A humorous factor occurred Wednesday night time in Arlington, Texas. For the primary time in 619 days the New York Mets performed what may very well be termed an “vital” recreation.
What’s even funnier is that no one actually seen that earlier than it occurred, or whereas it was occurring. And even once they surrendered a 5-3 recreation to the Texas Rangers, snapping a seven-game successful streak, there wasn’t a lot wringing of palms or pounding of fists.
It’s the center of June, in spite of everything, not the beginning of October.
Nothing of true import occurs in June.
Besides, simply because the Mets seized a 3-1 lead within the high of the sixth inning, SNY confirmed a graphic of the wild-card standings within the Nationwide League. And two issues struck instantly: they didn’t simply present 5 – 6 groups, the best way wild-card standings are speculated to look. They confirmed 10. Ten!
Additionally, even earlier than Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez did the apparent math, should you took a have a look at that graphic one factor turned obvious: if the Mets might have gotten the ultimate 12 outs of this recreation, they might have woken up Thursday morning — and that is nearly not possible to imagine, should you recall what the Mets seemed like for a lot of April and Could — tied for playoff place.
They by no means did get these outs. Sean Manaea misplaced his no-hitter, then misplaced the lead, after which Drew Smith supplied up a meatball to Leady Taveras, and that was that.
“After what we’ve been via, particularly within the month of Could, and for us to play good baseball exhibits that we’ve acquired a very good group,” Mets supervisor Carlos Mendoza stated afterward. “We’ve acquired guys which can be going to proceed to compete.”
And look, the Mets’ enjoying higher (seven straight earlier than Wednesday, 11 out of 13, 11-4 in June) was the largest motive for there to be any motive in any respect to even look on the standings. The Mets fell a season-worst 11 video games underneath .500 once they blew a ninth-inning result in Arizona on June 2, and so they have been a ghastly mess.
The season might have spun utterly uncontrolled at that time and it will have been comprehensible as a result of at that time the Mets did nothing effectively, and nothing proper. In addition they fell a season-high 6 ½ video games behind the ultimate wild-card spot that day, a major quantity even for early June since there have been eight groups between them and the wild card.
We will have good enjoyable on the expense of the three wild-card system (and can in a paragraph or two), however if you’re a horrible group not even the promise of three comfort prizes imply very a lot. There hasn’t been one second of false hope this 12 months for White Sox or Rockies followers, for example, and on June 2 Mets followers have been simply shuffled into that crew.
Now? Look, not way back we wrote concerning the 35-game stretch that was going to take the Mets just a few days previous the All-Star break that featured 33 video games in opposition to groups at or beneath .500. Now the caveat, in fact, is that each one of these shedding groups have been hungrily eyeing their video games with the Mets each bit as a lot.
However now, 9 video games in, the Mets are 7-2 as they head to Wrigley Area and the Cubs, who’re one proportion level greater than the 35-38 Mets at 36-39.
There’s loads of work to do, and loads of season left, and the fragile stability of a season all the time affords silent warning {that a} six-game shedding streak is perhaps awaiting you.
Now … just a few phrases concerning the wild card.
And look, there are nonetheless loads of baseball followers who pine for the times when solely first-place groups made the postseason. And that was, for the longest time, a calling card that baseball held all to itself. Then they added a wild card in every league. Then one other. And one other.
It’s nonetheless uncommon when a complete season performs itself out with a group qualifying for the playoffs when it spent the primary 158 or so video games questioning if it will even end above .500.
All these years later, the ’73 Mets — who completed 82-79, who as late as the ultimate week have been coping with the opportunity of a five-way playoff within the NL East — are nonetheless tied for the playoff group with the fewest regular-season wins ever (with the 82-80 ’05 Padres).
It’s attention-grabbing to notice that these groups — together with the ’06 Cardinals, at 83-79 — have been all division winners, all first-place groups. The worst-ever wild-card groups have been final 12 months’s 84-78 Diamondbacks and Marlins.
Proper now, there’s the Braves with a cushty 5 ¹/₂-game lead within the wild card. Then there are these 9 groups — Playing cards, Nats, Padres, D-backs, Pirates, Cubs, Giants, Mets and Reds — separated by 1 ½ video games, vying for the final two slots.
Now, is that this absurd? In all probability. It’s additionally seemingly that a kind of groups may have a coming stretch the place they go 20-5 and possibly sneak securely into the second wild card. However these groups are all awfully related to one another, too, and never simply the data. This may very well be a loopy inching to the end line, if not eight groups then certainly 5.
Is that absurd? Possibly. However should you occur to root for the group that does squeeze in at, say, 81-81, will you suppose it’s so absurd?
Unlikely.
