A Nationals loss [1] cut it from three to two. A powerful Mets win [2] — Syndergaard, Duda and Granderson at the forefront — sliced it from two to one. That’s where the magic number stands now. With one more Mets win or one more Nats loss, the Mets will have officially qualified for the postseason.
With one more Mets win or one more Nats loss, it occurs to me that the October routine to which I have hewed for the past eight autumns will be altered significantly.
With one more Mets win or one more Nats loss, I won’t be writing that post that puts in perspective how long the Mets have waited — and are still waiting — to make the playoffs again.
With one more Mets win or one more Nats loss, I won’t be seeking new ways to compare the Mets’ ongoing playoff drought to those of other teams that haven’t won anything in a very long time.
With one more Mets win or one more Nats loss, I won’t be going to the well of the same seven previous Met postseasons to draw parallels to what’s going on in yet another Metless postseason.
With one more Mets win or one more Nats loss, I won’t have to attempt to cheer myself/us up by gratuitously referencing something that happened in October of 1969, 1973, 1986, 1988, 1999, 2000 or 2006.
With one more Mets win or one more Nats loss, I won’t have to temporarily align myself with or against some team I don’t give a fig about the rest of the year.
With one more Mets win or one more Nats loss, I won’t feel compelled to weave a tenuous Mets angle to make whatever I’m writing about some non-Mets playoff team quasi-relevant to a Mets readership.
With one more Mets win or one more Nats loss, I won’t lose a large percentage of my sense of purpose once the regular season is over.
With one more Mets win or one more Nats loss, I won’t be treating the postseason as I imagine a heroin addict treats methadone.
With one more Mets win or one more Nats loss, I won’t be continually monitoring my interest level in October baseball and either wondering why it’s not greater or marveling that it’s as great as it is.
With one more Mets win or one more Nats loss, I won’t have any idea what’s going in one NLDS and two ALDSes.
With one more Mets win or one more Nats loss, I won’t have to frame winter’s spiritual arrival quite so soon.
With one more Mets win or one more Nats loss, I won’t soon mention 2007 or 2008 except incidentally.
With one more Mets win or one more Nats loss, what I will do is…
Well, I can’t say for sure, but I sure look forward to finding out.