Hurricane Ian could wreak havoc on Mets and Braves' weekend series that could determine NL East

The Mets' weekend series against the Braves in Atlanta that could determine the winner of the NL East could be impacted by Hurricane Ian, which is expected to make landfall in Florida on Friday and hit Georgia soon after.

The Mets and Braves are scheduled to play on Friday at 7:20 p.m., Saturday at 7:20 p.m., and Sunday at 7 p.m.

According to CBS46 in Atlanta, rain is expected to move into north Georgia throughout the day on Friday, with the biggest impact late Friday night through early Saturday.

Two-to-five inches of rain is expected in north Georgia between Friday and Sunday, with wind gusts up to 39 mph.

Both the Mets and Braves are off on Thursday, so they could conceivably play one of the games that night in order to get ahead of the storm. But it remains to be seen if MLB will consider that.

The Mets would be traveling from New York, where they're finishing a series with the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night. The Braves would be traveling home from Washington. D.C., where they're finishing a series with the Nationals on Wednesday night.

If one of the games isn't moved to Thursday, they would almost certainly have to be played in some fashion between Friday and Sunday. That's because the Mets (at home against the Nats) and Braves (in Miami against the Marlins) both play on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, which is the final day of the regular season.

Perhaps they'll be able to get one game in on Friday, before a possible rainout on Saturday. But that would probably mean asking the Mets and Braves to play a doubleheader on Sunday, which would be a less than ideal way to potentially determine a division winner.

Another option could be moving the series to an alternate site, but that seems like a last resort.

It should be noted that the Mets have Chris Bassitt (Friday), Jacob deGrom (Saturday), and Max Scherzer (Sunday) lined up to pitch against the Braves this weekend, while Atlanta has Max Fried (Friday), Kyle Wright (Saturday), and Charlie Morton (Sunday) lined up.

If the series started on Thursday instead of Friday, all six of the above pitchers would still be able to make their starts on regular or extra rest. A decision on starting the series Thursday would have to come very soon so the pitchers can adjust their preparation as needed and the teams could get their travel plans in order.

The fans who bought tickets for these games need to be a consideration, but the main consideration has to be with the teams and fair play.

The nightmare scenario here would be not moving the first game of the series to Thursday and not being able to get all three games in over the weekend.

If the above happened, and the NL East remained undecided through the Mets' and Braves' Game 161, MLB would have no other choice but to force the teams to play Game 162 for the division on the Thursday after the regular season ends.

That would be a total mess, since the loser of that game would then have to start the Wild Card series the next day -- a three-game series that has no scheduled days off.