Mets fan has bad commute to Citi Field. How would he react in Atlanta?
Atlanta has more than its share of commuter issues right now, issues that could cause problems for next week’s Atlanta Braves home opener.
There’s no MARTA train lines to SunTrust Park, the new home of the Braves.
Parking, which the ballclub is advising fans to buy in advance, will be in lots scattered throughout the team’s Battery Atlanta development and other nearby areas.
Traffic, which can be a mess during rush hour in Atlanta and hasn’t been fully tested on a sold-out game night at the new park, has been aggravated by the collapse of a portion of Interstate 85 between Midtown and Buckhead. While the collapse doesn’t directly affect the commute to the ballpark, rerouted traffic throughout the city has made for commuting headaches.
There’s at least one New York Mets fan, however, who thinks that Braves fans won’t have it so bad.
Frank Fleming, a Mets fan headed to Monday’s season opener against the Braves, was caught up in some transit delays caused by a New Jersey Transit derailment at Penn Station. Some miscommunication took place, and Fleming was left wondering if he could get to the game.
“New Jersey transit is the absolute worst!” an animated Fleming told a WNBC-TV reporter in a tweet sent out by Sports Illustrated. “I’m not going to get to my game now because they are incompetent. Incompetent! They tell us Track G, Track H ... and then they tell us, ‘No, the announcement was wrong.’ ”
This @Mets fan's reaction was totally appropriate pic.twitter.com/lxiCGRgGgq
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) April 4, 2017
If there’s consolation for Fleming, it’s that the Mets posted an opening-day victory, defeating the Braves 6-0.
The Braves’ Julio Teheran and the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard each put together six innings of shutout work. But the Mets jumped all over the Braves’ bullpen in the seventh, scoring six runs as the Braves went through four relievers and allowed three hits and five walks.
“The walks (in the seventh), they hurt,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said in his postgame news conference. “It hurts a lot. That inning started to spiral out of control. But if we get the ball over the plate, who knows what might happen.”
Julio's outing, Ender's what-could-have-been throw, Freddie's three hits & the bullpen
— FOX Sports: Braves (@FOXSportsBraves) April 3, 2017
Brian Snitker breaks it all down on #Braves LIVE pic.twitter.com/kcvHPn1kJP
The Braves take on the Mets again at 7:10 p.m. on Wednesday in New York in a game televised by Fox Sports South. Bartolo Colon is scheduled to start for the Braves, while Jacob deGrom is scheduled to go for the Mets.
This story was originally published April 4, 2017 at 12:42 PM with the headline "Mets fan has bad commute to Citi Field. How would he react in Atlanta?."