When the Mets wake up Friday morning, open the Post to look at the box score and the standings (as I’m sure they start their day by opening the Post and checking the box score and the standings), they’ll notice something very fun written next to their team’s name.
They will see this: “—”
This will be displayed under the “Wild Card Game Back” column “*WGB.”
And as he prepares to run the final furlong before the All-Star break, They will make the playoffs.
How long has it been since the Mets made the playoffs?
So long so far: Last time the Mets were in position to make the playoffs, we felt pretty comfortable planning a Rangers parade through the Canyon of Heroes and wondered how close the Knicks would get to catching the Celtics to join them.
“We’re not worried about the table,” Carlos Mendoza insisted on Thursday afternoon. “We just take it day by day.”
They finished the work on Thursday.
David Peterson pitched like a spider, dancing through a hail of bullets early on, before the Mets rallied in the fifth inning, mostly because MacKenzie Gore hadn’t paid attention to Brandon Nimmo’s red-hot form the past few days.
Gore’s choice to bypass Francisco Lindor in his quest to track down Nemo proved to be as reckless as any choice Rusty Savitch has ever made in “Presumed Innocent.”
Nimmo hit a three-run double to quickly make it 5-0, and the game ended 7-0, giving the Mets their first shutout win in their 92nd game.
“I’m swinging the bat well right now,” Nimmo said, “and when you’re in a situation like this and they want to throw to you and it works, it’s a great feeling.”
The Mets are in third place in the wild card spot behind the inactive Padres (they’re 3-0 against them so far this season, so they could push them halfway up the line) and one game back of the inactive Cardinals for second place, but it’s good to ponder that for the next 24 hours before they have to do it again.
But what’s far more encouraging, and far more important, is the quality of baseball the Mets have been playing over the past month, their best streak since early September two years ago, just before things started to go wrong for them.
Yes, the bullpen remains a concern and needs to be strengthened.
But manager David Stearns’ first trade in July, acquiring pitcher Phil Mutton, quickly paid off as he completed seven easy innings (1-2-3) in just 10 pitches.
Adam Ottavino tried his hardest in the ninth inning with the bases loaded, hoping seven runs would be enough to officially guarantee him the win, but he actually pitched his sharpest in weeks, striking out three left-handed pitchers to get out of the jam.
(Nimmo later said he hopes to be a buyer by the end of the month.)
But the lineup is starting to look very strong from the 1st through 9th spots, and this is without the two-week power blitz that Pete Alonso does so well at least once a season.
This rotation is great, and it’s expected to get even better when former ace Kodai Senga returns after the break.
“There’s a lot of passion and caring and a lot of good things about this team,” Mendoza said. “How much they care for each other and how much they trust each other. That says a lot about this team.”
That also says something about their manager, who, like any rookie manager, is going through some growing pains this year.
But he has the same attitude now, when the Mets were 11 under par and six games out of the playoffs, as he is now, when they’re 2 over par and in the playoff zone.
It reverberates around the clubhouse.
The Mets have three games against the Rockies and four against the Marlins after the break, and those teams had a combined 56 games under .500 before Thursday.
The schedule got tougher after that, and the Mets bounced back in their first 28 games, mostly against losing teams, out of a possible 35.
But let’s not forget that when they began that winning streak (currently 19-9), they finished behind four of the National League teams they faced and also underperformed all three of the American League teams they faced.
All of those teams were looking to profit from the Mets.
Instead, the Mets will wake up Friday morning, open the paper and see something that would have been unthinkable a month ago.
“――”
