The Mets continue their torrid pace winning their fifth in a rowas they beat the the Red Sox 4-1 with Luis Severino earning his tenth win of the year. The victory pulls the Mets to 10 games over 500 for the first time since 2022 and they are now just a half game back of the Atlanta Braves for that final wild card playoff spot.
If we look closely at this Met stretch they are an amazing 52-31 in their last 83 games–a breathtaking 21 games over 500. That is a half a season worth of games where this team has been an elite baseball squad combining an incredible lineup with good pitching. And this past 4 weeks those starters keep gong deeper into games which gives them massive flexibility in how they close games. In fact, 10 different Met pitchers have earned saves this year illustrating the depth they have in a bullpen that has had its share of ups and downs.
Severino bears watching as his innings are getting high but to my untrained eye it looks like he is getting stronger with each start. His wide assortment of pitches change the look on his pitches and the same can be said of Sean Manea and David Peterson giving the team a solid trio of starters before you even bring up the possibility of Kodai Senga rejoining the group at some point.
I have been around this group all year and I must admit even when they were 22-33 there was no finger pointing as they trusted in each other. And whenever a new player joins or rejoins the team, they generally contribute right away. Tonight DJ Stewart got a 2 run inning started with a base hit and Sunday pinch runner Pablo Reyes scored a big insurance run in Chicago.
And Phil Maton has been a huge addition in the pen as he notched a save giving Edwin Diaz a night off and spun an uneventful 1-2-3 ninth inning. This pen had a rough week last week but bounced back because the manager never loses confidence in them and knows they have the talent to both bridge gaps to Diaz and give Edwin a break every now and then.
The wild card standings change every day but this Met team that was 3 games back of that final spot just 4 days ago now sit only a half a game back. And they are only 3 back in the loss column from the Padres and Diamondbacks who hold first 2 playoff spots. So everything is in play here and this Met team knows it. They are 10 games over 500 and to a man all they care about is winning on that night.
Many have flat out told me that if they win the other stuff will take care of itself. Who can argue with them as playing 21 games over 500 over an 81 game stretch has illustrated to all of us what this team is all about.