is that they can save Tarik Skubal and Cole Ragans for the first games of the wild-card series, rather than having to start them on Sunday.

Compete for the best record and the best seed

• The Dodgers earned both the top seed in the NL and the top seed overall (the fourth time in eight seasons the Dodgers finished with the MLB’s best record). That leaves the Phillies as the No. 2 seed in the NL.

• Despite a 9–4 loss to the Pirates when Luis Gil served up four home runs, the Yankees took the top seed in the AL when the Guardians lost, leaving Cleveland as the No. 2 seed.

• The No. 5 and No. 6 seeds in both leagues remain unsettled. The Tigers have a one-game lead over the Royals in the AL, but the Royals have the tiebreaker if they finish with the same record.

The Shohei Ohtani watch…continues

The man doesn’t slow down. Did you think we were done with the Ohtani milestones after he hit 50/50? No way. He went 2-for-5 with his 58th stolen base in Saturday’s win over Colorado — his 35th consecutive stolen base without getting caught. If we go back to his 6-for-6 play, he is an incredible 26-for-39, a .667 average.

What can he do if he plays on Sunday? He has 99 extra-base hits; the last players to reach 100 did so in 2001. And the Triple Crown is in play. Ohtani increased his average to .310. Leader Luis Arraez did not play on Saturday and therefore remains at .314. It will be interesting to see if Arraez gets back to his .314 average and forces Ohtani to have a big day catching him.

If Ohtani goes 4-for-5, he would hit .31397. Arraez is currently at .31388.

Other statistical races at play

• Can Aaron Judge hit 60 home runs? Judge was back in the lineup on Saturday after a day off, but went 0-for-5 with five strikeouts. That dropped his slugging percentage to .701 as he tried to become the first player to hit .700 since Barry Bonds in 2004. The last player to do so outside of the 1994 to 2004 period was Ted Williams in 1957.

• Ohtani has already passed 400 total bases, the first time since 2001. The right is at 392, so it will probably take a final of two home runs to get there.

• Bobby Witt Jr. now looks like a lock for the AL batting title. He’s been in charge all summer, and when he peaked with a .352 average on August 16, he had a commanding 19-point lead over Judge (and 33 points over Vladimir Guerrero Jr.). After sitting Saturday, Witt remained at .332, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 0-for-4 and dropped to .324, while Judge dropped to .322 (which also eliminated his chance at a Triple Crown).

• Jose Ramirez hit his 39th home run on Saturday and needs one more to join the exclusive 40/40 club, which has only six members: Ohtani, Ronald Acuna Jr. (2023), Alfonso Soriano (2006), Alex Rodriguez (1998), Barry Bonds (1996) and Jose Canseco (1998).

• Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals has 49 saves; There have been 50 saves 17 times, the last by Edwin Diaz in 2018.

Saying goodbye

Joey Votto, who did not play in the Majors this season after signing a minor league contract with the Blue Jays, announced his retirement a few weeks ago, and his next stop will ultimately be receiving a Hall of Fame plaque in being Cooperstown. Two longtime outfielders also officially announced their retirements at the end of the season:

• Los Angeles Dodgers CF Kevin Kiermaier: It’s unclear if Kiermaier will make the Dodgers’ playoff roster as a backup outfielder (he hit .164 with the Dodgers and has started just two games in September), so this could be it for being one of the best defensive midfielders of all time. Yes, always. Kiermaier has won four Gold Gloves, showing incredible lateral range during his heyday with the Tampa Bay Rays. His 38 defensive runs saved in 2015 are the best total for a center fielder in a single season since DRS’s inception in 2003, and his career total of 173 is the most for any outfielder since 2003 (and the third highest at any position whatsoever, only behind Andrelton Simmons). and Adriaan Beltre). Kiermaier’s defensive excellence is reflected in his career WAR of 36.1. Not bad for a 31st round pick out of Parkland Community College.

• Colorado Rockies DH/OF Charlie Blackmon: Blackmon has spent his entire 14-year career with the Rockies. It took a while for him to make it to the big leagues — his first full season didn’t come until he was 27 years old — but he became a four-time All-Star and finished fifth in the 2017 NL. MVP voting after leading the competition in batting average (.331), hits (213) and runs (137). His power waned after the peak from 2016 to 2019, but he is one of the most popular players in Rockies history and will finish with more than 1,800 hits in the majors.

There may be a few other veterans playing their final games who have not yet announced their retirement. Matt Carpenter comes to mind here. Kyle Hendricks wants to pitch in 2025, but he’s headed to free agency and his start Saturday at Wrigley Field will likely be his last after 11 seasons with the Chicago Cubs. Let’s hope Andrew McCutchen returns to the Pittsburgh Pirates for another season after putting up solid numbers in 2024. If these guys don’t return, thank you for the memorable careers.