THE wild-card is such that even the magic-number formula is all wet.

Although the magic number coming into the Braves-Mets three-game series at Shea Stadium supposedly was three for the Braves to clinch the National League East, it actually was only two.

The Mets went into last night’s series opener knowing that if they lost the game they would be eliminated from contention for their first division title since 1988, even though they would be trailing the Braves by five games with five games remaining.

If the Mets lost last night, then won their final five and the Braves won last night and lost their final five, the clubs would finish the season with 94-68 records. The Braves, under that scenario, would have a 7-6 record against the Mets in the season series and therefore would be awarded the NL East title.

The Braves clinched at least a wild-card over the weekend.

“We clinched the wild card the other night and I forgot about it by the time I got back in the dugout,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said. “We didn’t celebrate. We kind of forgot about it. I felt bad about it. I almost felt like apologizing to the players for forgetting about it.”

Cox said he planned to celebrate the division title after last night’s game in the event the Braves beat the Mets, even though the deceiving standings would look like the Mets still had a chance to tie.

“When would you do it?” Cox asked. “It would be sort of anticlimactic celebrating a day later, wouldn’t it?”

So it would. Cox never has had to worry about celebrating a wild-card. His Braves went into last night needing one win in the three-game series against the Mets to clinch a ninth consecutive division title.

“I think a wild-card team absolutely should celebrate,” Cox said. “It’s something to be proud of. Your goal when you play a whole season is to get into the playoffs. There are 22 other teams out there who don’t get in at all.”

Cox was taking nothing for granted, even though the Braves needed just one victory at Shea to clinch the division.

“It’s always hard to win one game,” Cox said. “It’s hard to win a game, even at Central Park at 12 o’clock and you’re pitching, Murray [Chass; Times columnist]. It’s difficult to win a game anywhere, any time.”

The decision whether to celebrate was an easy one in the Braves’ clubhouse, a more gray one in the Mets’.

To pop or not to pop, that is the question. Don’t pop, that is the answer. Steve Phillips’ decision to prohibit a champagne celebration for the wild-card in the event the Mets clinched it and still were not mathematically eliminated solved the dilemma of whether the players should spray bubbly on each other.

The Mets are oh-so-touchy about criticism. They try to head it off at the pass. They are worried that if they celebrate winning the wild-card while still having a mathematical shot at the division title, they would be blasted. They are probably right about that.

It’s the way it’s done in baseball. Teams don’t celebrate winning the wild-card unless they already have been eliminated from contention for the division title.

“We’re not celebrating,” Phillips said. “Our goal is to win the division. The wild-card is a fallback.”

Being the general manager of a New York baseball team, Phillips’ choices were these on this matter: Either ban a celebration and be made fun of for fooling himself into thinking his team still had a shot at the division title, or allow celebrating and get slammed for settling for the wild-card when the division title still was a remote possibility.

And what if the Mets were to clinch the wild-card in the middle of the night?

“Tomorrow we’ll celebrate before the game with tea and crumpets,” he said.

In which case, Phillips’ team would be mocked for being too wimpy when celebrating.

Valentine saw merit in Phillips’ policy decision, but he was not apologetic about the prospect of celebrating finishing in second place.

“If we’re not supposed to celebrate then why did the league send caps and T-shirts to the clubhouse, so they can take a picture of us wearing wild-card shirts?” Valentine asked.

The answer to that one is simple. The league sends the goods so that potential customers will see the Mets wearing them on television, then rush out to buy them, thus generating more revenue.

Would it be OK to smile about winning the wild-card if the division title wasn’t yet settled?

“People can let their emotions out,” Phillips said. “I just don’t think we should have a full-blown champagne celebration.”