Oh, look — the three National League Wild Card teams at the moment are the San Diego Padres, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York Mets, while the three National League division leaders remain the Philadelphia Phillies, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers.
Who is missing from this “if the playoffs began today…” picture? Correct! It’s the Atlanta Braves!
The playoffs don’t begin today, and playoff positioning is more fluid than sweet tea on a scorcher of a Saturday amid the red clay of Georgia, but let’s enjoy Atlanta’s exclusion from postseason tournament calculations, if only for twenty-four hours.
“If the playoffs began right now, the Braves wouldn’t be in them,” I informed my wife after the Mets finished off the Rockies, 9-1, shortly before the six o’clock news Thursday evening.
“What a shame,” she deadpanned.
Stephanie is not exactly caught up in the daily fluctuations of the standings, but she can sort out the villains in our narrative without having to ask which one merits our contempt most. Eleven Octobers ago, first thing in the morning, I updated her on the postseason in progress, letting her know that the night before the Dodgers had eliminated the Braves. I expected no more than “that’s nice.”
Instead, she delivered, “See ya, Braves!”
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. And that (2013) was a postseason we as Mets fans were merely watching, not one our team was trying to slug its way into. We didn’t have Pete Alonso going extremely deep twice as we did in our Coors Field finale. We didn’t have Mark Vientos chipping in a homer. We didn’t empty a gunny sack loaded with doubles as we did on the Rockies in the very first inning. We didn’t have Tyrone Taylor flying to and fro to track down balls before they could become mile-high trouble. We didn’t have David Peterson enjoying a gratifying Colorado homecoming. Thursday we did, and now we have floated ahead of our more-or-less archrivals for something of substance, keeping them away from what they want in the process. We have a half-game lead on the Braves for the third Wild Card spot with 47 games to go, which isn’t a prize they embroider t-shirts over, but with 47 games to go, the best place to see the Braves is behind us.
Chances are we’ll see the Braves in our nightmares as the National League derby continues. It’s too much to ask they plummet through the contending tier that lately encompasses the Cardinals, the Pirates and the Giants and find themselves sliding down toward, well, the Rockies. In fact, the Braves get to play the Rockies this weekend, while we travel — we always travel — to Seattle to take on a bona fide contender in the other league.
Can’t get too comfortable in the second week of August over positioning for October. But I’ll be damned if I’m not going to enjoy the current reality for however long it’s current.
Braves are getting some players back soon. Harris and Lopez are the big ones but there are others. Still, I’ll take their current outside looking in status for as long as it lasts.
And thank you Danny Young for some solid work. Once he came out for a second inning last night I figured he’ll be for the minors with Garrett coming back.
Relief pitching is becoming less of a barren wasteland. Always helpful.
Quietly, the Mets have been one of the best pitching teams since the all-star break. When was the last time the bullpen blew up?
If I had to pick one of the current top tier of NL wildcard contenders sliding into the next tier, it’d be the Braves, just because they’ve had so many injuries to their top pitchers and position players. Harris and Lopez make a difference, but they’re not Acuna and Strider. Then again, I thought the Braves were cooked when they lost the 1st 2 games against the Mets, before they flipped a switch and went on another hot streak. They’ve followed that up with another losing streak. The Brewers pasted them. Part of me expects this losing streak to be the beginning of the end for them, but I’ll only believe that when I see it happen.
“When was the last time the bullpen blew up?”
Last Saturday in Anaheim?
Brazoban. Yeah, that qualifies. I can’t think of a recent game besides that one, though. Maybe Diekman’s last game, but the Mets were already losing 4-0 late to the Braves when Stanek and Diekman got hit.
It must be really hard on Gary Cohen and the SNY crew, as they can’t drool over what a fantastic franchise the Braves are, with their constant Braves graphics and highlight reels. Gary must be going through “juggernaut” withdrawals.
Robert Goulet would be proud. At the risk of sounding like Eeyore, it is folly to pay much (if any) attention to Wildcard standings with almost two months to go, and it evokes the typical Gary Cohen-ish breathless cliches, such as: (i) “the Mets are down to their final out”, (ii), “the Mets are down to their final strike”, and now (iii) “if the season were to end today, the Mets would be in Wildcard position”! May I remind all that the last six games of the season will be played on the road with 3 in the nightmare producing foothills of Georgia, about 20 miles from where the extremely politically incorrect Chief Nok-A-Homa used to roam, and the final three near the fictional Shotz Brewery, where Laverne and Shirley used to toil in Milwaukee. In other words, hope for the best, but expect the worst. A public service message from those who lived through up 7 with 17 to go. Those chickens can wait on the counting.
yes, was scrolling through the schedule and it can indeed prove unkind (much as the angels(!) proved unkind)…but at the same i can envision a phils collapse – seemingly apace – and the good guys offering some payback for that gut punching 7/17 we all remember all too well.
the current 8/47 requires fewer stars to align. just a steady chipping away to render the wildcard standing moot.
and enough of a cushion to make those last 6 less daunting. and at least they’re not v. the marlins!
Looking at the Mets record going back to the all-star break, 12-8 over 20 games, there’s a lot of splitting or losing series to bad teams and splitting or winning series against good teams. Even in the middle of the Mets going cold against the Angels and Rockies–and looking bad doing it–before the Alvarez triple, the Mets handily beat the Cardinals 6-0. They’ve been the epitome of playing up or down to the competition: I guess that’s a lot of why it’s hard to get a handle on these Mets. It’s not a rule; Mets are 4-2 against the Rockies, 8-2 against the Nationals. If it was a rule, they wouldn’t be 7 over .500 holding a wildcard at the moment.
Still, with their track record this season, I feel more optimistic going into a series against a contender with good pitching like the Mariners than a cellar dweller with bloated ERAs.
It also stands out that the Mets haven’t been streaky since the 5 straight wins that ended with Senga’s start. 6-6 since Senga’s start by alternating losses and wins by 1s and 2s. Over the same stretch, the teams the Mets are racing against have been streaky. Muddling along at .500 isn’t a good way to overtake anyone, but it is a way to stay in striking distance while other teams are hot. While the wildcard scrum has churned around them, the Mets have held their position. There’s not a lot of season left, but there’s enough for the Padres and Diamondbacks to go cold again, like the Braves have. The Phillies aren’t in striking distance yet, but if they have another bad week or two, they could be. If the Mets offense can click again coupled with the steadying pitching, the Mets can get hot again, too.
6-6 since Senga Night, the final game of the 5 game winning streak, when the Mets took a gut punch from which they still have not recovered.
One never knows, do one, but it is not inconceivable we could have gone 7-5 or 8-4, on momentum alone.
Nimmo must have been hit hardest by the loss, as he stinks lately, as he has stunk for more weeks this season than he has been hot. It’s the Lucas Duda syndrome, where has had 2 limited hot streaks, collected all his stats, otherwise had 0 Homer’s, 0 RBIs, and hit .000.
Snubbed All Star, indeed.
Some like to knock Pete’s defense, but the way he picks those half-hop throws from our noodle-armed infielders is absolutely fascinating.
The next time Lindor, Vientos, and OMG makes a good throw chest high will be the first time.
Alonso’s ability to pick it is one reason I’m leery about the notion that Vientos could easily slide over to 1B if Alonso leaves. Besides not having great feet, which still matter at 1B, I haven’t seen that Vientos has good hands, so I wonder how well he’d handle the crooked throws that Alonso routinely catches while staying on base.
I forgot that the Mariners picked up Justin Turner from the Blue Jays. That’s a danger sign for this series.
Eric, great point regarding Vientos’ potential as a 1B. I fear most, if not all, of those throws will not be caught.