Mets run winning streak to seven, and an overdue apology
New York beats the Red Sox, 8-3, for their 7th win in a row. Plus, one of our writers eats some crow.
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets won their seventh straight game on Wednesday, beating the Red Sox by an 8-3 score to complete the sweep (box)
DH Jesse Winker set the tone for the evening, clubbing an opposite field grand slam (14) in the first inning
SS Francisco Lindor continued his MVP push, going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored, and extending his on-base streak to 33 straight games
New York scored four big insurance runs in the 8th inning on back-to-back-to-back bases loaded walks and a sacrifice fly
RHP Tylor Megill was mediocre once again, pitching only four innings while allowing three runs, five hits and a walk
The Mets turned three inning ending double plays on Wednesday
The Mets are increasingly optimistic that RHP Kodai Senga will return to the club out of the starting rotation this season (SNY)
Assistant GM Ian Levine will leave the Mets organization at the end of this season after being with the club since 2005
Playoff Race 🏁
The Mets were unable to gain ground on the frontrunners for the National League Wild Card on Wednesday night - the Padres, Diamondbacks and Braves all won their games.
The Mets remained 1/2 game behind the Braves for the third wild card, 3 games behind the Diamondbacks for the second wild card, and 3.5 games behind the Padres for the top wild card.
There are 22 games remaining.
Per FanGraphs, the Mets have a 38.2% chance of making the postseason.
New York has the 9th hardest schedule in MLB the rest of the way.
Tiebreakers:
vs. ATL: 5-5
vs. ARI: 4-3 (finished)
vs. SD: 5-2 (finished)
vs. CHC: 4-3 (finished)
vs. STL 4-2 (finished)
Injury Updates 🏥
RHP Kodai Senga (high-grade left calf strain) threw his first bullpen session since his injury, throwing 25 pitches in the process
Who’s Hot 🔥
Francisco Lindor extended his on-base streak to 33 consecutive games. He is hitting .336/.380/.600 with 47 hits, 11 doubles, 1 triple, 8 home runs and 21 RBI with 27 runs scored during that span. He also has a 15-game hitting streak, during which he is hitting .365/.403/.778 with 23 hits, 8 doubles, 6 home runs, 12 RBI with 15 runs scored. He continues to lead the National League with a 7.3 fWAR
Has 16 multi-hit efforts in his last 31 games dating back to August 3, the most such games in the majors during that span
Has 20 extra base hits since August 1 which are the most in the NL and third-most in the majors trailing only Bobby Witt Jr. and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who both have 21
In 30 games since being acquired by the Nationals, Jesse Winker is hitting .306/.341/.471 with 26 hits, 5 doubles, three home runs and 13 RBI with 12 runs scored
Over his last 20 games, Mark Vientos is hitting .329/.386/.570 with 26 hits, 4 doubles, 5 home runs, 14 RBI with 13 runs scored. His single in the first inning on Wednesday extended his Citi Field hit streak to 15 games
The Mets have a 3.57 ERA since the All-Star Game, the 2nd best mark in the NL and 5th best in MLB. During that same span, their starters have a 3.77 ERA, the 2nd best mark in the NL, 7th overall and their relievers have a 3.24 ERA, the 3rd best mark in the NL and 7th overall
Down on the Farm 🌾
CF Drew Gilbert (No. 3 prospect, Triple-A): 2-for-5, HR (7), 2 runs scored
RHP Blade Tidwell (No. 8 prospect, Triple-A): 1.2 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, K (loss)
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓
The Mets are off on Thursday, and will kick-off a series against the Reds on Friday night at Citi Field.
Addressing the elephant in the room… ✍️
The last time I wrote a newsletter on this site, I “called it” on the Mets postseason hopes. More or less, I declared that the season was unofficially over in the wake of the club’s second late-inning meltdown in three games. As a result, New York fell four games back of a playoff spot, and it felt as if things just might not be in the cards for them this year.
The reaction to that op-ed seemed somewhat split at the time, with some people agreeing and others feeling strongly that it was far too early to give up hope. But as things began to change, more and more people found themselves in my mentions demanding that I respond to or retract my original statement.
