Schwei's Mets Notes: NL Wild Card Clubs, Statistically, Are Heading In Opposite Directions
By John Schweibacher
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The Mets are in the postseason for the second consecutive year and will face the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night at Citi Field in the National League wild card game.
It will be a matchup of the senior circuit's last two champions.
On Aug. 20, the Mets had lost the first two games of their series with the Giants in San Francisco and were 60-62 and 5 1/2 games out of a wild card spot. The Mets went 27-13 the rest of the way, the best record in the majors over that span.
Mets -- 27-13 (.675)
Cubs -- 26-14 (.650)
Braves -- 24-15 (.615)
Red Sox -- 25-16 (.610)
L.A. Dodgers -- 24-17 (.585)
Indians -- 24-17 (.585)
The Giants were 57-33 at the All-Star break, the best record in the majors. San Francisco went 30-42 the rest of the way, the fourth-worst record in the majors.
Twins -- 27-47 (.365)
Phillies -- 29-43 (.403)
Padres -- 30-43 (.411)
Giants -- 30-42 (.417)
Athletics -- 31-42 (.425)
The Mets lost the last game of the series in Philadelphia, 5-2, on Sunday afternoon. It was the first time the Mets failed to win the last game of the regular season since 2010, a 2-1, 14-inning defeat to the Nationals at Citi Field.
The Mets clinched a wild card berth with their 5-3 win over the Phillies on Saturday afternoon. James Loney's two-run homer in the sixth inning put the Mets ahead for good.
Here is the list of Mets who have hit a home run in a game that clinched a trip to the postseason:
9/24/69; Mets 6, Cardinals 0: Donn Clendenon (2) & Ed Charles
10/1/73; Mets 6, Cubs 4: Cleon Jones
10/4/99; Mets 5, Reds 0: Edgardo Alfonzo & Rickey Henderson
9/27/00; Mets 6, Braves 2: Edgardo Alfonzo
9/18/06; Mets 4, Marlins 0: Jose Valentin (2)
9/26/15; Mets 10, Reds 2: Lucas Duda, Curtis Granderson & David Wright
10/1/16; Mets 5, Phillies 3: James Loney
Jay Bruce went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI in the Mets' 5-1 victory over the Phillies on Friday night. It was the third straight game in which Bruce had homered and driven in multiple runs.
The Elias Sports Bureau noted that over the last 10 seasons, the only other Mets players with a streak of that length were Scott Hairston (May 2012) and Lucas Duda (September 2015). No Mets player has ever had a four-game streak of that kind.
Jeurys Familia closed out the ninth inning to earn his 50th save of the season in the Mets' 5-2 win over the Marlins in the rubber game of the three-game series on Wednesday at Marlins Park. It marked the 16th time that a pitcher had recorded at least 50 saves in a season since saves became an official statistic in 1969.
The Mets offense banged out 19 hits, equaling their second-highest total of the season, and beat the Marlins, 12-1, on Tuesday in Miami. The 12 runs were one shy of the most ever scored by the Mets on the road in the series. On April 2, 2008, the Mets defeated the Marlins, 13-0, in a game Andrew Miller started for Florida.
Happy Recap: Twice as Nice. The Mets reached the postseason in consecutive seasons for the second time in club history (1999 and 2000). Terry Collins joined Davey Johnson (1986 and '88) and Bobby Valentine (1999 and 2000) as the only managers to pilot the team to the playoffs more than once.
Nine Miles of Rough Road: No home celebrations. The Mets clinched their 2016 wild card berth, the 2015 NLCS, the 2015 NLDS and 2015 NL East title all on the road.
