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That was the speculation Tuesday, and the move has been confirmed. Festa had a 3.77 ERA and an 87/24 K/BB ratio in 59 2/3 innings for Triple-A Salt Lake. There’s legitimate concern about how his control will hold up in the majors, but he’s worth a flier anyway.

Francisco Lindor, Francisco Alvarez and J.D. Martinez are sitting. Mark Vientos was in the first lineup we saw, but he’s gone from the updated one. Jesse Winker is absent, too, which suggests that the Mets are obscuring an injury there, considering he also didn’t play on Sunday or in Game 1. The full lineup: SS Acuña, 3B Jose Iglesias, LF Brandon Nimmo, 1B Pete Alonso, DH Starling Marte, RF Tyrone Taylor, CF Harrison Bader, C Luis Torrens and 2B Eddy Alvarez.

Young loses his spot because the Mets wanted to add Joey Lucchesi to start tonight. He pitched 14 times in three stints with the Mets, amassing a 3.29 ERA in 13 2/3 innings.

Lucchesi will start Game 2 against the Braves with the Mets having clinched a postseason spot. The veteran has made just one start in the majors this season, giving up five runs in 4 1/3 innings against the Phillies on May 15. He had a 4.70 ERA in 115 innings for Syracuse.

Scott underwent the hybrid Tommy John-type procedure in September and is expected to miss most or all of 2025.

This sounds like a disaster and might well be one, but with the Mets unlikely to use key pitchers or field their full lineup, the Braves should still be the favorites here. There was never any mention of Sale being injured during all this save-him-for-an-elimination-game talk of the last several days, but it’s something he’s been feeling, apparently. The decision was made before Game 1 today to scratch him, POBO Alex Anthopoulos said.

This was always the plan, but it will be fascinating to see how Sale comes out after 10 days off, the 2-3 mph velocity drop in his previous start and the back-and-forth today of whether he’d end up pitching. At least he’ll likely get to face the Mets ‘B’ lineup.

The Braves can still advance with a win in the second game, and the Mets won’t have any real incentive to try hard in that one. If the Mets do win, though, they’d play the Padres, and the Diamondbacks would play the Brewers in the Wild Card. If the Braves win, the Mets will go to Milwaukee. Lindor’s homer off Pierce Johnson capped a wild finish that saw the Mets erase a 3-0 deficit with six runs in the top of the eighth, only to blow the lead by giving up four runs in the bottom of the inning. It was his 33rd homer of the year, matching the second highest total of his career. He reached 90 RBI for the third straight season and fourth time in his career.

Megill struck out eight, but he still left with the Mets down 3-0 before the big turnaround late. His regular season ends at 4-5 with a 4.04 ERA and a 91/32 K/BB in 78 innings (15 starts, one relief appearance). That he took a big step forward against lefties makes him look like a viable starting pitcher going forward. In the postseason, though, he’s probably going to be a reliever, and it won’t make any sense to include him on the Wild Card roster after he threw 100 pitches today.

Even though Díaz threw 26 pitches Sunday, the Mets turned to him with five outs to go in a 6-3 game in the eighth today. He immediately made a huge miscue, failing to cover first base of Jarred Kelenic’s grounder and giving up a run and an out. Later, an Ozzie Albies three-run double put the Braves ahead. In spite of that, Diaz was sent back out for the ninth after the Mets reclaimed the lead. He gave up a single with one out, but he retired the other three batters he faced and was credited with his sixth win to go along with his seventh blown save. It’ll be fascinating to see whether the Mets are willing to turn to him tomorrow in Game 1 of a Wild Card series. His 40 pitches today topped his previous season high by 10 and put him at 66 pitches over two days.

Schwellenbach had never pitched into the eighth, but the Braves let him start the inning at 83 pitches in a 3-0 game. Tyrone Taylor doubled to lead off the inning, and Schwellenbach was immediately pulled. That’s one of those moves we tend to hate — if a guy was the right choice to start the inning, one hit shouldn’t be enough to knock him out — but Taylor’s hit concluded a marathon 11-pitch at-bat, making the removal justifiable. It just didn’t work out; Joe Jiménez and Raisel Iglesias combined to give up five more hits in a six-run inning. Schwellenbach allowed just four hits, walked none and struck out five in the gem. He’ll be a big factor if the Braves bounce back and advance to the NLDS.