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The Mets are up again, doing most of the Mets: let you guess. Just when you think they're out of the race, they'll take you back in.
The Mets ambushed the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday 11-1 to complete a four-game sweep of another wild card holder. After two tight wins, the Mets launched five homers on Wednesday and six on Thursday, a franchise record for a home game.
"We just put everything in place," said manager Mickey Callaway, praising the defense, pitching and the offensive. "We played well in baseball, and when we do, we can compete with anyone."
So here they are, 76-70 with 16 games to go, ahead of the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers by two games for the second, N.L. joker and the likely win of a knockout match against the Washington Nationals. Two other teams – the Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies – are also in four playoff games, preparing for a tense final two weeks of the regular season.
This weekend at Citi Field, the Mets will face the Los Angeles Dodgers, already West Division champions, as well as Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Walker Buehler. All three play in the All-Star Game this summer and will soon be relaying in a series of divisions. The Mets will not be intimidated.
"The confidence of this group is unwavering," said Marcus Stroman, the Mets starter, who played in the seventh inning for Thursday's win. "You come to the club and we feel like winning every day. We have this collective feeling and it's not something you can install. It's just something that is there. It's awesome.
This is rather remarkable – amazin '? – that the Mets meet again in mid-September with a chance. It was a crazy race, with the annual dose of hijinks only-the-Mets: Yoenis Cespedes walking in a hole; Jason Vargas threatening a journalist; Brodie Van Wagenen, Executive Director, throws a chair; the scorecard commemorating two members of the 1969 champions who were not, in fact, dead.
Friday's game will feature Noah Syndergaard, probably the pitcher, Wilson Ramos, the catcher who hits hard, whom he does not prefer. It will be a story to watch and, if the game is near, the pen will be another. Expect to see a lot of Luis Avilan and Justin Wilson against the left-handed Dodgers sluggers, but maybe not a lot of left-handed left-handers like Jeurys Familia and Edwin Diaz.
"We continue to talk about the importance of our office, and this is probably the most important factor for the future," Callaway said. "We must execute our memory and if we do, our attack is solid."
Rookie Pete Alonso is 0-12 with seven strikeouts over the past three games, and he has shaved his mustachee in the middle of Thursday's game to change his luck. But Alonso remains a force that leads the majors in the circuits (47), Robinson Cano is hot (.475 in his last 12 games) and Michael Conforto has reached 30 circuits Thursday for the first time in his career.
Central defender Juan Lagares, a defensive specialist who hit the .210, had two firsts: the first grand slam of his career (and probably his life, he said) and his first match with two homers . He was so touched by the exuberant reaction of the canoe that he described the highlight of his career.
"When it has an impact in the game, everyone is excited," said Conforto. "He's just one of those guys we all love."
There is no metric to quantify the camaraderie, but the Mets seem to have it – at least more than one of the teams they pursue. The Cubs won in San Diego Thursday behind Yu Darvish, but they look like a team headed for some big changes.
The Cubs' attack on a playoff spot – and more largely on their recent success – could be threatened. Theo Epstein, their president of baseball operations, was discouraged by the weakness of last season and history may be repeating itself.
"It's immensely frustrating for me because I feel that this responsibility falls on our fans to watch this," Epstein said Thursday, at the 670 show in Chicago. "If you go back 12, 13 months, it was marked by poor results and uninspired games, and that also applies to us at the front office. This has just been inspired and unacceptable. "
This criticism seems worrying for manager Joe Maddon, who guided the Cubs to the title of the World Series 2016 but has not yet signed this season. The Cubs played carelessly – they led the majors to the outs on the bases and ranked fifth in errors until Wednesday – and their star striker, Javy Baez, is absent for the rest of the regular season with an inch broken.
The Cubs still have six games to play with the Pittsburgh Pirates weakening, but also seven against the St. Louis Cardinals (and three with the Cincinnati Reds). The Brewers play only the losing teams after this weekend's playoff series in St. Louis, but have to face these teams without N.L. In title. most valuable player, Christian Yelich, who It's broken right kneecap Tuesday on a foul.
The Phillies have the toughest schedule: two games with Boston, three with Atlanta and Cleveland, five with Washington and three with Miami, a team they struggled to beat. The Diamondbacks face weaker opponents, but with five consecutive defeats, they spit at the worst moment.
The Mets are gearing up – at least enough to grab your attention – as they finish with playoffs against Colorado, Cincinnati, Miami and Atlanta after this weekend. It seemed like a distant possibility when the Mets had 10 games under the .500 mark at the All Star break, but Callaway insisted that he was not surprised.
"I think we are where we expected," he said. "A chance to do something special."
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