Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

It’s not an easy road anymore.

To be fair, it wasn’t ever going to be easy, per se, but now the path to the World Series is… shakier… for these Mets.

This weekend the Padres come to town and should the team from Queens prevail, the Mets will travel to Los Angeles to take on the best team in all of baseball.

It’s hard not to look ahead to that Dodgers series, after all for most of the season the Mets expected a first-round bye. But the bitter taste in many Met fans’ mouths still lingers, after the Braves caught fire and chased down the 100-win Mets to take the division.

It’s been reported by multiple outlets that should the Mets take Game 1 on Friday with Max Scherzer on the mound, the Mets could decide to have Chris Bassitt should start Game 2. Then have Jacob deGrom pitch in Game 3 if the Mets lose Game 2. Theoretically, this would allow the Mets two aces more opportunities to pitch in the NLDS, should they reach it, and create a more favorable pitching matchup with the Dodgers.

This feels like a classic example of looking ahead and underestimating the opponent at hand. The Mets should not take this course of action. Of course, the wild card here could be the blister on deGrom’s pitching had that could also be playing a role in this thought process and would make the decision to hold him out more valid.

If this season has taught us anything, it’s that if the team is up then the sense of urgency needs to remain and every game should matter. Going into September the Mets had a division lead and a schedule full of bad baseball teams and played right around .500 baseball during an important stretch, looking like a team with zero urgency as the September swoon evaporated the division lead.

Bringing less than the absolute best available 10 guys to the starting lineup each night in October shouldn’t be an option. Can you imagine the outrage if the Mets went with Bassitt in Game 2 and then lost the series after being up 1-0? From here on out the Mets need to put their best foot forward every night because tomorrow is no longer guaranteed.

None of this is a shot at Bassitt. In fact, the 33-year-old has been a great No. 3 for the Mets all season long, posting a 3.2 WAR in 30 starts. If it does come down to Bassitt should deGrom and Scherzer split the first two games, then Mets fans can take solace in knowing the team did all they could to win. But if there is a chance to close out the series, then Buck Showalter and the Mets need to take it. DeGrom pitching in Game 2 certainly increases the chances of the Mets not needing to play a Game 3 which gives guys like Edwin Díaz, Adam Ottavino, and others another day of rest heading into a tough matchup with the Dodgers.

Showalter wasn’t addressing pitchers directly in his news conference on Wednesday, but he did talk about how he handles projections vs. his gut when addressing the postseason roster. Lately, deGrom hasn’t looked himself and the data might say otherwise, but at the end of the day, it feels like deGrom and Scherzer give the Mets the best chance to win this series and advance.

Regardless of how it shakes out, the Mets should have both of their aces pitch against the Padres in the Wild Card series best-of-three.