As the season dwindles down and 90 percent of the Mets community begins to shift their focus toward football, school, or any other occupation of interest, there are still die-hard fans that watch this team through the torturous weeks of September. These fans have also witnessed two monumental collapses in ’07 and ’08 that were once considered some of the worst in MLB history, the backend of the Minaya era, and then three hopeful years turning sour. The Mets are 6.5 games out of the wildcard and have won nine of their last fourteen games, but no one is watching the team that is having a .500 push
Flashback to 2007 – no, not the Mets 2007, but the MLB 2007 September. While the Mets were falling off a cliff, the Rockies were winning every game in sight and quickly gaining ground on the National League Wild Card spot. This team was a complete surprise because they weren’t even expected to surpass 75 wins that season, but they came all the way back that September and completed one of the greatest months in MLB history. What does this have to do with the Mets? The Rockies were in a similar situation that the Mets were in now. The teams in front of them on September 9th were the Padres, Dodgers, and the Phillies. We will never forget what happened to the Phillies, but the Dodgers were slowly falling out of the race and provided a clear path for the Rockies. The Mets currently sit behind Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Miami for the second wild-card spot. The Brewers are quickly falling out of the race, the Braves have been battered down from their lack of offense and the Marlins have been playing well, but most of the individual players have been slumping in Miami. The Mets have been surging recently and only see the Pittsburgh Pirates as a legitimate threat. If they lose 3-4 in a row and the Mets win a few in a row, anything could happen.
Now let’s recall the season of collapses in 2011. After play on the 8th of September, the Tampa Bay Rays stood 6.5 games out of a wild card and the Cardinals stood 7.5 games out of a wild card position. Just to refresh a few memories, the Mets are sitting 6.5 games out of a spot. Granted, these two teams only had to worry about one team in front of them, but regardless of the circumstances, they both won games in bunches and took a trip to the postseason. In addition, both teams were facing their top competitor in the month of September and got a heavy advantage in those games. The Mets are at a complete disadvantage in this situation, but the pitching of the Mets could easily match up to these two ball-clubs.
The Mets are not a great team this year and they probably aren’t even classified as a good team either. That being said, no one will argue with the arms that the Mets can use. This is the Mets’ biggest weapon down the stretch. No starting pitcher on the roster with more than 100 innings holds an ERA over 4.00.
Are the Mets going to make the playoffs? Probably not. That being said, how impressive is it for a team who easily lost a dozen games due to poor management to still be in some kind of hunt during the thick of September.
Before celebrating too much remember we are beating the wounded and maimed — we have 7 games with the Nats alone in the coming days.
Talk about a pipe dream! Your enthusiasm is admirable. But the Mets Don’t Have A Decent Manager! Once you start getting that into your head you’ll realize that this team performs admirably in spite of their outdated clueless manager.Are the Mets going to make the playoffs? No. Do they have a chance? Hopefully as long as the Wilpons stay in control they will not.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mlb-can-take-stand-nfl-didn-t-in-vetting-jeff-wilpon-accusations-with-severe-potential-consequences-015709001.html
pete, I thought of you when reading this story about the recent lawsuit against Jeff Wilpon and the Mets
All I can say is Wow! How fortunate we are to have two fathers in our midst to have two imbeciles as heirs to their misfortunes. Metsense I thank you for the link. I wish all the fans here at Mets 360 could read the article. Very enlightening. How is it that we are stuck for the foreseeable future with Jim Dolan in New York and across the river JW? What did we do wrong that the sports gods have decided to divine us with these 2 sorry excuses for human beings? At least Dolan stays clear of the hockey operations. JW is an arrogant s.o.b. walking with his nose up in the air while I remind you the Wilpons strong armed their employees to rollover their 401 k’s to their shrewd investment guru Bernie Madoff. It’s disgusting. No class. No respect for their employees or their fans.
5.5 out now with the Braves and Brewers in free fall. We get Braves and Marlins each 3 more times, plus the astros for 3. The dreaded Nats for 7 of course. We need to go no worse than 14-3 to have a chance. 84 wins possibly gets us in, but neither the Pirates not the Giants have the look of a team about to go on a losing streak.
It’s nice to dream, but the Mets are in much worse position than any of the examples you cited.
The Rockies on Sep 8th 2007 were only 3 games back. The Mets are 5.5 games back. Huge difference when you have less than 20 games to play.
The Rays and Cardinals were 6.5 and 5.5 back on Sep 9th, but there were no teams between them and the wild card. The Mets have to leapfrog 4 teams, and the probability that 4 teams tank is much more remote than just 1 team doing badly.
Would probably be the greatest comeback if it did occur though.
Saw this from one of the beat writers –
Scenario for the Mets making the wild card:
Mets 15-2
Marlins 13-6
Braves and Brewers 10-7
Pirates 9-8
Obviously the Mets are not going to lose only 2 games the rest of the way. That would essentially mean sweeping the Braves, Marlins, and Astros, while winning 5 of 7 from the Nats. And winning tonight with Montero on the mound who I have little confidence in. I can easily see the Marlins playing worse than 13-6 so that’s good. Braves at 10-7? Sure. Brewers at 10-7? They might not win 5 games the rest of the way how they’ve been playing of late (1-13 over the last 14). But the biggest hurdle is the Pirates. They’ve been hot and could easily surpass 9 wins over the last 2 and half weeks. Maybe if we win the final 17 in a row and pull a Colorado Rocky run out of thin air…then maybe…maybe…we have a shot. Sure is fun to dream though.
It should be a law that you cant even use the word playoffs in connection with your team unless they are at least .500. When the Mets are at .500 then we can talk. With only 17 games left.. they’d better win the next five in a row.
A more sensible discussion would be can they get to .500 by the end of the season and what would that mean? Who did they beat to get there? A big September against non contenders (Rockies & Reds) is not a major indication that your team has taken a big step in the right direction.. but then again it’s better than not having a huge September.
Now we’ve got the Nats, Marlins, and Braves coming up before we finish the season with three against Houston. If we get to .500 before Houston, i’ll be impressed and more hopeful then I already am for 2015.
I agree that .500 is the more realistic goal, but it’s been fun no matter what watching this latest hot run.
The marlins have played fairly consistent all season so why would they falter now? No pressure on them or the Mets since no one expects them to make the playoffs. Houston is playing the role of spoiler (just ask the A’s and Angels) and are playing better than their record would indicate. The Mets would have to leap frog over the Braves and Marlins something which I realistically don’t foresee happening. Just imagine how much better the Mets record would of been if the FO had the guts to commit to the kids earlier in the season as opposed to drudging out rejects like Lannan, Farnsworth and Valverde.
[…] actually is opposition weaker than the Mets – tends to make some segments of the fan community giddy. There has been some hopeful chirping in various corners of social media – references to 1973’s […]