Sometimes a team just has that feeling. In the postseason, it might be referred to as a team of destiny. It’s the team that probably shouldn’t be in the position in which it finds itself, but regardless of the talent level and how well other teams are playing, nothing stops that team from continuing to win.
It might not be October yet, but the New York Mets sure have the feeling of a team that is headed to the playoffs.
The Mets are the hottest team in baseball right now. Winners of 10 of their past 11 games, New York has snuck up on Atlanta and now holds a one-game lead over the Braves for the third and final NL wild-card spot. The Mets also currently hold the tie-breaker over Atlanta.
With great starting pitching, timely hitting (especially late in games) and a superstar in Francisco Lindor playing at an MVP level, everything seems to be going the Mets’ way lately. But maybe more so than any other team in baseball, the Mets have had to ride the roller coaster of the highs and lows of a season. They’ve navigated an interesting mix of long losing streaks, red-hot stretches, injuries to key players and surprise contributors stepping up to produce.
Reaching the postseason or even competing for the opportunity to get there this late in the season wasn’t supposed to be in the cards for the Mets. Their disastrous 2023 season saw the team trade a number of players at last year’s deadline, including Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Mark Canha, David Robertson and Tommy Pham. Coming into ‘24, under the leadership of new president David Sterns, it looked like the Mets would take a step back as they regrouped. With their best starting pitcher, Kodai Senga, on the shelf for a majority of this season and first baseman Pete Alonso headed toward free agency, looking to the future seemed like the right move for the Mets.
Instead, the Mets have surprised this season. Their starting pitching has delivered, with the combination of Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, Paul Blackburn and David Pederson providing plenty of production. Offensively, Lindor has led a lineup that has managed to peak at the right time. Both the offense and pitching in New York have been top-five in baseball over the past month.
In July, the Mets quietly reinforced their roster at the trade deadline, even though the team was out of the playoff picture at that point. The front office made a series of deals to acquire four relievers, one starting pitcher (Blackburn from the A’s) and a lefty bat in Jesse Winker — and did so without surrendering any of the organization’s top prospects. Those reinforcements, which went somewhat overlooked at the time, have bolstered the team’s pitching and added depth to the lineup.
And now, with just a few weeks left in the season, the Mets have a real opportunity to reach the playoffs, as they sit in the driver’s seat of this wild-card race. Sure, the Braves have a wealth of postseason experience and have been in plenty of pennant chases the past five years, but New York has been playing better baseball, and at this point in the year, that looms large.
What looms even larger is the Mets’ trip to Atlanta for a three-game set the final week of the season. With this wild-card race so close, the last NL postseason spot is likely to come down to which team can win that final regular-season series between the Mets and Braves.
Also still ahead in the final stretch, the Mets have seven more games against the Phillies, three against the Brewers and three against a young and hungry Nationals team that has played good baseball in the second half.
As ready as they look for October, if the Mets are going to reach the postseason, they’ll have to earn it.