Following last night’s win over the Red Sox, the Mets are now a perfect 7-0 since I declared their playoff hopes dead.
And the question remains: Am I ready to reverse my statement?
Perhaps it’s possible that I dig my heels in and just irrationally commit to my take because that’s what you do in sports media nowadays. Or maybe I could just pretend that this was an elaborately planned reverse jinx all along. Maybe I’m the new Grimace? I can’t possibly be held accountable if I just say that I actually meant to do that, right? Right??
If this were WFAN, you could probably expect that from me. But that’s not what I’m going to do. I have to admit it: I was wrong. Very, very wrong.
Consider this my Metsa culpa.
Look, I don’t know if the Mets are ultimately going to make the playoffs or not. The Braves basically haven’t lost over the last few weeks other than their series in Philadelphia, and catching the Padres or Dbacks will be tough unless one of those teams cools off in a pretty significant way. But this club has shown us time-and-time again that they are incredibly difficult to write off.
How many times this season have some of us given up on these guys? There were a lot of us that thought things were over in the very first week, when they started the season 0-5. And then again in May, when the club fell to a season-low 11 games under the .500 mark. And once more in the last few weeks, whether it was during their first West Coast road trip when they struggled vs the Angels and Mariners or when they blew a few late games more recently in San Diego and Arizona.
Every time we’ve questioned this team, they have responded in a big way.
Every. Single. Time.
After their 0-5 start, the Mets went 12-3 over their next 15 games. After an absolutely miserable month of May, the Mets had the best record in the National League (16-8) in June. And after I declared that their season was dead, the team is 7-0 and has made up 3.5 games on the Braves in the process.
Maybe they’ll make it to the playoffs, maybe they won’t, but the one thing we know is that this team truly never says die. It’s a team that while ungodly frustrating can be incredibly fun to watch at times, and they are the polar opposite of the team we watched last year that couldn’t remotely live up to big expectations.
I was wrong to count this team out. Dare I say I looked a bit like a jackass in the process, but I’m happy to own that. Because at the end of the day, whether you think they’re making it or not, we all want the same thing here – October baseball, and the opportunity to witness something special.
So because of that, I’m thrilled to be proven wrong in such immediate fashion. At this rate, I can only hope that last week’s newsletter winds up in the Cold Takes Exposed Hall of Fame.
Around the League 🚩
The Braves won for the second straight night, beating the Rockies 5-2 thanks to five solid innings from Charlie Morton and four shutout innings from the bullpen
The Padres walked off the Tigers 6-5 in 10 innings on Wednesday - Jackson Merrill had a three-hit, three-RBI night
Zac Gallen fired six shutout innings, and Eugenio Suárez and Pavin Smith homered in the D-Backs 6-4 win over the Giants
Orioles SS Gunnar Henderson crushed his 35th home run – the most for any shortstop in a single season in franchise history – but the club lost to the White Sox to end Chicago’s 12-game losing streak
Cubs pitchers Shoto Imanaga, Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge combined to pitch the club’s first no-hitter at Wrigley Field since 1972, defeating the Pirates by a 12-0 score
Both can be true. I’ve always said, when you stink-you stink. When you’re playing well, you’re good. With 11 games over .500, the Mets overall are approaching being considered good vs mediocre, a hill on which I dug in on. There’s only a handful of contenders in each league. The Mets dug a hole, have climbed out of non-contender to the starting point of contending. They still cant afford to lose: the others are playing well. If they fade out vs Atlanta and Philly…well, then they’re pretenders vs contenders. As a fan since ‘62, I’d rather be wrong or have them overachieve, whichever the case may be. But I’m not apologizing for the reality of the time I made my assessment.
It was probably too soon to conclusively say they were done but darn it will be hard with so many games versus playoff teams & then games versus teams that can be pesky.
The Mets basically have to win the Braves series and then keep pace with seven vs. the Phillies and games versus the Brewers too. Ouch. They really needed to be AHEAD some games, not behind.
Sweeping the Red Sox helped a bit. That's what you have to do and hope for help. Like maybe the Rockies can win tonight, which would make the two teams tied again.