Met Playoff Hopes Getting Smaller And Smaller By The Day By Rich Coutinho Met Beat Reporter @ The New York Extra .com

As the games keep winding down and The Mets keep losing games their playoff hopes become more and more remote. After tonight’s brutal 11-2 loss to the Orioles at CitiField they sit 5 games under 500 at 19-24 and the chances of catching either the Phils or Marlins in the NL East seems remote at best. They currently trail the Marlins by 2 games and have played 6 fewer games than Miami so they would need much help from the Marlins in their September games.

As for the Phils they trail them by 4 games and although they do have 3 games left with them in Philly next week they would obviously need to sweep that series in the City of Brotherly Love to even have a shot at catching them.

That means they are chasing that last wildcard spot and currently trail a trio of teams–The Reds, The Rockies and the Giants for that final spot. And they would have to pass all of them to gain that final berth because most likely they will be fourth in the NL East with either the Marlins or Phils getting that first wild card berth.

So the margin for error is very slim for a team whose starting rotation has betrayed them in a big way. Aside from Jacob deGrom and Seth Lugo it is a group that gives up so many early runs and combines that with very few innings pitched putting a strain on the entire team.

Clearly the team’s playoff hopes are in deep trouble as they need to win games in bunches and in a hurry. And even if they do, they will need significant help from the out of town scoreboard. If I were a betting man, I would not rely on either of those things occurring much less both of them.