Mets, Braves’ race to regain mojo will decide everything  

The mojo was real. It was. If you were inside the ballpark during those halcyon days of June and early July, you know it was. You heard — and saw — Citi Field sound — and look — like it had on precious few days since October of 2015, when it seemed like the whole month was an endless carnival of joy hard by Flushing Bay. 

“We want this to last as long as it can possibly last,” Brandon Nimmo said on the giddy evening of July 25 after the Mets had beaten Chris Sale and the Braves 3-2, a night when the Braves, for a change, had made all the bone-headed plays and the Mets, for a change, had made Atlanta pay for every misstep. 

And the next night … well. The next night. Kodai Senga was back, and he was electric, and the Mets threw a 7-spot at Charlie Morton in one inning, and Grimace was dancing and the crowd couldn’t wait to sing “OMG” and there was sheer delirium as the Mets were poised to slip past the Braves into the first wild-card slot. Mojo? This was something beyond mojo … 

And then there was a pop-up. 

And Senga was on the ground. 

And look, there’s no need to over-dramatize this: the Mets have won a few games since then. They haven’t exactly fallen off a cliff, even if it felt that way as they scored a solitary run all weekend in Seattle against a Mariners rotation that is quite good, but had yet to be confused in public with Glavine/Maddux/Smoltz. Even after their lost weekend by the Space Needle they’re within a half-game of playoff position.