The National League East turned out to be the lone must-watch division in the final weeks of the regular season. In the end, the Atlanta Braves had the last laugh over the New York Mets.

The Braves clawed their way to first place in the NL East after they had trailed the Mets by 10.5 games during the opening half of the season. Even though the Mets won 101 games in the campaign, the Braves still prevailed to win the division for the fifth straight year.

The Mets had a golden opportunity late in the season to take hold of first place in the division, but they ended up dropping all games of their three-game road set against the Braves.

For Pete Alonso, he is not pinpointing this series loss to the Braves as the sole reason why the Mets did not finish the campaign as NL East champions. Instead, the veteran first baseman sees that the Mets had a multitude of opportunities to fend off the reigning World Series champions.

“People look at the Atlanta series, and they think that was the determining factor, but to be honest with you, we got swept by the Cubs like three weeks prior,” Alonso said. “If we didn’t get swept, if we had one more game, or if you look at the 60-some other games where it was close, tough-fought games, but we didn't come through.

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“There were other opportunities throughout the year to win the division, even though people look at that Atlanta series as that one final thing.”

As the Mets failed to win the NL East, they will host the San Diego Padres in the 2022 National League Wild Card Series. The Mets are aiming to clinch a spot in the National League Division Series for the first time since the 2015 campaign.