The New York Mets are falling apart at the seams. On June 1, they had a lead over the Phillies in the NL East and it looked like a two-horse race was shaping up. A little over two months later, I guess it's still a two-horse race, but one horse broke its leg and can barely run while the other is speeding toward the finish line. The Mets are the horse with the broken leg... just for clarity.
And with about 40 games remaining, there isn't any respite coming for those Mets, either. Their remaining schedule is pretty daunting, with games coming against some of the MLB's best teams. Here's what each NL East team will deal with the next month-plus.
NL East standings, ordered by remaining strength of schedule
Team | Strength of schedule remaining |
|---|---|
New York Mets | .510 |
Atlanta Braves | .502 |
Philadelphia Phillies | .495 |
Washington Nationals | .494 |
Miami Marlins | .493 |
Hey, the Mets are in first place! Just... not for a statistic they want to be in first place.
Seven games against the Phillies could be what saves the Mets
A big contributor to the Mets' SOS looking so daunting is the seven games they play against the Phillies down the stretch, which could actually help them. Of course, playing the Phils won't be fun, but the Mets are five full games out of first place right now and they need to make up that ground in a hurry. Playing the Phillies is the best way to do it.
But even outside of those two series', the Mets also have to take on the Tigers, Padres, Mariners, Cubs and Reds, and that series against the Reds might be the most important of all considering those two teams are battling for the final Wild Card spot.
Phillies have two toughest series remaining
It's not a cakewalk for the Phils, though. They have to travel to Milwaukee and take on the Brewers who have made the executive decision to never lose again, and they also have a west coast road trip still on the agenda, including three games at the Dodgers who are in a slide of their own but still have perhaps the most powerful lineup in the league. Not fun!
Mets may need to shift focus to Wild Card
Obviously, it's not one or the other. The Mets should try to win all of their games and not worry about the standings at all... but a five-game hole to the Phillies on August 14th feels more like a mountain than a molehill, and a one-game lead over the Reds in the Wild Card is certainly not comfortable. Hell, even the Cardinals are just four games back of the Mets. The Cards being closer to the Mets than the Mets are to the Phillies on August 14th is... not how fans in Queens foresaw this season going. Baseball is a strange, strange game.
I'll say this, though. If you're going to slump — and you never want to slump — doing it from mid-July to mid-August isn't really the worst time to do it. That's with the assumption that the Mets are coming out of their slump now, which I probably shouldn't do, to be honest.