Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
That California trip seemed to last a very long time. The New York Mets played ten games in eleven days in the golden state, posting a 5-5 record. For all intents and purposes, that’s a decent record, considering seven of those games were against the formidable Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
In the standings, the Mets lost five games of the 10.5-game lead they enjoyed when the road trip began. That’s because their closest competitor, the Atlanta Braves, have won 12 in a row going into Tuesday’s action, having beaten down the Colorado Rockies, Oakland Athletics, and Pittsburgh Pirates over the last two weeks. The schedule clearly favored the Braves recently. Going forward, things will even out.
According to Tankathon, the Mets have the 24th most difficult strength of schedule in Major League Baseball for the remainder of the season, while the Braves’ schedule ranks 19th in strength for the balance of the 2022 campaign. The third-place Phillies’ schedule is 25th in strength the rest of the way.
The Mets’ toughest series (by opponent record) over the last 100 games are against the Yankees (four games), the Dodgers (three games), the Astros (four games), the Padres (three games), and the Braves (15 games). In addition to facing the Mets 15 times, Atlanta will play the Dodgers and Astros three times each, the Giants seven times, the Cardinals seven times, and the Red Sox twice.
Looking at September, the Mets’ schedule seems favorable, as they face the Nationals, Pirates, Marlins, Cubs, Pirates, Brewers, Athletics, and Marlins, before traveling to Atlanta on September 30 to open a series (recall that the season extends into the first week of October this year to make up games postponed by the lockout).
Of course, it’s nice to have a soft schedule, but these are still major league teams and nothing is guaranteed. Let’s not forget the 2007 season. After the Phillies swept the Mets at Shea Stadium in mid-September, the Mets held a 3.5-game lead with 13 games to play against the Nationals and Marlins (along with one make up game against the Cardinals). We know how that turned out.
When it comes to the schedule, the old clichés tend to get thrown around liberally. “One game at a time”; “we can only control ourselves, we don’t worry about what the other teams are doing”; “it’s hard to win any game in this league.” All of those are based in truth.
For the New York Mets, their “final 100” starts Tuesday at Citi Field (where it seems they have not been in months) against the Milwaukee Brewers. So, guys, take it one game at a time, don’t worry about the Braves (or Phillies), and do the difficult thing of winning a game in the major leagues. The Mets are still in first place, and still have the most wins in the National League.
Let’s hope their schedule extends deeply into October this year.
