The Mets’ slide has been well-documented at this point. There’s no need to go through the whole sequence of events once again; they were in first place, then very quickly, they weren’t.
Entering Saturday’s game against the Nationals, they’re six games under .500 and have lost four in a row. They 8.5 games out of first place, and 9.0 games out of the second Wild Card spot. The Mets’ playoff chances are starting to look dicey, to say the least.
With a little over a month of baseball to play, it’s now or never for the Mets to make a run and get back into the race. There might still be just a glimmer of hope, but there’s no more time for dilly-dallying or treading water in the standings. At this point, they either need to go on a hot streak or kiss their chances at the playoffs goodbye.
As Gary Cohen was saying on Friday night’s broadcast, “This is the week.” A string of wins this week could keep the Mets afloat, and after a brutal stretch of games against the NL West, the Mets’ schedule is about to ease up significantly.
As soon as they wrap up their current three-game series against the 55-72 Nationals, they have three games against the 53-76 Marlins. Then they go on the road to play four more against the Nationals, then three more against the Marlins. This stretch of games against the bottom two teams in the weak NL East could easily make or break the Mets’ season.
If they can make up at least a few games in the standings over this stretch, they could head into the final few weeks of the season about 3.5 or 4.5 games behind the first place Braves. That’s within striking distance. At the very least, they’d have something to play for through the bulk of September, giving Mets fans something to be excited about, as opposed to wallowing in the misery of being a below-.500 team.
Another silver lining, for what it’s worth: During this recent 2-12 stretch, they’ve lost eight one-run games. A loss is still a loss, but it shows that they’ve at least been in these games, and could flip the script drastically with just an ounce more offensive production.
But just as this upcoming stretch could help save the Mets’ season, it could kill it just as easily. The Mets may be a better team on paper than the Nationals and Marlins, but this is still baseball we’re talking about, one of the most unpredictable games on the planet. If the Mets continue to struggle even against these easier teams, then it may be safe to say that their season is toast. Being 8.5 games back is already playing in some dangerous territory, but any further behind than that and the Mets won’t even be in the race come mid-September.
The fact that the Mets are six games under .500 yet still have a small glimmer of hope speaks partly to the weakness of the NL East as a whole. If the Mets had the same record and played in the NL West, their title hopes would have been dead long ago. In fact, the Mets are actually closer to the division lead than the second NL Wild Card spot. The lack of strength in the division works to the Mets’ favor, but they still need to capitalize and make a run.
Otherwise, it will be tough to think of the Mets’ 2021 season as anything other than a failure.
