After Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark, the New York Mets’ deficit to capture an unlikely National League Wild Card spot increased to four games. With Milwaukee’s 10-1 shellacking of the Pirates on Saturday night, that gap widened to 4.5 games.

Regardless of that disappointing outcome, the Mets’ inability to take advantage of a number of opportunities this year has left them in a position of winning all the games they can and hoping for help as the season draws to a close.

Todd Frazier, who went 2-for-3 on Saturday, collecting two-thirds of the Mets’ hits but also committing two costly fielding blunders in a two-run first, spoke to the media corps after the game regarding where the team stands with eight games left in the season (quotes via Tim Healey, Newsday).

“I felt like we had to go 9-1 [over the last 10 games]. So here is our one. Let’s roll from here,” Frazier said, keeping hope alive in some fashion. “When you lose, you have to hope for some losses. That’s the stage we’re at right now and that’s just not a good stage.”

After making up for a 40-50 first half with a red-hot-at-times 40-24 second act, the Mets did all they could to make things interesting down the stretch. They’re still mathematically alive, but they’re going to need a miracle to pull this thing off.

Clearly, a perpetual stream of high-leverage situations has affected this mostly-inexperienced (at least in a postseason race) team in some facets. But, according to Frazier (per Healey), that’s simply par for the course this time of year.

“If you’re not ready for this — if you’re not emotionally drained right now — you gotta figure something else out or not play. I think everybody understands the severity of [playing must-win games all the time].”

With the Mets’ wrapping up their final road series of the season on Sunday in Cincy then heading home for their final seven games against the Marlins and the already-clinched Braves, this team is still technically alive.

Winning games is all the New York Mets can do at this point to keep their impossible dream alive. As Frazier said, “let’s roll from here”.