After getting pummeled by the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night and limping out of Phoenix having lost two of three to one of the dregs of the National League, the New York Mets find themselves back at .500 with a 60-60 record.
The Mets have cruised through the easiest part of August’s schedule with nothing to show for it in terms of any ground gained in their pursuit of a playoff spot. In fact, they’ve widened their gap from 1.5 games back to 4.0. Is this a team that will be playing postseason games in October or killing time at the Red Flush online casino?
Here are the National League Wild Card standings:
According to the latest postseason odds by Fangraphs, here is how they size up the chances of securing a Wild Card for all five contenders:
- Cardinals – 62.4%
- Giants – 53.0%
- Pirates – 36.1%
- Marlins – 14.8%
- Mets – 11.7%
The Mets will not only need to start putting together a significant run to pull this wild card off, but they will also need three of those teams above them to all fall flat on their face including one of the Giants or Cardinals.
Maybe the Mets have a Hail Mary pass in them, as they are due to have Yoenis Cespedes, Asdrubal Cabrera and Justin Ruggiano activated from the disabled list over the next two nights.
“I think getting a Yoenis Cespedes back helps everyone,” said Jay Bruce who is batting only .186 since the Mets added him to bolster the offense. “We look forward to that. We look forward to being healthy and hopefully start playing with a little more consistency.”
So here’s the bottom line. With 42 games left to the season, the Mets find themselves sitting at .500 and needing to go 28-14 to get them to 88 wins which now appears to be the magic number for that second Wild Card spot.
With the Mets in San Francisco for four games against the Giants followed by three games against the Cardinals in St. Louis, it’s do or die for the Amazins. These are the two teams the Mets absolutely need to beat and ideally sweep over the next week.
The next seven games can keep hope alive for the New York Mets, or they will see their chances of going to the postseason for a second straight year come to a sad and unfortunate end.
Can the Mets pull it off? That’s what we want to know from you. Do you believe the Mets will win a Wild Card spot? Vote below.
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