Don't look at the standings, Mets fans...

The Mets win their fourth consecutive game after blowing out the Cardinals. Plus, do yourself a favor and don't start looking at the playoff standings.

Rich MacLeod

Aug 20, 2023

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

The Mets won their fourth consecutive game and blew out the Cardinals by a score of 13-2 (box)
RHP Kodai Senga allowed just two hits and one run over seven stellar innings while striking out five
Senga becomes the seventh rookie pitcher in Mets history to eclipse the 150 strikeout mark and the fifth pitcher of Japanese origin to do so as a rookie
1B Pete Alonso went 2-for-4 with a home run (38), two RBI, a walk and three runs scored
SS Francisco Lindor went 4-for-5 at the plate with a double, RBI and three runs scored
DH Daniel Vogelbach connected on a grand slam, his 10th home run of the season, to break the game open
New York’s offense went 4-for-12 (.333) with runners in scoring position and clubbed three home runs on the night

Prospect Watch 🔎

2B Ronny Mauricio (No. 4 prospect, Triple-A): 1-for-5, HR (20), 2 RBI
OF Ryan Clifford (No. 6 prospect, Low-A): 1-for-3, BB, run scored
SS Jeremiah Jackson (No. 22 prospect, Double-A): 1-for-2, 2 BB, run scored

Roster Moves 🗞️

LHP Joey Lucchesi optioned to Triple-A Syracuse
LHP Adam Kolarek recalled from Triple-A Syracuse
RHP Dennis Santana designated for assignment
RHP Vinny Nittoli recalled from Triple-A Syracuse

Who’s Hot 🔥

Over his last 29 games, Pete Alonso is batting .286/.387/.705 with 12 home runs, six doubles, a triple, 31 RBI, 20 runs scored and a 1.092 OPS
Kodai Senga has a 2.82 ERA and 3.07 FIP over his last 16 starts dating back to May 17th. Senga has not walked more than three batters in a game in any of his last 12 starts

Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (58-66) vs. Cardinals (54-70)

Where: Busch Stadium - St. Louis, MO

Starting pitchers: RHP Carlos Carrasco (3-6, 6.40 ERA) vs. RHP Dakota Hudson (4-0, 4.03 ERA)

When: 2:15 PM EDT

Where to Watch: WPIX

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Do yourself a favor – don’t start looking at the Wild Card standings… ✍️

With their blowout victory over the Cardinals on Saturday night, the Mets have now won four games in a row and won a series for the third time in their last four tries. Overall, they’ve actually looked better in the last week or so, as long as you completely disregard the three days that they were absolutely decimated by the Braves.

There hasn’t been much excitement over the last several weeks since the front office made the decision to dismantle this roster in order to start fresh in 2024 – a decision that was still the correct move, if you ask me. So after winning a few games in a row, I know what you might be thinking – hey, I wonder where the Mets are at in the standings right now…

My piece of advice: Don’t do it to yourself.

After their win last night the Mets now find themselves six games back of a postseason spot, a lot closer than they ought to be with the way they’ve been playing for quite some time. With that, I’ve begun to see a handful of people begin to perk up a bit.

And before I fully get into it, I don’t say this to rain on anyone’s parade. If you’re just enjoying some not unwatchable baseball for as long as you’re able to, by all means! We certainly deserve a respite from the level of play that was on display in recent days.

That being said, if you’re thinking about elevating yourself from apathy to hope once more, I am here to reason with you.

While the Mets may be six games back, which isn’t impossible but still isn’t that close for this stage of the season, they would currently need to jump five teams ahead of them in the standings just to claim the final Wild Card spot. As things stand today, the Mets are closer in the standings to the awful Cardinals than they are to a playoff spot. While they have won a few games in the last week, let’s not forget that this team is still eight games under .500.

And not only would the Mets need to put together a sustained run and jump a significant amount of teams in the standings in the process, but they would have to do so with a roster that is far inferior to those of all the teams they’re currently behind. This is not any sort of hot take at this stage of the season seeing as how the Mets voluntarily chose to wave the white flag and punt on the remainder of this season when they dismantled the roster just three weeks ago.

While New York still does have high-end talent in players like Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and Kodai Senga, this roster is largely being filled out by Quadruple-A players.

he Mets have regularly been starting guys like Jonathan Araúz, Danny Mendick, Tim Locastro, Abraham Almonte, Rafael Ortega, DJ Stewart and Daniel Vogelbach over the last three weeks. And that isn’t even touching on a pitching staff that outside of Senga and the recently activated José Quintana is largely dreadful. The Mets are starting Carlos Carrasco, whose ERA has been steadily over six all season long, because they literally don’t have anyone better they can turn to. They are once again relying on the likes of David Peterson (who has been better) and Tylor Megill because they don’t have any other options. It was only a week ago where the team needed to call up Denyi Reyes to start a game against the Braves for god’s sake. And their bullpen is just a constantly shifting carousel of names that is getting altered on a near daily basis.

I’m not here to be the wet blanket or piss in anyone’s punch bowls, but the last thing I want is for Mets fans to have to feel let down yet another time this season after getting their hopes up. There’s nothing wrong in having fun as long as this more entertaining baseball lasts but for all of our sakes, let’s not make this anything more than what it is.

Around the League 🚩

Mariners OF Julio Rodríguez broke the major league record with 17 hits over a four-game stretch as Seattle walloped the Astros, 10-3
Phillies SS Trea Turner hit two run homes in the same inning as part of Philadelphia’s 12-3 blowout win in Washington
Red Sox 2B Luis Urías clubbed a 2nd inning grand slam vs Gerrit Cole, sending the Yankees to their seventh straight loss and a season-low three games under .500
The Dbacks swept a doubleheader with the Padres to pull within a half game from the third and final Wild Card spot