The New York Mets tried to make a statement just one week ago when the team swept the Cleveland Indians (77-55) at home in front of the Mets’ faithful at Citi Field.
That was supposed to be the moment that the narrative of the Mets only beating bad teams was supposed to fall flat on its face.
However, the Mets went on to get swept by the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves in soul-crushing fashion, as the offense was possibly as aggravating to watch as ever scoring seven runs across three games.
In actuality, while we were all hoping they would give the Braves a taste of their own medicine coming into Citi Field, the Braves only continued their dominance of the Mets this season as they simply increased their already superb 8-5 record against them to 11-5. In that span, they have not lost a single series to the Mets.
On Tuesday night, the Mets tried to put their longest losing streak since the All-Star break behind them against the Chicago Cubs, but the offense was nowhere near clicking against Yu Darvish. They scored a lowly two runs, by way of Pete Alonso‘s record-breaking 42nd home run and a J.D. Davis ninth-inning homer off Brandon Kintzler.
That wasn’t enough, though, as the Cubs won 5-2, strengthening their lead for the second NL Wild Card spot to three games.
So, here they are. The Mets have two games left with the Cubs before going on a six-game road trip against the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals, two teams that are both currently ahead of them in the standings. They then come home to face off against the Phillies again.
The next 11 games are extremely crucial for this team.
Yes, every game is technically only one game, but when you face teams that you are trying to climb or move ahead of, it carries a two-game swing.
If you win, you move a game closer or farther ahead. If you lose, you move a game back or your lead shrinks.
That’s why these games are so important as these are direct chances for the Mets to gain ground in the NL Wild Card race.
The Mets need to find a way to, at a minimum, go 6-5 in these next 11 games and really 7-4 or 8-3 would be much more preferable.
According to FanGraphs, the Mets playoff chances have shrunk to 26.3%, which actually ranks ahead of the Phillies (6.2%) currently despite the fact that the Mets trail them by one game in the standings.
The Cubs currently are projected to claim the second NL Wild Card spot as they have a 73.6% chance to claim a playoff spot and a 35% chance to make it as a Wild Card team, the second-highest odds to claim a Wild Card spot among teams in the race.
Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals are one of the hottest teams in baseball right now and have increased their playoff odds to 96.4% with an 80.9% chance of winning the division. They also are now six games ahead of the Mets and only 5.5 games back of the Braves for the NL East division lead.
While, yes, the Mets could have some reinforcements soon in Brandon Nimmo, Robinson Cano, and Jed Lowrie, these next 11 games are extremely crucial and might ultimately determine if those returns will be as part of a playoff run or just as a means of proving they can be healthy and productive in 2020.
The Mets could find themselves as close as one game back of the Cubs and as far back as five games after these next two games. What is it going to be, Mets?
