There was an awful simplicity to the Mets’ sweep in Atlanta.

No cosmic bad luck, no pratfalls, no ill-timed injury — none of the “lol that’s so Mets” episodes that have conditioned the team’s fans to protect their hearts.

No, it was just a really good team losing to an even better team. Three times in a row. The Braves hit better. They pitched better. They ran the bases better, and they caught the ball. They tilted the season series to 10-9 Braves. That’s the justice of a 162-game season.

The NL East tragic number is 1 now. Only a massive swing in fortune — a Braves meltdown, let’s call it — will keep the Mets, masters of the division for the run of 156 games, from being bracketed into a best-of-three wild-card series starting Friday at Citi Field against the Padres (probably) or Phillies.