Keidel: Mets Are Back From The Brink, Legit Playoff Contenders Again
By Jason Keidel
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Can you feel it?
Maybe not in earnest, full-throated fervor, but it seems the Mets are amidst a run. And despite the rigors and roadblocks they've faced this season, they have an authentic shot at the playoffs.
No doubt the Mets have made a mess of this season. Much of their own doing.
They have either forgotten or refused to apply baseball fundamentals, too myriad to list here. Opposing runners drool from first base, knowing they can moonwalk to second with impunity. Meanwhile, the Mets don't have anyone with at least 10 stolen bases.
They've dwelled around the bottom rungs of every salient batting statistic from the jump, and their young, glittering pitching staff hasn't flexed the same mound muscle that made them America's darlings last season.
But they've also been a traveling triage. While all teams can gripe about the injury bug, the Mets have been infested. Their infield alone has been a game of lineup whack-a-mole. Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera are coming off injuries, and David Wright has his mail forwarded to the DL. Lord knows if we will even ever see the Mets' captain in uniform again.
The hot, turbulent summers have also beguiled the pitching staff. Matt Harvey, whose likeness was recently handed out in the form of a bobblehead doll, is done for the season. Jacob deGrom just skipped a start and will pitch for the first time in nine days when he assumes the mound Friday. And the Mets are cautiously eager to see Steven Matz on the mound this week.
But the most important body on the trainer's table is back. Yoenis Cespedes has done more than ink his name into the lineup. He's showing the same epic lumber that led the Mets on their hypnotic run last year.
With three hits Monday night -- including the game-winning homer in extra innings -- Cespedes is now batting .388 with five home runs and nine RBIs since returning from the disabled list earlier this month.
The Mets surely can't count on Jay Bruce, who, believe it or not, was leading the sport in slugging the baseball before he lost his bat somewhere between his old and new homes.
We all remember Cespedes' Herculean summer last season. In 57 games, he hit 17 homers and all but carried the Mets on his wide shoulders. He already has 27 homer runs in this injury-addled season, playing in 103 of the club's 131 games. He only has to keep his quad intact -- not assumed, of course -- and then give New York 31 stellar games this time.
After winning seven of their last nine games, the Mets (67-64) are tied with the Miami Marlins in pursuit of the second wild-card spot, with three more games to play against each other this week. Overall, the the Mets have 31 more games this season, and only 12 against teams currently above .500 (all against the Marlins and Washington Nationals). Nine of their games are against the Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins, who are a combined 78 games below .500.
Forget about the NL East, which the Mets won in 2015. New York doesn't even appear in Washington's rearview mirror, nestled nine games behind the Nats. But the Mets are just 2½ games behind the St. Louis Cardinals, who are not their normal robust selves in 2016.
The Cardinals (69-61) have a far more ornery schedule the rest of the way. They play 16 games against winning teams, including five against the Pittsburgh Pirates, four against the ever-dangerous San Francisco Giants and seven against the best team in baseball, the Chicago Cubs, who, even if they sealed and laminated the NL Central title, would love nothing more than spiking the final nail in their archrival's playoff coffin.
Likewise, the Pirates have 15 more games against rugged competition, including the Nats, Cards and Cubs. In a moment of perfect, scheduling serendipity, the Pirates play their final three games at St Louis, perhaps the perfect tonic for the Mets, who play their final three games against the forlorn Phillies.
So as long as the Mets keep Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom and Matz above water, the bat of Yoenis Cespedes could paddle them to the playoffs. Much odder things have happened in the long past of our pastime.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel
