Something I do when making real-world decisions is ask, “what’s the worst thing that could happen?” and then adjusting my plans as needed. (“I could get hit by a car that I won’t know is coming around that corner” = maybe don’t do that, while “the weather means the flight’s canceled and I get there in the morning instead of tonight” = don’t stress about it overmuch.)
Well, what just finished happening in Atlanta was, in fact, the worst thing that could happen, and it sucked. The Mets lost all three games, the NL East lead, the NL East tiebreaker, and barring the kind of derailment that hasn’t happened to the Braves since late May, the division.
Like I said, it sucked.
Lining up two aces and a demi-ace didn’t work, as all three failed to deliver the kind of shutdown performance you’d hoped for. (Which is not the same as the kind of shutdown performance that’s guaranteed, let alone that you’re entitled to.) More damagingly, the Mets’ bats were AWOL when really needed, doing almost zip with runners in scoring position — once again, this team really, really misses Starling Marte [1].
Meanwhile, the Braves did what they’ve done since Memorial Day; hats off to them, however reluctantly, for doing it. Add Dansby Swanson [2] and Matt Olson [3] to the lengthy roster of Met killers, and could someone please tell Travis d’Arnaud [4] that we all hate Jeff Wilpon too, and that’s enough already? I could break down Sunday night’s game [5] beyond that, but I don’t particularly want to and I doubt you want me to either.’
It sucked, and the Mets go home to play three with the Nats (weather permitting, which is its own little bit of irony) watch the Braves clinch at some point and, I dunno, have some sort of sour, perfunctory celebration of Plan B. It’s about as bittersweet an ending to a ~100-win season as I can imagine, one I have no doubt will leave me muttering and clenching my jaw all the way to Friday.
Ah, but there’s the thing: Friday.
The Mets are going to be part of the playoffs. They will play games beyond No. 162 — even if they somehow lose all three against the Nats and we all greet them with boos in their Game 163.
Does that take any of the sting out of “what’s the worst thing that could happen?”
It doesn’t right now, not even a little bit. It won’t when the Braves clinch. It won’t while we’re muttering about failures against the Nats, whether those failures are momentary and ephemeral or conspicuous and decisive.
But come Friday? I think it should. Because the playing field will be reset, the goals will be new and what happened before won’t matter.
Yes, we’ll have a harder road through the playoffs on paper. But I recall looking at a soft September schedule and tallying up likely Ws and Ls, and look how that worked out. No, we won’t be able to line up our top pitchers and have them all rested the way we wanted. But we just lined up our top pitchers, and look how that worked out. And I’m not convinced that rust won’t be a bigger factor than rest — just ask the 2015 Mets about those days off between the Cubs and the Royals.
On Friday everything resets. Focus on that, and not on what might have been. And try not to spend the week letting the gap drive you crazy.