Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Mets are now at a crossroads to finish their season. After having a string of games where their bats were at their best, and their pitching concerns were nonexistent, they blew the first game of the series to the Braves. For what is a very critical series in deciding the fate of the NL East crown, it seems as if the Mets are bowing out and letting the Braves have their way.

In past seasons, we have all witnessed historic collapses by previous Mets teams. Not many have come close to the NL East crown at the end of the season as this one has. These current Mets have had a rough time finding consistency during the second half of the season. As the Braves have been hot on their tail for the NL East crown.

The Mets were in a comfort zone heading into this series as their ace, Jacob deGrom, took the mound for game one on Friday night. While no one assumed that the issues from his outing against the A’s would linger into a critical matchup against the Braves, the Mets found themselves in a position where the offense needed to bail deGrom out.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. While the Mets and Braves both had eight hits apiece, it was the three home runs against deGrom that made the difference. Those big home runs, in connection to the fact that Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso went a combined 1-for-8 at the plate with two strikeouts, placed the Mets behind the 8-ball against a hungry Braves team.

Winning Friday night would’ve placed them in a comfortable position for the rest of the series and heading into their final series against the Nationals. With the Braves and Mets being tied for first place, the Mets need to at least win one game in this series to hold the season series advantage over the Braves.

If the team can win two games against Atlanta, then they’ll head into their final series with a greater advantage. The Mets hold the fate of their season in their hands, and the sooner that they realize that, the better off they will be.

On Saturday, the Mets will look to Max Scherzer in hopes of quieting the bats of the Braves. But even if Scherzer does his part, the team needs their star hitters to find their footing before it’s too late.