I’ll give Major League Baseball this much credit — it had enough sense to get in out of the rain. Uh, yes — it even had enough sense to get in out of the high wind as well. Baseball has a long-standing tradition that games are not played during hurricanes, and that tradition was upheld a week ago in Atlanta. Much of what happened afterwards was not traditional. Never before was a game played in which one of the teams had more to gain by losing than by winning. It happened this week. Never before was a game played in which one team was do-or-die desperate to win and the other treating the contest as though it were a spring training game. It happened this week. Never before has a game ended with the teams heading for separate champagne celebrations. Yes, that also happened last week. The final days of the regular season and the scramble for postseason berths is often the finest part of any baseball season. Not this year. A clown show would have been better than what happened this year. At least clowns are expected to do absurd things. Hurricane Helene caused two games between the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves to be postponed last week. A makeup doubleheader was played on Monday — one day after the regular season was scheduled to end and one day before the postseason was scheduled to begin. The result was a messy, awkward and probably unfair situation. The tragedy is it could have been avoided. In fact, it SHOULD have been avoided. Hurricanes are big storms and easily tracked. We know where they are and can usually predict where they’re going and approximately when they’re going to get there. Everybody in Georgia knew this storm was coming. That included the people who make decisions for the Atlanta Braves. Everybody else in America knew Georgia was vulnerable. That included the people in the Major League Baseball Commissioner’s Office who make decisions — if there are such people. In a routine situation the mere postponement of the affected games would be acceptable. But this was not routine. It was the final week of the season. Two teams that were vying for playoff positions were scheduled to play one another on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and a big storm was on the horizon. Major League Baseball and the Atlanta Braves both did the nothings. They did so much of it that the word has to be plural. If somebody had wanted to be proactive, there were options. They weren’t ideal, but they were workable. For instance, the Mets and the Braves both had Monday off. One, or even two games could have been moved to Monday on an emergency basis and the rest of the series played on Tuesday. Of course, that wouldn’t have been ideal. There were large advance sales for all three games, and this would mean the Braves would have to honor the rain checks for Wednesday’s and Thursday’s attractions. But that was something they were going to have to do regardless. Or would that have been jumping the gun? All this is hindsight, after all. Last Sunday or Monday perhaps the weather picture was less obvious. Very well, but by Tuesday there was no doubt, and there was still no action by anybody. Tuesday’s game was played as scheduled, but many times during the telecast Mets announcers remarked that the weather would be unplayable the next two days. At that point MLB could have ordered the next two games be moved to a neutral site away from the hurricane’s path. Instead, MLB waited until both games had been postponed and then made the lame announcement that a makeup doubleheader would be played in Atlanta on Monday if the games were needed to resolve the playoff picture. Yipes! That’s harsh. One or both of the teams could begin a best-of-three playoff series on Tuesday, but first would have to play TWO games on Monday and then fly to the site of Tuesday’s game. The teams scheduled to host those Tuesday games — the San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers — must have been rubbing their hands with glee. In fact, the Padres, in fact, were in a position to do even more than that. Or, should we say, less than that? On Sunday morning the Arizona Diamondbacks were still in contention for a wildcard playoff berth, but they might not remain in contention if they lost on Sunday afternoon. If they fell out of contention the Mets and Braves would qualify for playoff spots and a Monday doubleheader would be avoided. It was in the Padres’ best interest that the Diamondbacks win on Sunday. Since they were the ones playing the Diamondbacks, they were in position to make that happen. The score of the game was 11-2. Did San Diego lose on purpose? I don’t know, but I wouldn’t blame them if they did. Not that that left the Diamondbacks in great shape. With two playoff spots available, both the Mets and Braves needed one victory in the doubleheader to qualify for the postseason. Arizona would make the playoffs only if one of the teams swept the doubleheader and there was very little chance that would happen. After all, whichever team won the first game would play the nightcap with the knowledge that its playoff position was secure, and those playoffs would begin the following day. The manager would surely rest most of his regulars in the second game and certainly would not use any pitcher he planned to put on the postseason roster. The other club, of course, would be in full battle mode and likely prevail. It came as no surprise that that’s exactly what occurred. The Diamondbacks could do nothing but watch helplessly as the Mets won the first game and fielded a lineup of carefree hoozits for Game Two. The Braves did what they had to do to take the other spot. Afterwards there were simultaneous champagne parties in both clubhouses. Then both teams boarded flights to their next destinations. Twenty-four hours later it all seemed like a distant memory. Honestly, if Lewis Carroll had ever written about baseball, I don’t think even he could’ve come up with something as bizarre as this. SOME FINAL STATISTICS: The Astros won a division title despite going 18-27 in one-run games … Pete Alonso of the Mets, Nick Castellanos of the Phillies, Matt Olson of the Braves and Marcell Ozuna of the Braves were the only players to appear in 162 games … Kyle Isbel of the Royals led the AL in sacrifice bunts with eight. That’s the smallest total ever to lead a league in a full season … Luis Arraez of the Padres won the NL batting title with a .313 mark. He is the first player in history to win three straight batting crowns while playing for three different clubs … The Tigers were 39-26 after the All-Star break. Their team ERA (3.13) was the best in the majors during that time … Elly De La Cruz of the Reds finished with 67 stolen bases, 218 strike outs and 29 errors. He led the major leagues in all three categories … The NL finished with a 369-321 edge in interleague play. That included 35 wins in 46 tries against the White Sox … Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers wound up with 411 total bases. He is the first player to top 400 since 2001 … Bryan Abreu of the Astros led the majors in holds with 38 … Hunter Greene of the Reds topped the majors in hit batsmen with 19. His teammate Nick Lodolo hit 18 … Jarren Duran of the Red Sox led the majors in doubles with 48. He tied for the lead in triples with 14 … The Mets made 94 errors — 22 by pitchers … Marlins shortstop Xavier Edwards played only 70 games, but managed to bat .328 and steal 31 bases … No pitcher was able to make 34 starts, but eight started 33 times. Only two of those eight (Aaron Nola of the Phillies and Seth Lugo of the Royals) pitched for a team that made the playoffs … The Yankees had a 73-45 record in games in which the opposition started a right-handed pitcher. Against southpaw starters they were 21-23. Former Hall of Fame voter Jay Dunn has written baseball for The Trentonian for 56 years. Contact him at [email protected]