The Mets can talk playoffs because of modernity and mediocrity. Because this is an era in which six teams in each league make the postseason and the weekend ended with just four National League teams over .500.
The NL has not had six teams above .500 since May 30. Because of that, there are just two hopeless clubs in the league: The Marlins and Rockies are playing like it is 1993, which was the first season for both as expansion teams. They are on pace to be even worse than they were in their debut campaigns.
And, really, to fall out of this race you have to be putrid on steroids. The Mets for most of this season haven’t been in contention as much as the league would not let them fall out of it. At a season-high 11 games under .500 through June 2, the Mets were ahead of just Miami and Colorado in the NL standings, yet they were just five games out of the final wild card.
They have gone 10-2 since through the weekend, punctuated by Monday night’s 14-2 romp over the Rangers. They still have the fifth-worst record in the NL. But the Mets are just one game out of a wild card. Heck, they are two games out of the second wild card. Of course, nearly every team but the 1888 Cleveland Spiders was within two games. This is a traffic jam of jalopies. It is a contest of C students fighting to get two scholarships to a prestigious university.
