The body blows kept coming. The injured list swallowed Spencer Strider, then Ronald Acuña Jr., Michael Harris II, Ozzie Albies, Max Fried, AJ Minter, Reynaldo López and Austin Riley, some of them multiple times. The division title slipped out of reach. The wildcard race intensified.

Then came a hurricane, a bonus day of regular season baseball and a makeup doubleheader to decide the MLB playoff field.

Ultimately, none of that chaos prevented the Atlanta Braves from punching their postseason ticket for the seventh straight season.

The Braves clinched a playoff spot on Monday with a 3-0 win over the New York Mets in the second game of their doubleheader in Atlanta. It took until game No. 162, but they will face the Padres in San Diego in the Wild Card Series, which begins Tuesday. The outcome leaves the Arizona Diamondbacks, who watched the events from Chase Field in Phoenix, out of the postseason.

For the Braves, the victory came after two more bloody blows. First, they had to come off the canvas after a stunning 8-7 loss in Game 1, blowing leads of 3-0 and 7-6 in the final two innings. Then, after keeping chief executive Chris Sale in reserve in case he needed a nightcap, he suffered back spasms.

In his place, righty Grant Holmes, who pitched largely from the bullpen, took the mound ten minutes beforehand. Against a Mets team that had already clinched their postseason berth, Holmes pitched four shutout innings and the Braves offense rallied enough to cap a long day with a win.

Now the Braves have a chance to cleanse the bad taste left by consecutive NLDS exits since winning the 2021 World Series. After six consecutive division titles, they find themselves in an unfamiliar role as a wild card, unable to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East, but in a familiar position: still in the championship battle as the MLB postseason begins.

This season has been the toughest hand for manager Brian Snitker as Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos’ formidable roster dropped one star after another this spring and summer. But the Braves won’t be an easy out. They have starting pitchers with significant postseason experience, from Sale to Max Fried to Charlie Morton, and a deep bullpen led by closer Raisel Iglesias (1.72 ERA). The lineup is far from full strength, without Acuña and Riley, but remains dangerous.

The loss of Strider, who finished fourth in the NL Cy Young voting last year, to elbow surgery after just two starts was softened by Sale’s return to dominance. Anthopoulos acquired the 35-year-old left-hander Sale from Boston last winter for infielder Vaughn Grissom and extended Sale’s contract despite injuries that limited him to 298 innings in the previous five seasons.

Sale has been in top form this season. He is in line for his first Cy Young award and leads all qualified MLB pitchers in wins (18), ERA (2.38), FIP (2.09) and strikeouts per nine innings (11.4). Still, Sale’s declining velocity in recent starts has raised concerns about how well he will pitch in October, even though he is expected to be available to start in the Wild Card Series.

Fried pitched flawlessly on Friday, making 26 of 27 outs in a shutout win, and reliever-starter López returned from the injured list to start Saturday. The Braves would undoubtedly be better with Strider, but they wouldn’t be here at all without the impactful offseason pickups of Sale and López (2.00 ERA) and the addition of rookie Spencer Schwellenbach.

Closing gaps in the setup was more challenging. After winning NL MVP in 2023 as the game’s first 40-70 player, Acuña had a modest .716 OPS before tearing his left ACL in May. (He tore the right ACL in July 2021.) With Riley, Albies and Matt Olson all scoring below their career norms in the first half, and with Sean Murphy and Harris suffering long-term injuries, the offense was carried by Marcell Ozuna. The All-Star DH found himself in the MVP conversation at times unexpectedly this summer, entering the doubleheader hitting .304 with 39 home runs and driving in 102 runs.

According to Fangraphs, the Braves’ playoff chances dropped to 38 percent on September 21 as the Mets turned up the heat in the wild-card race. The Braves went 15-11 in September as the pitching staff delivered the second-best ERA (2.62) in the majors and rediscovered Olson, Harris and Jorge Soler — the 2021 World Series MVP, who returned to Atlanta in a trade in July — their swings at exactly the right time.

(Top photo of Marcell Ozuna after a few runs: Todd Kirkland /MLB Photos via Getty Images)